Minuteman High School and Area Workforce Board Join Forces to Promote Girls in STEM

For Release:
February 15, 2017

Contact:
Steven C. Sharek ssharek@minuteman.org
781-861-6500, ext. 7360

Kelley French kfrench@pswinc.org
508-281-6910, ext. 4

Minuteman High School and Area Workforce Board Join Forces to Promote Girls in STEM

Minuteman High School and Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce, Inc. are joining forces to expand opportunities for young high school women seeking careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). With the help of a $14,500 competitive state grant, Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce will assist in funding a series of activities for Minuteman’s award-winning Girls in STEM program.

Among other things, the grant will help Minuteman operate a Girls in STEM Vacation Camp, enable students to visit and explore a host of STEM employers and laboratories, and launch the creation of a STEM library of books and audio-visual materials related to STEM fields.

“This gives a big boost to the Minuteman Girls in STEM program,” said Michelle Roche, Director of Career & Technical Education at Minuteman. “We’re grateful to Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce and look forward to this new collaboration.”

“We have a strong history of promoting STEM in the Marlborough Public Schools,” said Kelley French, Director of Youth Programs at Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce. “This new collaboration allows us to make more of an impact throughout our region.”

Three years ago, Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce won a sizable federal grant to partner with Marlborough High School to create an in-depth STEM curriculum. For more information on the program, visit http://www.pswyouthcareers.org/marlborough-stem/.

For two consecutive years, Minuteman’s Girls in STEM program has received national awards from SkillsUSA, an organization that runs skill and leadership competitions for students in career and technical high schools across the nation.

Girls in STEM was launched several years ago at the urging of Superintendent Dr. Edward Bouquillon, who recognized the need to increase the number of young women in STEM-related career training programs. Since that time, Minuteman’s Girls in STEM has run after-school programs, field trips, and Vacation Camps and actively promoted STEM programs to dozens of female high school and middle school students in the region. Under the Girls in STEM model, female adults working in STEM fields serve as mentors for Minuteman High School students interested in pursuing STEM careers. In turn, the female Minuteman students serve as mentors for female middle school students interested in exploring STEM careers.

Until now, the program has operated without any financial support from the state, using unspent local funds if they were available. The new source of funding comes from a Connecting Activities STEM Career Vocational Technical Education Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce, Inc. is the regional workforce board covering 43 cities and towns. Those include most of the member communities in Minuteman’s 16-town district.

Minuteman is an award-winning regional high school that integrates robust academic and career & technical learning to deliver a revolutionary competitive advantage. The school serves a diverse student body with multiple learning styles, expanding opportunities for college and career success.

Minuteman recently secured state and local funding to build a new $144.9 million school, including 16 career and technical programs in two Career Academies. Groundbreaking is expected to occur this spring, with the new school being open to students in the fall of 2019.