“The goal is to recruit, engage and enrich the academic experiences of children who show talent and extreme interest in technology,” said STEMGuyana co-founder, Karen Abrams. “These children are only about 5% of the population and they may or may not be the top performers in the best schools. Just like musical talent and football talent can be found in any community, so will the children who love to take things apart, who are full of ideas, who can rarely sit still, who love their legos, who build scooters and go-carts and matchbox cars. Our goal is to identify these children in every community of Guyana; make fun and exciting technology education available to them, help to strengthen their maths and science skills, provide opportunities for them to interact with their peers from around the world and then enrich their academic lives with our integrated and challenging STEM curriculum.” Fundamentally, STEMGuyana is serious about helping to prepare the next generation of Guyanese innovators, technology entrepreneurs and outstanding problem solvers who will work on solutions to advance the development of Guyana’s economy.
In keeping with this vision, the STEMGuyana organization has partnered with members of the Guyana Diaspora, the Department of Youth and a soon to be named ‘major’ corporation to launch the STEMGuyana International Academy on November 8th, 2020. More than 70 students of Guyanese descent in 1st through 9th grades; from the US, Guyana and the Caribbean will meet weekly to participate in STEMGuyana’s unique, integrated curriculum, which melds topics from the MOE’s Science and Maths curriculum with arduino technology projects and creative Scratch coding lessons. Among the 70 students are 15 scholarship students from vulnerable circumstances who hail from interior communities, under-resourced families and more than 5 regions across Guyana. These scholarships were sponsored by the NY GUYDA organizations which is a long time and ongoing STEMGuyana sponsor.
The STEMGuyana organization takes seriously its role as an equal opportunity educator and to that end is working with a major sponsor to expand the program to 400 more vulnerable youths in Guyana. The Department of Youth will provide young people who have been trained over the past two years in managing a robotics club. The plan is to once again, engage these young people at select ICT hubs, fund their stipends, fund cleaners and supplies and the equipment necessary to make the virtual academy courses available each Saturday and Sunday to community children who would not be able to otherwise benefit from such an exciting, enriching and global program. STEMGuyana has already received a commitment from a major sponsor to sponsor this program.
“We also intend to make our upcoming tv show, “Robin The Robot” available on television to children across Guyana”, stated US based STEMGuyana advisor, Marlena Henderson. “To that end, we have signed a contractual agreement with NCN to carry the weekly robotics show to young people across their network.” Although the show has a major sponsor, STEMGuyana will continue to identify and engage companies that wish to support STEM education access for children across Guyana by supporting the “Robin the Robot” show with weekly ads.
STEMGuyana’s contributions to the nation over the past 4 years can hardly be understated. The organization has mentored the nation’s young people, made world-class technology education available to children in rich and poor communities in Guyana, coached young people who performed outstandingly in global robotics competitions, expanded the pre-covid network of STEM clubs to children in 9 out of 10 regions of Guyana and conducted exhibitions and summer camps exposing more than 15,000 children in Guyana to new and exciting technology. The people of Guyana owe this organization a debt of gratitude. For more information about stemguyana programs, email stemguyana@gmail.com.
