From the press release:
May 1, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Afterschool program for minority boys focuses on STEM education
Come support future engineers, mathematician and scientists this Saturday at Garden Hills School.
Fourth and fifth grade boys with the St. Elmo Brady STEM Academy will present a variety of experiments as part of the program’s community science fair. The event is the culmination of the students’ year-long involvement in a program aimed at exposing underrepresented boys to science, technology, and math fields.
Created by Jerrod Henderson, a University of Illinois lecturer in chemical engineering, and Ricky Greer, a university lab assistant, the St. Elmo Brady STEM Academy is in its second year in Champaign. It’s named after the first African American to receive a chemistry Ph.D. in the U.S,
St. Elmo Brady, who graduated from the University of Illinois in 1916 and went on to teach and conduct research at Tuskegee University, Howard University, and other colleges.
A distinctive feature of the program is its emphasis on building relationships with minority role models, including the boys’ fathers and university students studying chemical engineering and pursuing other STEM careers. Students meet twice a week after school at Garden Hills and Booker T. Washington Schools, learning about everything from the physics of trebuchets to polymers. On Saturdays, the boys meet for additional science workshops with their fathers and other male role models in their lives. University of Illinois faculty and students also help in the classes, with the university students serving as mentors to the boys. It is sponsored by the University of Illinois Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
You can learn more about the program and Dr. Henderson’s vision by reading a recent article in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences newsletter: www.las.illinois.edu/news/
Event details:
Community Science Fair with St. Elmo Brady STEM Academy, sponsored by the University of Illinois Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
12 p.m. Saturday, May 2
Garden Hills Elementary School
2001 Garden Hills Dr., Champaign