STEM Initiative Completes ‘Blood & Guts’ Curriculum

The YWCA’s STEM Initiative, a unique educational program for girls age 10 to 14 to encourage, excite and educate about Science, Technology, Engineering & Math, recently completed its long awaited Blood & Guts curriculum.

At the direction of computer teacher Dianne Fields, over 72 girls were led through the nervous, circulatory and respiratory systems, culminating in dissecting a cow’s heart as part of the Blood & Guts educational tract.  This curriculum expands upon what the girls are learning in school by focusing on STEM-related course work that is presented in an engaging and fun format. 

“We began this program to address the national problem of girls falling behind boys in the middle and high school years in math and sciences”, explains Lee Woodbury, Deputy Director of Youth Services.   “We’ve seen over 80% of all participants improve their school grades in the math, science and technology areas as a result of participating in this program.  It’s not only what we hoped for, but are actually seeing in grade results.” 

The STEM Initiative, which began at the YWCA in 2007, added the first outstanding achievement awards in 2009 entitled The Matuza STEM Awards. These awards were underwritten by Board Member Ame Matuza and her husband Dmitry Nepomnayshy in memory of Ms. Matuza’s mother Bronwyn W. Matuza, a life-long educator. At an awards ceremony held at YWCA, each candidate was required to make a presentation in one of the four STEM areas. The judging panel then selected awardees based on their level of achievement in that subject over the academic school year. Each awardee received a plaque as well as a small cash prize. The YWCA is most grateful to Ms. Matuza and Dr. Nepomnayshy for their generosity in making this opportunity possible.

Pictured (from left) are Ame Matuza with awardees Michelle Duran (award in Engineering), Adriana Silvestre (award in Math), Maria Urena (award in Technology) and Penelope Sanchez (award in Science), and Instructor Dianne Fields.

We look forward to the second group of awardees this June!

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