Lessons from STEM TY Challenge

Today, we had our #STEMTYChallenge Showcase! We (at SavvyTeenAcademy and Active Peers AI) are honoured to lead and deliver this initiative that offers 100 students an opportunity to be matched with a mentor in 11 sponsoring companies to produce a video called “A Day in the Life of STEM”.

If you want to lead wn outreach to young people, here are some elements that can make a real difference:

1. Make it scalable and accessible through a combination of live drop-in sessions and byte-sized self-directed learning.

2. Create a path towards the final outcome with milestones so that everybody can see where they’re at, where they need to be and what they need to do to bridge the gap.

3. Creativity happens when guidelines and parameters are clear so that creative energy can be funnelled in the right direction!

4. Relationships are so important with every single stakeholder and stakeholders group. We used Instagram stories and chat to hear our teenagers’ feedback. We had a dedicated Support form for everybody. We had regular calls with our sponsor companies. We used WhatsApp with teachers. It’s critical to meet people where they’re at and listen to what they want.

5. If you want to make real learning happen, connect your learners to the outcomes of their actions and decisions. Let them feel the benefits of effort and the consequences of otherwise.

6. Learn from every customer interaction and create a process whereby you can incorporate that learning into workflows and future touchpoints.

7. Impact is both quantitative and qualitative. In this case, we had offered this opportunity to 100 students in 10 schools with 24 mentors across 7 drop in sessions, 2 in-person sessions while each team had 3 mentor meetings with 1 site visit! The qualitative impact is the change in our teenagers’ perspectives about careers in STEM, the skills they developed, the people they met and the growth they experienced.

8. Be hungry for feedback several times along the way (rather than wait until it’s over!).

9. Have a clear vision for what you want this outreach to be and ensure your participants know when they have arrived at the destination you want to lead them towards.

10. Responding to queries and feedback is so important. Further, heighten your radar towards non-engagement. Figure it out, root it out, communicate and be excited about turning it around.