#steamconnection

Today’s #BeKind21 message is from The STEAM Connection.

Growing up, I saw my little sister obsess over science and technology. But, she struggled to access the educational opportunities that so many other kids had. It turns out that there were many kids like her, and they were getting left behind.

This is a big problem, and these youths are most often youths like me: Indigenous girls. Indigenous peoples account for less than 1% of the technical workforce in the United States according to Intel. Our voices deserve to be heard.

A small step that helped me create the change was sharing my knowledge with others. That knowledge was in science and technology!

I started when I was ten after seeing animal puppets at the store and begging my mom to let me teach a little science class. It was then that I discovered sharing my knowledge enabled me to make a difference in my community. I could help teach kids about robots, computers, and design. I saw those skills enable my students to help others and pursue their own passions.

My nonprofit, The STEAM Connection, was born in 2019 so students could continue to have their perspectives amplified. We are student and minority-run and have reached hundreds of thousands of youth. We create diverse, accessible, and affordable science and technology educational opportunities through robots that we invent, manufacture, and donate. We use innovative teaching principles to empower the next generation of brilliant minds with skills necessary to engage in the 21st century and beyond.

Your kindness challenge today: Whether you are skilled in technology, storytelling, arts, building Kindness Calendar lists, telling a great joke, or anything else, meaningfully share that knowledge with someone else.

In Kindness.

Danielle Boyer Founder, The STEAM Connection