One day I came home in the 4th grade and I said to my mom: "Mom, I think kids could be better at teaching other kids than adults are at teaching kids." The thought came to me because one of my friends was struggling with division, & I was able to easily help her. She was so grateful! At the time I was the 1st student in my district to place at the top of the 4th grade math competition as only a 3rd grader. I ended up researching and found there was some truth to kids teaching other kids & being successful… This is where I developed our first program: “Math Mentors.”

One of the things that I did after was read a book for young people called “Be a Changemaker.” One reason I’m excited for your program! After reading this, my mom and I met with a teacher to chart out what this program could look like, and even met with the principal to get his buy-in.  It was so small we held a bake sale to raise money!  In 5th grade, I became a mentor and I started the nonprofit.  We added a 2nd program for after-school called “Mathletes” that competes in a regional math competition.  

So I started an org called Growing the Stem (growingthestem.org) & it has really gathered momentum! Jump to present and my nonprofit now helps 800+ kids a year, is present in 14 schools with 40+ programs, works with 100+ high school volunteers/yr, two full-time employees, and an annual budget of $100,000!!

A high % of students in my Idaho school district fail to meet the state standards for performance in mathematics. In addition, some students perform at a high level in math  but still need opportunities to develop.  When we started GTS, only 29% of our high school students were on grade level in math.  Scores dropped off as early as 5th grade!  Those scores have risen since we started. 

It was really the twin recognition that we needed opportunities for students who struggled in math (“Math Mentors”) and equitable opportunities for math excellence (“Mathletes”)  at schools that served families with a high percentage of free/reduced lunch students that led us to start this organization.  

It was important to us that we fostered programs that allowed anyone to participate and did not have any aptitude testing.  I remember a child named Lucas who didn't even start the 4th  grade knowing math facts come and give me a giant hug when he won second place in the regional math competition in front of all his classmates.   

We have focused on starting new programs at Title One schools which have fewer academic enrichment available and lower parent access to fee-based programs outside of school. 

In order to ensure that girls are participating in STEM activities, we encourage teachers to reach out to girls who may be a good fit and we seek out young women as visible leaders.

Our mission for Growing the STEM is to organize and support math and science programs for students in local Idaho public schools, develop youth leaders and encourage underrepresented groups to pursue STEM education and activities. We initially started a “Math Mentors” which focused on peer tutoring then added “Mathletes” which is after-school math competition teams.

We recruited high school students who excelled to be the teachers in the program. This offered student leadership opportunities. Over the years, the program has grown quite large. After our first successful year we sought funding and have received many grants including grants from the United Way. This allowed us to have a stipend for school district public teachers to oversee the different programs that we offered.
We now offer a STEM club that supports the development of complex and progressive thinking skills with kids working together to solve scientific queries, guided by student coaches. There is now an engineering version too.

Because I love the arts I worked with a teacher to start “STEAM club.” It is similar, but adds Art into the fields of STEM in order to study diverse fields like architecture, sculpture, design. The next year I developed a STEM Book Club & did the curriculum entirely on my own revising it with the piloting teacher.

We offer so many different programs for kids in 14 different schools.

I have grown the org from a few kids & programs into a large one. When it was small, success came from making a difference in lives: both teachers and participants. The kids who were in the programs told mom/dad and friends it was fun and that they enjoyed STEM!  Many of our kids have gone on to become coaches--the lifeblood. They make it fun for the kids/coaches. 
I've been a coach myself at more than 5 schools and often the benefits are for them.  They get to manage a classroom and many of our coaches go on to join the board to get more leadership.  

In the middle, it was important to develop the Mission, goals, org structure, & develop a strong board and build outreach (website & social). It was also key to print flyers & do recruitment for both teachers and students. 

At this time, I started to learn about nonprofit development. I applied & received grants including from a local tribe, banks, & the United Way!

Once larger, it was key to find great employees & board members to help steward it. I feel at this point the project is exceptionally well set up for success because it has its own budget, employees, a strong board, and has grown over the last 6 years to become an important part of activities in the school district.  We have paid employees, $100k budget, grants, a 7-member board & 40+ programs in 14 schools serving over 800 students with over 100 student leaders a year!

One of the best things about GTS is there are so many stakeholders! Each of these gives so much of themselves and in return gets so much...

Public teachers: We go into underprivileged places often w/ low morale. We come in &  provide funding to boost their income & participate in a really fun program. It gives them incentives & creates meaningful engagement in places that have no PTO & few offerings.

High School Vol Teachers: We have 100+/yr who have the chance to teach. Kids in high school function as teachers & are responsible for their teams/classes. This is so much greater responsibility than is typically found.  Teachers then ask for more responsibility and join the board or become trainers.

District 271:We regularly have meetings with the district & superintendent. They have responded so positively & consider our programs an integral part of the districts’ offerings.  The stipends even help recruit prospective teachers!

Kids:  We have 800+ kids/yr.  I think my best moment came when a mom called & left a long 3-minute message thanking me for helping her son Nolan who actively disliked math deciding he wanted to study math over the summer since he had such a great time.

It becomes a virtuous cycle with each's effort creating a downstream multiplier. An amazing journey & I can’t believe it all started when I said to my mom:"Mom, I think kids could be better at teaching…”