There is a strong disconnect between STEM opportunities for urban and sub-urban high school students. Students that excel in urban high schools are still at a severe disadvantage, as mentorship and connection to local STEM projects and research institutions are limited. Syracuse City School District (SCSD) is an urban school district with a high poverty rate, but has the benefit of a diverse student population. Meeting the academic needs of underserved students is challenging since it involves helping students not just to excel at math and science, but also to make wise personal decisions. Good relationships with students and their families is critical to making them comfortable in the education process, and then persisting on to college. The first part of this talk focuses on generating student interest in STEM; specifically, at the Institute of Technology High School (ITC) Science Club where students are invited to stay after school and work on various science projects. Enrolling students in local science competitions with other schools, keeps them motivated to learn important scientific principles and teamwork. These endeavors alone are not enough to help rising juniors or seniors to be admitted into a prestigious college. The second part of this talk addresses steps taken to connect students to graduate level laboratory research and mentoring at Syracuse University. Two years after these initiatives were taken, two participants in the program received full scholarships to pursue STEM at Syracuse University and Colombia University. This talk will conclude with how the success of this program led to the development of a two-week preparatory program for rising juniors to prepare and interest them for summer research in their senior year. It is hoped that this program will encourage more teachers to challenge their students to pursue STEM courses in high school and on to college and a career.

Math and chemistry research as tools to encourage and foster urban high school students in STEM fields

255th National Meeting (2018)

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