Education United States Project #36183

Faces of STEM(TM)

by STEM Advantage

Project Report | Mar 17, 2020
STEM Advantage program update

By Lee Ann Kline | President & Founder

In Fall 2019 we selected our 2020 cohort of STEM Advantage scholars, which includes 125 talented students earning bachelor's degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). We are thrilled that 50% are women! We also added a sixth campus. We now offer our program to women and underserved communities attending Cal State Dominguez Hills in South Central Los Angeles, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State LA, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Northridge, and Cal Poly Pomona. California State University ("Cal State") is the largest and most diverse public university system in the U.S.

During the students' winter break, hiring managers and talent leaders came together to help the Scholars prepare for Spring interviews. Sessions included one-on-one mock interviews, resume reviews, IT careers, consulting 101, technical/coding interviews, LinkedIn profiles, creating your brand and storytelling, networking 101, and negotiating skills. Plus, there were opportunities to practice networking and build community throughout the evening.

Students told us Career Night had a direct impact on their ability to be better prepared for and more confident in all aspects of the job search and interview process.

Special thank you to participants from Accenture, Amazon, Belkin International, County of Los Angeles, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, FabFitFun, Farmers, Google, Heidrick & Struggles, Laserfiche, Lionsgate, Magenic, Monarch Landscape, NBCUniversal, Pivotal, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Viking Cruises.

A huge thank you to the team at Pivotal Labs, who hosted the evening, generously provided a great venue and food, and gave each student a book to help with their job search.

If you are reading this and want to get involved, please contact leeann@stemadvantage.org. We need:

- paid internships in the Los Angeles area

- mentors as our scholars are low-income first-generation college students. Having a mentor makes a difference

- funds for scholarships to help us scale our program to support more students and add more campuses.

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Oct 21, 2019
STEM Advantage project update

By Lee Ann Kline | President & Founder

STEM Advantage Scholars at an Onboarding event

To help our Scholars prepare for their summer internships, on June 1st STEM Advantage alumnae Danielle and Emily organized and led an Onboarding Workshop for nearly 100 Scholars at FabFitFun - see photo. Workshop featured a Talent Acquisition panel with Talent Leaders from Warner Bros, Valence Media and FabFitFun; STEM Advantage Alumni panel to share their internship experiences and advice to get the most benefit from their internship; a FabFitFun tech team panel; and Leadership Skills and Workplace Etiquette with an executive and STEM Advantage Board member from Sony Pictures Entertainment. The sessions were educational with a lot of Q&A, discussion, networking and community building.

"It was an awesome experience and I learned a lot from everyone who went up to talk about their professions, what they’re looking for and how they got to where they are. I especially loved seeing so many smart, talented and driven women. It really motivated me to keep doing what I’m doing and to keep meeting new people and to continue networking. Thanks for the awesome opportunity to be able to do all that through STEM Advantage." - Yeny, California State University, Los Angeles

Our Scholars had great summer internship experiences at amazing companies like Accenture, Avery Dennison, CBS, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Farmers, Internet Brands, Kinecta Federal Credit Union, Warner Bros and more.

This Fall we added our sixth California State University ("Cal State") campus! We now offer the STEM Advantage 360-degree program to students earning a bachelor’s degree in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) at Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State LA, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Northridge, Cal Poly Pomona, and our newest campus Cal State Fullerton.

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May 23, 2019
STEM Advantage update

By Lee Ann Kline | President & Founder, STEM Advantage

2019 Scholarship Gala - Rubi, Valerie & MaryLiza

This quarter we have been busy helping 125 STEM Advantage Scholars find a paid summer internship. Internships are a win-win. They provide students real-world experience and an opportunity to develop their technical and soft skills. Internships provide businesses a pipeline for diverse entry-level technical talent in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

We are proud to highlight STEM Advantage Alumna MaryLiza, who graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills, in May 2018, with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Technology with a focus on Homeland Security. Today, she is an Information Technology Security Specialist for the Air Force Civilian Service.

An excerpt from the story she shared at our 2019 Scholarship Gala …

“…through my STEM Advantage internship, I was able to connect the knowledge that I was learning with real world application and who would have thought I knew so much. They told me to just be myself and everything will fall into place. There they taught me to not hold myself in a bubble and that I can reach any goal that I want if I just work hard at it. Right now I’m applying for my Master’s in Cyber Security, so let’s hope your girl gets in, but for real because of people like you, your mentorship, the job opportunities and financial support I will not only be making my dreams come true but I’ll be working to make all of y’all lives safer.

Without STEM Advantage I wouldn’t be here, and this field needs me because not only do I look different from others who do this, I think differently and without diversity of thought we can’t solve the security problems for tomorrow. With that being said, thank you …for believing in me that day. You guys work so hard, you will never understand how much it changed my life. I also want to say thank you to everybody in the room that has ever opened or will be opening their hearts and checkbooks to support STEM Advantage. Thanks everyone, I look forward to saving your assets someday.”

Please join us and invest in talented students like MaryLiza. Student debt is a huge issue. With your support, we help "level the playing field" for women and underserved communities who have talent, but do not have the same opportunities and networks as students attending private or elite public universities.

For more information, please visit www.stemadvantage.org or email Lee Ann Kline at leeann@stemadvantage.org.

Links:

http://www.stemadvantage.org

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