Since 1982,
The Academy of Natural Science's Women in Natural Sciences (
WINS) program has been making science exciting and accessible to Philly’s high-school girls. Now, Academy Vice President of Education Jacquie Genovesi is excited to announce that the program has finally been recognized with a national award.
Flying Kite recently
took a look at WINS' exchange program, which welcomed youth from Mongolia to Philadelphia, and then organized a reciprocal trip for Philly WINS girls to Asia to study ecology and the impact of climate change on different sides of the world.
In August, the WINS E-STEM program (science, technology, engineering and math through "projects involving real environmental problems") received a $50,000
Innovative Education Award, given through a partnership with
Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) and the
North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE).
Genovesi, who traveled to the UL headquarters in Chicago in early August to receive the Academy’s second-place award and network with other honorees, says the contest drew almost 150 applications from 40 states and three Canadian provinces.
The new dollars will boost the WINS program by opening up paid internships and field experience for WINS girls.
"We actually just put out a call to all of our scientists, saying, 'Ok, what kind of fun projects do you have coming up in the next year?'" says Genovesi. Internships could last a summer or -- depending on where they’re located and cooperation from the student’s school -- up to eight months, in the lab and in the field.
"They could be almost anywhere," she adds. The Academy has scientists working in the Greater Philadelphia area, but there are also researchers stationed in Brazil, Vietnam, Jamaica and Mongolia.
"Not only is it about STEM and about young women, but it’s about supporting the entire person," muses Genovesi. The WINS program stands out among other STEM programs, which often recruit kids who are acing their classes, love science and are already college-bound. WINS instead focuses on "in-between" students who may be interested in science, but don’t know what they’re going to do with their lives and aren’t at the top of the class. Many come from low-income households. "We give them that extra boost to say, you know what, anybody can do science…And not only can you do science, but you can stay in school, you can go to college, and you can really succeed in life."
“We can’t afford to throw away any creative youth," she adds, especially the girls, who are "so underrepresented" in these fields.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Jacquie Genovesi, The Academy of Natural Sciences