The STEM Next Opportunity Fund has announced the 2024 Million Girls Moonshot Flight Crew, and MASN is thrilled to announce that Sruti, an 11th grader from St. Louis, is the first Flight Crew Member from Missouri!
Motivated by her impactful STEM experiences beyond the classroom, Sruti and other Flight Crew members will elevate youth voices to break down stereotypes and spark their peers’ curiosity in STEM. These young leaders embody the Moonshot mission to engage millions more girls in STEM learning opportunities and inspire more youth to pursue a STEM career.
The 2024 Flight Crew cohort includes 51 youth, ages 13-18, from all 50 states! Having worked to solve challenges in their communities and participated in hands-on STEM experiences outside of the classroom, the Flight Crew were selected to share their life-changing experiences in afterschool and summer programs. Seeking to reimagine what builders, inventors, and engineers look like, Sruti will serve as a role model for youth in Missouri and the nation, showing other young people what is possible with STEM.
Sruti best states her goal for girls in STEM, “Embrace your uniqueness and challenge the norms in STEM. Seek mentorship, connect with online communities, and recognize that your journey contributes a valuable and distinctive perspective to the STEM landscape.”
Sruti will set out on eight months of leadership development and public speaking training, as the Flight Crew simultaneously acts as champions of afterschool STEM. Skill building will include resume and interview coaching, connections with STEM professionals, and social media training for the members to gain life-changing social capital.
We at MASN are proud of Sruti’s hard work and STEM enthusiasm and encourage you to learn more about her interest in computer science. “Sruti has already shown her ability to lead in the STEM fields. We look forward to supporting her on her continued journey.” said Terri Foulkes, MASN Executive Director.
Through STEM Next, Sruti will partner with the Afterschool Alliance, a longtime supporter of youth voices, to implement Flight Crew training. In fact, the Afterschool Alliance operates a Youth Ambassador program of its own, which helps young people amplify their voices and take action on the issues that matter most to them!
“We are excited to implement new training and ideas with the Afterschool Alliance to amplify the experiences and voices of these inspiring young people. The Flight Crew is a part of STEM Next’s strategy to grow STEM leaders so that we can make out-of-school STEM opportunities a reality for millions of young people to help them thrive for whatever comes next in their lives. We have so much to learn from these students,” said Teresa Drew, Deputy Director of the STEM Next Opportunity Fund and Executive Director of the Million Girls Moonshot initiative.
Launched in 2020, the Million Girls Moonshot builds field capacity for afterschool and summer programs and educators to prepare students for a future fueled by science, technology, engineering, and math. To achieve the ambitious goal of reaching millions of girls in five years, the Moonshot partners with the robust 50 State Afterschool Network to empower and support afterschool and summer STEM programs in every state across the country.
Learn more about this exciting opportunity & get your program involved!
About STEM Next Opportunity Fund
As a national leader, strategic guide, policy advocate and investor, STEM Next is making out-of-school STEM opportunities a reality for millions of young people to help them thrive in STEM and beyond. In September 2020, STEM Next launched The Million Girls Moonshot, which inspires and prepares the next generation of innovators by engaging millions more girls in STEM learning opportunities through afterschool and summer programs over 5 years. By investing early in the lives of our children, STEM Next is transforming their lives and preparing them for the 21st century economy.
