The Pearl Leadership Institute is our 2019 Small Grant Recipient!

Our 2019 small grant of $5,000 has been awarded to the Pearl Leadership Institute for their Advancing Women in STEM and Leadership project.

The Pearl Leadership Institute STEM outreach for marginalized girls is designed to captivate rising 6th grade girls by providing a hands-on, science, technology, engineering and mathematics, leadership curriculum that meets the NC Standard Course of Study objectives. This program will reinforce and enhance their 5th grade foundation and expose the students to 6th grade curriculum. In addition, the students will learn how to apply this curriculum to ROBOTICS OF GOLF and will work with four other team members and a team leader (trained 9th grader or above) on their group projects. The project will be housed at the RTHS (Research Triangle High School).

In Wake County and across the country, studies show that girls start becoming disinterested in math and science in the 4-6th grades. This is particularly true of African American and Hispanic girls, who are typically underrepresented girls in the high level math and science courses. TPLI’s program hopes to meet the needs of these students by having them work with role models who can relate to their experiences. This project adjusts to the students’ academic needs based on a pre-test, allowing math and science deficiencies to be addressed during the week.

The Advancing Women in STEM and Leadership project will include: advocacy for 20 Girls at NCSU, STEM camp for 50 youths, and 4 quarterly Women Empowerment and Leadership events on various topics (personal brand, women’s empowerment, wholeness and wellness, financial literacy, UN2030 sustainable development goals, coaching, project-based learning, management, power of our voice, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, trust building, and career life skills). The Beehive Collective will fund one-third of the project’s $15,000 budget.