About STEAMinis
STEAMinis is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide access to STEM programs and resources for children from underrepresented groups in this field, in particular Latinos.
The Challenge
Latinos are underrepresented in fields pertaining to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - four disciplines commonly referred to as STEM.
This is because Latinos are not sufficiently exposed to STEM subjects at the K-12 level, despite the fact that Hispanic students are the largest minority group in the public school system (US Department of Education).
One report published in partnership with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation found that along with a lack of preparation, many Hispanic students also experience a lack of confidence to pursue STEM fields. The report concludes that in order to ensure STEM equity and boost academic achievement, it is imperative to conduct efforts that raise Hispanics students’ interest in STEM.
Our Approach
We bring STEAM experiments closer to the kids, with hands-on activities spark the drive for exploration and discovery.
Every workshop is structured to be repeatable, to ensure delivery of consistent, engaging material. Every workshop starts with an engaging activity, followed by an experiment, and finalizes with interactive discussions that are used to explain the key concepts applied.
The key components of STEAMinis are:
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Fun Interactive workshops: these workshops play with a wide range of STEAM topics.
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The program is free to access. Most STEM programs or kits are paid subscriptions. Not STEAMinis.
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Workshops are offered from kids by kids -- STEAMinis counselors are high school or college level kids who like STEM and who lead the workshops. This creates a more relatable environment for the kids as they work with someone closer in age.
About our Founder
My name is Laura Plata and I am a Class of 2024 high-school student. I am originally from Bogota, Colombia, and I am fluent in Spanish. I absolutely love STEAM, otherwise known as science, technology, engineering, art, and math. I wanted to share my love for STEAM with other children, especially Latino kids. As I finished middle school, while we were on lockdown learning to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to make it my mission to help kids have fun while learning STEAM!
I began developing this website and putting together workshops with the support of other organizations that generously shared their teaching materials with me. My hope is that I will be able to show all that STEAM has to offer. I have since developed partnerships with several organizations that help me distribute the workshops online and in person to teach kids STEAM, the fun STEAMinis way!
