The STEMFuture Challenge 2020: Focusing on the importance of minority representation and contributions within the STEM field.

EDIT (JULY 21): The STEMFuture Challenge is no longer taking submissions. Thank you to everyone who entered. We will announce the results shortly!


SUBMISSION DEADLINE: JULY 20

CASH PRIZES (COURTESY OF A GRANT RECEIVED FROM GENERAL MOTORS) FOR THREE WINNERS!

This challenge was made possible as a result of the generous mentorship and grant received from Ashoka and General Motors.

A key aspect of STEMFuture’s mission is to increase diversity and inclusion within the STEM field. We have worked towards doing this since the start of this initiative, whether it be through outreach/workshops targeting minorities in STEM or partnering with organizations that serve underrepresented groups in STEM. This challenge is the next step we are taking towards this goal.

The STEMFuture Challenge aims to increase awareness about the importance of minority representation and contributions within the STEM field.


Important information about the challenge:

GENERAL INFORMATION AND CHALLENGE TASK:

Choose one influential person in the STEM field (can be historical or current) who is part of a group that is underrepresented in the STEM field (these groups are “women, people with disabilities and minorities from three racial and ethnic groups – Black, Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native”) and research their contributions to STEM (You can read more about underrepresented groups in STEM here: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=190946).

Create an informative video that includes these three key things:

  • Brief background on the person’s life
  • The person’s contributions to the STEM field and/or how they used STEM to improve society
  • How the person’s contributions have inspired you

RULES, ELIGIBILITY, AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:

  • Eligible participants must be students who will be entering either 6th, 7th, 8th, or 9th grade this fall. Each participant may only submit one video. 
  • Videos must be between 2-4 minutes in length
  • You must cite all sources that you used in your research (links to the resources you used during your research can be included at the end of your video and will not count towards the video length limit)

Your video submission will be judged based on these qualities:

  • Creative 
  • Organized 
  • Informative
  • Well-researched 

The submission deadline is July 20.


WINNERS AND PRIZES:

There will be three winners selected from the challenge using the criteria listed above. Each winner will receive a cash prize. The cash prize was sponsored by a grant that STEMFuture received from General Motors through the Ashoka + GM STEM for Changemaking Challenge in 2019. 

1st place – $300.00

2nd place – $250.00

3rd place – $200.00

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS AND LINK:

  • Please provide your video submission link in the following Google form. You can either upload your video to Google Drive and (after turning on the “link sharing” feature) provide that link or upload your video to Youtube (and after putting the privacy setting as “public”) provide the Youtube link.

SUBMISSION FORM LINK: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeltz9RZfqzAoQNoFTUbX28Xlf_M4smI27DbE7pZMojDG8ozQ/viewform?usp=sf_link

QUESTIONS?

If you have any more questions about the challenge, please feel free to reach out using the form on our Contact Us page (https://www.stemfuture.org/contact/).

Remember to be creative and have fun!