In collaboration with Alignment Nashville, which  received a 3-year 1.35 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation called ITEST (Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers), PENCIL is working with girls in grades 7-9 in Metro Schools to promote their interests, skills, and abilities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). 

The goal is to build upon the current interest areas of girls, particularly creative interests such as art, so that more choose to pursue STEM education in high school though career academies and in post-secondary education. Small teams of teachers and mentors provide hands-on, problem-based, and engaging activities for girls after school twice per month at the targeted middle schools. The teams also partnered to provide a one-week residential summer camp in 2010 and 2011.

Last year, only about 3 percent of 9^th grade girls expressed interest in enrolling in a STEM-related career. The most common interest was in arts and entertainment. We believe that all students, but especially girls and minority students, simply are not aware of the many career opportunities in STEM fields and how relevant they are to their own talents as well as real-world issues. 

Adventure Science Center is our partnering agency.

Teachers partner with STEM experts from the business community and from local universities to develop the STEM content presented in the after-school sessions as well as the summer camp.