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, tehcnology, engineering and math (STEM). 

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

In early fall of 2009, our partnering community agencies Girl Scouts and Adventure Science Center helped to recruit small groups of around 10-25  7th and 8th grade girls at the following MNPS middle schools: Apollo, Croft, Dupont Tyler, Joelton, Oliver, Marshall and West End.

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.