STEM program allows WA students to travel the globe
The AFS Global STEM Changemakers Initiative is aimed at high schoolers and secondary educators and provides opportunities to travel to different parts of the world to learn STEM.
By Michaela Ely
American Field Service (AFS) is an international non-profit organization that is not associated with any government agency that promotes intercultural learning possibilities to increase understanding between people of different backgrounds. Their Global STEM Changemakers Initiative provides full scholarships for STEM and sustainability focused exchange opportunities for high school age students through three different programs.
The three programs aimed at students range in age requirements and length, with the longest program being 16 weeks, with 12 weeks of curriculum being followed by a four-week travel experience with the choice of four possible countries, Brazil, China, India or Egypt.
AFS also offers a virtual exchange program for educators. The program for educators is a six-week virtual program for current secondary STEM educators. It is an online certificate program that emphasizes sustainability, aims to promote diversity through developing new ideas to bring to a multicultural classroom and results in the participant earning an AFS global competence certificate as well as a digital badge to reflect these credentials. This program is also funded by British Petroleum (BP), a British oil and global energy company and provides full scholarships for all participants.
“I definitely wish I knew about this sooner and I feel like if this was advertised at SAMI, there would be a ton of interaction from students and teachers alike. I would definitely be interested in this program! I want to still be involved in marine biology even though I’m becoming a teacher, and I feel like this is an amazing idea to continue to be involved in STEM and actually making an impact on the world,” high school student of Tacoma’s Science and Math Institute (SAMI) Ayla Macary said.
These programs are in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s (UP) School of Social Policy and UP’s Center for Social Impact Strategy. These programs are also fully funded by BP. Their funding allows for these programs to be delivered on full scholarship, with everything from travel costs to visa application assistance being included. BP will be funding 5000 scholarships over the next five years.
The curriculum aspects of these programs take place via Zoom with multiple meetings occurring throughout the day to accommodate school schedules and time zones. This is combined with asynchronous self-paced online content and together takes up about three to four hours each week. This is a global program as residents of many different countries are eligible to apply.
The AFS Global STEM Changemakers Initiative also attempts to serve underrepresented populations in STEM, trying to break down barriers like financial status and gender. AFS also partners with community organizations and schools in order to seek out these candidates. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.?
“I really love how the website is set up. It has something for everyone from just a basic sort of introduction into STEM, to more complex and demanding fields, all while still making it interesting. If I was a bit younger and not right at that gap between 17.5 – 18, I would totally sign myself up next year. Especially since it has full courses and allows you to surround yourself with people who also have similar goals and ambitions to you,” Macary told The Ledger.
For those who know someone who may be interested in applying, applications for AFS’s Global STEM Academies will open Nov. 15 and applications for the other programs will be opening in early 2025.
