STEMpact2020 website pairs potential mentors with Wichita-area youth

Becoming a mentor is about to become a lot easier for Wichita-area scientists, technology gurus, engineers and mathematicians.

STEMpact2020, a citywide effort led by Wichita State University’s College of Engineering, will officially unveil a new online resource Thursday for connecting STEM professionals with Wichita-area youth.

The newly revamped website, www.stempact2020.org, provides a platform for schools, teachers, nonprofits and other organizations to post requests for STEM mentors, and for prospective mentors to shop opportunities that range from one-time volunteer events to weekly, one-year commitments. Interested mentors can fill out an online survey and indicate preferred days, activities and ages of children they would like to work with.

“A lot of STEM professionals aren’t necessarily engaged in raising up the next generation of engineers or scientists,” said Alex Petersen, STEMpact2020 coordinator. “We want to go out and find them in their workplaces and really try to engage them.

“We’re giving STEM professionals an avenue to work with youth and to show them that this (career) is a possibility: ‘This is something you can do, and I’m a real-life example of that.’ ”

The effort will focus on youth from groups underrepresented in STEM fields – females, African-Americans and Hispanics – but all local youth will be served by the program, officials said.

“A lot of kids may have the aptitude, they may have the ability, they may have the skills and the interest, but they don’t have a family or other people who say, ‘Yes, you can do this,’ ” Petersen said. “It’s a lot of ‘no,’ and for a lot of different reasons. … That’s the barrier we’re trying to get over.”

STEMpact2020 will kick off the website at a breakfast event Thursday at Exploration Place. Interested professionals are invited to attend between 8 and 9:30 a.m. to learn more. Partnering youth organizations will have tables describing their volunteer opportunities.

STEMpact2020 is supported in part by the US2020 competition. Wichita was one of seven winners of the national competition and is sharing $1 million in resources over the next year, including the help of a full-time AmeriCorps VISTA worker.

For more information about STEMpact2020.org, call 316-978-3199 or e-mail STEMpact2020@wichita.edu.

This story was originally published October 1, 2014 at 10:07 AM with the headline "STEMpact2020 website pairs potential mentors with Wichita-area youth."