This Exelon’s Leadership Academy will encourage high school girls in Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., to pursue career paths in STEM-related fields; thus making the women in STEM presence more evident and powerful.
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About the Women in STEM Leadership Academy
This week, the Exelon Foundation, in collaboration with Exelon Corp., announced the return of its annual STEM Leadership Academy. Indeed, this initiative was launched in 2018 to encourage and help female students to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).
Worth noting, the Exelon Foundation hosts the STEM Academy events in cities where, Exelon,
a Fortune 100 company and the nation’s largest generator of carbon-free energy, has operating companies.
Accordingly, for this year, the 2021 iteration of the Academy will host the women in STEM 180 students in Chicago (July 11-16), Philadelphia (July 25-30), and Washington D.C./Baltimore (August 1-6). Due to the pandemic restrictions, Academy participants will gather masked and in person for the first day of each Academy.
However, all participants will return to a virtual format for the remainder of each Academy; which, indeed, will examine issues relating to climate change.
Reception
In this sense, Chris Crane, Exelon President, and CEO commented in a media release; “It is critical that we engage, educate and inspire the next generation of women in STEM leaders. Also, we provide them the tools and resources they need to prepare for future professional careers.”
Therefore, “the STEM Academy provides female students with access to STEM leaders, first-hand experiences, and learning opportunities,” continued Crane. Particularly learnings “that they may not otherwise encounter in their academic careers.”
Also, “as the pandemic winds down, we are taking an innovative hybrid approach that will provide these young women in STEM with an exciting experience this summer,” concluded Crane.
What will the students learn?
Thus, as part of the three-week-long Academy events, 60 high school girls in each market will gather on the first day of the Academy to pick up tools and needed supplies for experiments during the week. After that, they will participate in online educational seminars, discussions, and hands-on workshops on the remaining days.
Attendees also will take virtual field trips to noteworthy STEM-related landmarks in each host city. Particularly, this year’s Academy event will focus on addressing the growing impacts of climate change. Also, on the disproportionate ways, it is affecting the most under-resourced populations.
Accordingly, the women in STEM students will be challenged to design their energy-efficient product prototypes; particularly, with a panel of judges selecting a winning project after each Academy.
Indeed, the fourth annual STEM Leadership Academy, funded by the Exelon Foundation, is part of Exelon’s investment to encourage and support the involvement of young women in STEM. For instance, the company recently committed $1 million to launch the STEM Leadership Academy Scholarship, which is open to Academy alumna.
Consequently, it covers all costs associated with college; including tuition, room and board, and other expenses not covered by other confirmed scholarships, family contributions, and work-study grants. In fact, Crane recently presented the scholarships to seven students who will graduate debt-free and will be guaranteed internships with Exelon throughout college.
