4 – Quality Education – Worcester Community Project Center

June 30, 2024September 16, 2024 by Andrew Costas

WPI’s STEM Education Center: Tracking Community Engagement

Our team aimed to assist all WPI on-campus clubs and organizations, including the STEM Education Center, through the improvement of their volunteer data collection processes. WPI’s STEM Education Center Committed to empowering educators to lead relevant, integrated & inclusive STEM experiences. Student Researchers Project Goal and Objectives The main focus of our project was to…

March 25, 2024August 26, 2024 by webarton

Mill Swan Head Start: Designing and Implementing STEAM playground equipment

Project Description Head Start is a federally funded early education program designed to help children from low income families build a strong learning foundation. Key ways of strengthening young minds is through outdoor play and STEAM learning equipment. Our team has partnered with the Mill Swan School, a Worcester Head Start, to improve their outdoor…

January 24, 2024August 7, 2024 by prhussey

WPI: Get out the Goat Vote

Project Description In the 2020 presidential election, voter turnout among those ages 18-24 was 51%, which pales in comparison to the 67% turnout for overall voters. It is critically important that the youth vote as they have the most to gain from the actions of those elected. It’s also been observed by many people that…

April 27, 2023April 27, 2023 by nflipka

HECCMA: Connecting College Campuses to the Worcester Community

Project Sponsor The Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts (HECCMA) is an association of public and private accredited colleges and universities in central Massachusetts. HECCMA is committed to working collaboratively to further the missions of member institutions. Current member institutions are as follows: Anna Maria CollegeAssumption UniversityClark UniversityCollege of the Holy CrossCummings School of Veterinary…

March 21, 2023May 6, 2023 by jwewen

MassEdCO: Creating an Interactive Resource for Teaching Financial Literacy

Project Description Too many students graduate college with thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of student debt. MassEdCO and our team found that there is a lack of education around financial literacy which leads to students making poor choices out of high school putting them in so much debt. Therefore, we developed a new resource…

October 25, 2022December 16, 2022 by idas

Worcester Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative: Increasing Environmental Literacy through STEM Modules

Project Description Worcester has been experiencing an increase in cyanobacteria blooms in recent years. To counteract this, the Worcester Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative (WCMC) has been releasing informational material to increase knowledge about this issue. Our team worked with the WCMC to create STEM learning modules that teach the youth different ways to identify cyanobacteria and…

January 18, 2022March 4, 2022 by jcampanale

Technocopia: Increasing Accessibility and Belonging at Technocopia

Project Description This project worked with Technocopia, a makerspace in Worcester, MA, to foster accessibility in training and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in their space. We interviewed staff, instructors, members, and DEIB specialists, and evaluated the CNC machining training through participant observation. We found that Technocopia has a need for: reference and safety…

June 22, 2021December 15, 2021 by Laura Roberts

Women’s Initiative of the United Way: Dollar Scholar engagement

We worked with the Women’s Initiative of the United Way to enhance their online financial literacy program, Dollar $cholar. This program aims to help empower young women through financial education. A lack of financial literacy training can lead to economic dependence. This financial literacy discrepancy is particularly prevalent amongst women, leading to an increase in…

January 28, 2021August 5, 2021 by Laura Roberts

HVK’s Children Foundation: Improving the user experience on the Lab-in-a-Box for students in Liberia

Project Sponsor: Hawah V. Kamara (HVK) Children’s Foundation HVK’s Children Foundation is a non-profit organization based in both West Africa, Liberia and Worcester, MA. Their mission is to help children, women, and families in sub-Saharan Africa, Liberia. The organization has partnered with 6 different primary and junior high schools in Liberia to coordinate health and…

May 20, 2020August 4, 2021 by Laura Roberts

Main IDEA: Assessing the Need for Accessible Youth Arts Programs in Main South

Project Sponsor: Main IDEA Main IDEA is a nonprofit Youth & Arts organization that offers free arts programming to youth ages 6-17 in Worcester, MA, with a priority given to residents of the Main South neighborhood. with a focus on empowerment and intrinsic motivation. These arts programs include not only visual art, but also music,…