With the generous financial support of FIRST®, an international robotics community, Carver’s after-school programming incorporates the FIRST® LEGO® League initiative to promote STEM education amongst our students. This is particularly important for our female students, as women are historically underrepresented in STEM fields due to gender bias that underestimates their abilities. Beginning in elementary school, girls are steered away from science and math, minimizing their confidence and limiting opportunities to develop their skills in these areas.

First LEGO League promotes STEM learning and exploration while teaching Carver kids the value of teamwork, inclusion, innovation, and discovery. Our male and female elementary students partake in hands-on activities that require them to develop solutions to real-world problems using LEGO bricks and engineering fundamentals. Prior to the pandemic, Carver middle schoolers also participated in FIRST LEGO League’s robotics competitions, which entail building and programming a LEGO robot.

We encourage all of our students, regardless of gender, to engage in STEM learning. Carver’s mission is to close opportunity gaps for all children; doing what we can to address the gender gap in STEM education naturally aligns with Carver’s efforts to promote equity for our children and youth.