It was by accident that Maria Varisco-Rogers Charter School became involved with Students 2 Science, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that provides disadvantaged students with hands-on STEM education.
The Newark charter school was selected for a free science field trip after another nearby school couldn’t go. It was May 2012, and middle school teacher Patricia Fartura was in charge of bringing 30 eighth graders to the organization’s technology center — a trip she would make an annual event.
“That’s when the journey began. And our students loved it,” Fartura said. “It allowed students who would normally not be in that scenario or the situation of seeing what a science lab really looks like to get hands-on experience.”
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Fartura is now the curriculum supervisor at Varisco-Rogers, but its middle schoolers still visit Students 2 Science’s technology center to conduct multi-day experiments, such as simulating how the digestive system works or testing the energy content in caffeinated drinks.
Varisco-Rogers is one of more than 150 schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania that partner with the 15-year-old organization, sending students three times a year to its technology centers for all-day programs in chemistry, biotechnology, physics and engineering. When students arrive, they are split into research teams and work with scientists to conduct experiments that connect to real-world issues, according to the nonprofit.
For now, Students 2 Science serves middle and high school students at two centers, located in Newark and East Hanover, New Jersey. But the nonprofit recently announced an expansion of its program to elementary students, especially those in third and fourth grade, with a new 20,000-square-foot technology center near Whippany, New Jersey. It will replace the East Hanover facility in fall 2025.
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The nonprofit also provides virtual laboratory lessons for teachers to livestream in their classrooms and a career-exploration program for high schoolers.
Dan Barnett, Student 2 Science’s chief development officer, said the organization decided to include younger students after hearing from schools that elementary classrooms had a shortage of science teachers.
“There’s such a lack of science teachers, or teachers that have a science background or can teach science in the elementary levels, especially for our school districts that are in such great need overall for resources,” Barnett said. “We worked with consultants to help develop a curriculum that aligned to New Jersey standards for learning and science. And now we are looking for a specialist to lead that program.”
Fartura said the decision to include elementary students will be critical to improving their academic success and trajectory.
“I think at a younger age is where we want to get them [interested in STEM], because it’ll just continue to create passion for the subject, especially with all the careers that are out there now — everything is STEM,” she said.
National studies show that young children begin to lose interest in science, technology, engineering and math as they grow older when they don’t have mentors to encourage them. One 2019 study found that this decline is more common among girls, students from low-income families and children of color.
This school year, Varisco-Rogers began incorporating STEM into its own elementary curriculum. Majority of the school’s 570 students are Hispanic and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Fartura said that so far, she has seen the school’s third and fourth graders become more engaged in their learning when STEM activities are involved.
“The little ones are … absorbing everything,” she said. “By the time I would get my students in sixth grade — even 10 years ago, 15 years ago — if they didn’t have that passion for science, it was so difficult for me to try to kind of push them.”
As Students 2 Science prepares to open its new site, the organization is also reimagining ways STEM can be taught through its two other programs, Barnett said.
The V-Lab Program offers virtual laboratory lessons that can be remotely streamed at any school. Classroom teachers are given science materials, and a Students 2 Science instructor teaches a 45- to 50-minute lesson.
There is also a career advancement program that offers high school students opportunities for training and internships in STEM fields.
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“We are really focused on exposure, making sure students know what options are out there, especially in the state of New Jersey,” Barnett said. “We recognize that for the communities that we serve, the students don’t necessarily get exposed to all of those opportunities, so that’s really what the focus of that program is, and that’s going to, I think, make a greater impact.”
About 90% of Students 2 Science participants are students of color, and 52% are female, according to the nonprofit. Since its inception in 2009, the organization has served more than 250,000 students.
One former student, Nomase Iyamu, said his participation in 2015 led him to a career in pharmaceuticals. He began at Students 2 Science as a sophomore at Bard High School Early College, which is part of Newark Public Schools, interned there as a college student and helped create the V-Lab Program.
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Imayu said Students 2 Science allowed him to make mistakes while experimenting with science and technology in high school. That opportunity sparked his interest in the pharmaceutical field, which eventually led him to enroll in business school to create his own pharmaceutical startup company.
“It took STEM for me to become an entrepreneur, so it may take STEM for someone to do something else that they’re actually passionate about,” he said. “I definitely see Students 2 Science as a very strong stepping stone to any career path that you want to have. I would definitely not be here without them.”