Future City
Future City is a particularly innovative program that takes a fun approach to getting students involved in engineering and helping them learn how to apply math and science concepts to real-world issues. Future City hosts a national competition, but students are more than welcome to participate in the program without actually competing. The program allows students to team up with an experienced educator and engineer mentor to “imagine, design and build cities of the future,” according to the program’s official website. “This flexible, cross-curricular educational program gives students an opportunity to do the things that engineers do ‑ identify problems; brainstorm ideas; design solutions; test, retest and build; and share their results.”
Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement
Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement, or MESA, has been around since 1970 and has years of experience getting students interested in STEM subjects. MESA not only provides classes for students enrolled in the program, but it also launches competitions and counseling in schools around the country that specifically target “educationally disadvantaged” students to both gain interest in and excel in STEM. MESA gives students of all ages access to STEM and even integrates SAT/PSAT prep into the programs.