Scholarships For Young Women
Founded in 2018, Aspire2STEAM is a humanitarian labor of love where all proceeds go to fund scholarships for young women pursuing careers in #STEM or #TheArts. Our scholarship program differs from others in that we also provide mentoring and recognition-focused communications which bring employment, internships, and other scholarship opportunities to the students we serve.
Why Your Donation Matters
Yes, we are very lucky in the United States that women and girls are allowed an education and many are encouraged to gain additional education beyond grade 12. Yet this truth is relatively new. As recently as the 1960s most young women in the US were not encouraged to focus on their education beyond high school and male-dominated STEAM-related careers were rarely encouraged.
AND, while young women and girls have access to STEAM education today, it is FAR from equitable and this is what drives our passion for serving young women and girls with scholarships, recognition, and mentoring.
You see, we believe it’s no longer good enough for girls to have the opportunity to apply for scholarships to participate in college, the trades, or certification programs. We want their requests to be considered seriously and with parity. But that’s not happening today. The sad fact is that while the majority of scholarship applications received at most schools are completed by young women, nearly 70 percent of the scholarships that are given out each year go to young men. The percentage is even lower for female STEAM majors.
Which leads to another well publicized truth. Unsurprisingly, more young women have to take out larger school loans than their male counterparts. And this economic disadvantage follows them for years…because the sad reality is that it will take them longer to pay off that debt because of yet another persistent reality.
As you know, women, on average, will earn 70 cents for every dollar earned by a man at the same level. No matter how hard she works or smart she is. And if she is a young woman of color the average drops to 60 cents for every dollar. That’s an economic hole which is incredibly tough to get out of, especially when you’re paying down school loans.
And that’s an economic disadvantage which follows a young woman throughout her entire life and is among the top reasons why she will not be able to retire when most men retire. This is because she will not afford to do so unless she gets some extra support outside her own resources. Unfortunately, the reality for most young women is that they will not have that outside support.
AND, while young women and girls have access to STEAM education today, it is FAR from equitable and this is what drives our passion for serving young women and girls with scholarships, recognition, and mentoring.
You see, we believe it’s no longer good enough for girls to have the opportunity to apply for scholarships to participate in college, the trades, or certification programs. We want their requests to be considered seriously and with parity. But that’s not happening today. The sad fact is that while the majority of scholarship applications received at most schools are completed by young women, nearly 70 percent of the scholarships that are given out each year go to young men. The percentage is even lower for female STEAM majors.
Which leads to another well publicized truth. Unsurprisingly, more young women have to take out larger school loans than their male counterparts. And this economic disadvantage follows them for years…because the sad reality is that it will take them longer to pay off that debt because of yet another persistent reality.
As you know, women, on average, will earn 70 cents for every dollar earned by a man at the same level. No matter how hard she works or smart she is. And if she is a young woman of color the average drops to 60 cents for every dollar. That’s an economic hole which is incredibly tough to get out of, especially when you’re paying down school loans.
And that’s an economic disadvantage which follows a young woman throughout her entire life and is among the top reasons why she will not be able to retire when most men retire. This is because she will not afford to do so unless she gets some extra support outside her own resources. Unfortunately, the reality for most young women is that they will not have that outside support.
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Your Support Removes Real Barriers
Join us in our mission to provide truly life-changing scholarship opportunities, mentoring, and recognition to young women and girls pursuing STEAM careers. Join us in our commitment to helping them fill their school funding gaps so they don’t spend a lifetime dealing with the fallout of an inequitable system that overlooks them so early on in their lives.
Once again, we encourage you to watch the videos of the young women who received scholarships. Read their press releases. Learn about their aspirations and what they plan to do to truly make the world, your world, a better place with their education. And, please, donate to this humble mission and the young women and girls we serve. And then take a moment to feel empowered because your kindness is changing the trajectory not only of their lives…but all the people they will be impacting because they had a shot. These aspiring humans received a scholarship as a reward for their hard work and persistence. Because you cared enough to say “yes” to their dreams of being our future scientists, healthcare workers, engineers, artists, mathematicians. They are our future and we want them to shine for the good of all. |
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