Project Exploration’s newest permanent STEM Learning Center in Chicago opened this spring inside Frederick Douglass Academy High School, the Jewel of the West Side. Here’s what happened.
We caught a glimpse. Watch it here. → The Reel Deal
“I want to open a low-cost vet clinic right here in the community.” ~ Nevaeh, STEM Signing Day Honoree
She’s 17. She already knows what she’s going to do with her life. Nevaeh knows her plan. not a vague dream—a plan. She is going to study veterinary science, earn her degree, and open a low-cost animal-care clinic in a community where that kind of access doesn’t exist. She said it plainly, without flinching, the way people talk when they’ve thought about something long enough that it doesn’t just feel like a wish anymore.
She said it like she’d been waiting for someone to say it out loud.
PE’s newest STEM Learning Center quietly opened this spring inside Frederick Douglass Academy High School, “The Jewel of Chicago’s West Side” — already carrying this kind of energy. The kind that doesn’t wait to be invited. The kind that has a plan. The kind where doors are open and young people like Nevaeh, are walking in mapping out their futures like the room was built for them . . . for her.
Because it was.
Nevaeh wasn’t alone that day. Standing beside her was her bestie, Tichuria — another STEM Signing Day honoree, another young woman with a vision so specific it almost takes your breath away.
“I want to be an OB-GYN nurse . . . to help women of color.” ~ Tichuria, STEM Signing Day Honoree
An OB-GYN nurse. Present for the beginning of life. Two students. Two very clear futures. Both shaped, at least in part, by what they found in this building.
That’s not a coincidence. That’s what happens when science education is done right — when it’s consistent, when it’s close to home, when it’s taught by people who look like you and come from where you come from.
“When you put the right resources inside a school—really inside it, not somewhere across town—you change what students believe is possible for them. That’s what this center does.” ~ Mr. Michael Durr, Principle, Frederick Douglass Academy High School
The Frederick Douglass STEM Learning Center houses the Sisters4Science Design Lab, connected to the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance—a recognition that the work happening here carries ambitions far beyond one school or one city block.
It sits inside a high school. The students who walk through its doors are already standing at the edge of their futures. And the community it anchors — Austin — has historically been given less of everything, including reason to believe that science has a place for them.
Nevaeh and Tichuria are the answer to that misconception.
“I’m from Englewood. I know what it looks like when a young person—especially a young many—doesn’t have someone in their corner who actually means it. This program means it. And I take it personally when someone doesn’t take advantage of what’s right in front of them. Because I know what’s at stake if they don’t.” ~ Mr. Joseph Puckett, Teacher, Frederick Douglass Academy High School
Mr. Puckett said it without apology. That’s not a threat. That’s love — the kind that comes from someone who grew up in these same neighborhoods, who knows the weight of a real opportunity and what it costs when one slips by.
“I’ve watched students walk through that door and come back changed—not just in what they know, but in how they carry themselves. That matters more than any test score.” ~ Mr. Gerald Robertson, Assistant Principle, Frederick Douglass Academy High School
Nevaeh reached. Tichuria reached. A working mother cleared her calendar and showed up to a school she’d never been to before because something told her this was worth it.
This is what the Frederick Douglass STEM Learning Center is already producing — and it just opened its doors.
Imagine what it will look like in five years.