Our Blog
STEAMbassador Wrapped Fall 2025
This fall we had our STEAMbassadors fill out a brief survey asking them what schools and communities they represented and how they felt they had been impacted by the program. Here is what they said below! Who are our STEAMbassadors? [gallery size="full"...
A Life of Service and Channeling Passion through Coaching
Senior Programs Manager Luis Bermudez wants non-profit, especially out-of-schooltime (OST) organizations to know that passion goes hand-in-hand with practice. And this pairing can be strengthened by mentorship and coaching. “You can have passion, and that's great, but...
Coding and Architecture: STEAMbassador and YREP participant Luis Avila is Using his Education to Enhancing Students’ Learning
“I didn’t think I would like coding as much as I did. I literally just went because it was like a nice opportunity,” said STEAMbassador and Year-Round Youth Employment Program (YREP) participant Luis Avila. “I wanted to teach the kids something new.” On October 20th,...
Little Sisters in the Stars — The Future is Now!
The Stars Are Already Here ✨ We always tell our students to shoot for the stars — but what if the stars are already among us? Meet Mariah and Niy’lah, two fifth graders from our Little Sisters 4 Science (LS4S) program who...
Getting to the Cheese: BBC Coding Mice Photo Essay
One thing about computers, they’re complicated. And understanding coding, the language of these machines, for many is too daunting. But not if you’re curious, and especially if you’re not alone! In our first weeks of fall Program here at Project Exploration, our...
Breaking Ground on Building Block Club: A Q&A with Our STEAMbassadors
For this month’s feature, we wanted to highlight our Building Block Club (BBC) Program and two STEAMbassadors that are leading this program for the first time, this fall. Jessica Cervantes, new to teaching, used to be a...
Sense of Belonging and STEM After-School Programs
By Program Evaluations Manager Miguel Angel Vazquez III Illustration by Benjamin Cummings for Project Exploration. As human beings, we naturally seek a sense of belonging within the social systems we are a part of. This need is particularly salient within educational...
Week One! A Photo Essay
We’re two weeks into Fall Program at the West Side STEM Learning Center at Bethel New Life (SLC) and It Takes a Village Leadership Academy in Bronzeville, and we’re already having moments of excitement, curiosity and connection! At 3:00, when students first arrive at...
What’s New for Fall 2025?
This fall, Project Exploration is launching 22 programs across 8 sites, serving students from Kindergarten through 12th grade. For the first time, we’re introducing our Building Block Club (K–2nd grade) at two new schools—It Takes a Village in Bronzeville and Catalyst...