Our Blog
The Chicago Sun Times Gave Our Summer Program a Shout-Out
Elijah James wrote about STEAMbassador William Slaughter, Executive Director Natasha Smith-Walker and Project Exploration’s summer camp students.
Inside Project Exploration’s Newest STEM Learning Center, and the young people who are already writing their futures from it
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.
School Site Spotlight: It Takes a Village and learning life skills through STEM!
Watch to hear from facilitators Ms. Debbie and Mr. T about their afterschool program in gardening at It Takes a Village Leadership Academy in Bronzeville. Students are not only learning about plants...
Meet Senior Program Manager Amber Neal!
Amber Neal started working at Project Exploration in June of last year. And with over 10 years of experience working with youth in Chicago, she has a deep understanding and passion for creating pathways. “We’re really trying to build this pipeline of pathways for our...
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...