The following is a reprint of my interview with Cynthia Chapple, founder of Black Girls Do STEM, which was published in the June issue of CWEA Griffin. BGDSTEM is headquartered in the CWE’s TechArtista, 4818 Washington.
(A link to a digital version of the entire June issue can be found at the end of this post.)
Cynthia Chapple, left, top row, photographed with Black Girls Do STEM students (in laboratory coats) and Maryville University Student Volunteers.
In 2013, when Chicagoan Cynthia Chapple moved to St. Louis to work as an applied chemist at Anheuser-Busch, she never imagined that 10 years later she’d be running a successful non-profit called Black Girls Do Stem. Chapple was hired by A-B after earning a chemistry major from IUPUI Indianapolis at Purdue. A year later she left A-B to earn a graduate degree at SIU-E, and afterwards worked as a senior research and development chemist at a manufacturing company in north St. Louis.
While working full time, Chapple became involved in community outreach programs that increased gender equity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). As a researcher, she discovered that Black girls in the St. Louis Public School System were not participating in math and science programs. To target that audience, in 2015 she started an online social awareness campaign highlighting the contribution of Black women in STEM.
In 2018, Chapple reached out to community centers to gauge interest in hosting pop-up STEM workshops for 6th to 8th grade Black girls. She got the word out and was thrilled when girls started showing up. The idea quickly took on a life of its own, and by the end of that year, she had 7 community centers eager to participate. “I was literally bringing supplies out of the trunk of my car trying to make a great experience for the girls.”
One of Chapple’s first partners in the STEM effort was Paula Gaertner, CEO of Thomas Dunn Learning Center in South City. Gaertner encouraged her to start a non-profit and in March 2019 provided the location and funding for the first Black Girls Do Stem Spring Break Pilot Camp. Eighty girls participated. Since then, BGDSTEM has reached over 200 girls.
STEM Saturdays is an 8-month once-a-month program that meets in multiple locations: Dutchtown, Wesley House Association in the Penrose Neighborhood, and The Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Louis and Ferguson. Recruitment for February 2024’s program begins in the fall. Workshops, which cater to career pathways, are taught by Black women utilizing a co-facilitation model, meaning a STEM professional is paired with a traditional educator. In addition, a licensed clinical social worker puts together content to guide personal and social development as well as confidence building. Girls are invited to participate for a second year, and given the option to self-select specific topics.
On STEM Saturdays, 3 1/2 hours are devoted to the project, followed by a mentoring session during which professionals describe their jobs or what they experienced as undergrads on a design team, for instance. This model allows girls to understand that the BGDSTEM experience has real-life application.
Topics include cosmetic science—which the girls could readily relate to—where they learn about the physical properties of products they bring from home, and why a chemist or cosmetic scientist makes considerations in developing a product. They learn to think through the creation of a product, and then take home what they make.
Another workshop focuses on Fashion Technology, 3-D Design, and Development which, they learned, also relates to architecture. Last year, the most popular topic was Civil Engineering, where the girls discussed floods in St. Louis and in New Orleans following Katrina.
As an example of how the program integrates STEM with other areas, such as social justice, the girls use Geographic Information System mapping technology to discuss social justice. By observing the quality of air in different areas of St. Louis, they could see why kids have more asthma in certain neighborhoods.
“We don’t go into high level chemistry for kids to understand,” Chappele explained. “We use real vocabulary, but understanding vocabulary isn’t as important as understanding why it matters. We want the girls to feel empowered to create.”
The first students who participated in the BGDSTEM program will be graduating in 2024. Chapple has found that former students tend to opt into more accelerated math classes, robotics, and extra curricular STEM camps. Some girls attend SLPS’s Collegiate or Metro High School. For those high schoolers who don’t have STEM opportunities, BGDSTEM helps girls stay connected in other ways. “We’re all about being a resource for them, keeping them engaged, and reinforcing the reality that “I can be an engineer, I am a mathematician.” Chapple continued, “We’re not creating pathways, because they already exist. Our job is to help with connectivity.”
That connectivity enabled 14 girls to participate in a public health research project at Washington University, exploring access to genomic research in Black communities. Others have participated in high school level STEM programs at the Danforth Plant Science Center. And some are awaiting news on whether they’ve been accepted into a National Department of Defense High School Internship Program in D. C. this summer.
While building the infrastructure of BGDSTEM, Chapple kept herself going by doing technical consulting on the side. Early on, she had an easy time raising funds as corporate dollars were going to equity and inclusion. “But as we get further away from the pandemic, a lot of social responsibility dollars are going to other priorities. Her goal and that of her Board is to get some of those corporate dollars targeted to gender equity and STEM. In the meantime, we’ve maintained a good relationship with the National Education Venture Fund which funds tech opportunities, and we have individual donors giving sustaining gifts of $2 to $100 a month. Every dollar helps.”
Chapple laughed and said, now I’m ‘Chief Black Girl Doing Stem,’ grant prospecting, writing grants, and walking into the room giving the pitch,” she said. This is the first year she’s become a full-time salaried employee of the non-profit.
“More than anything, I want to reiterate that Black Girls Do Stem is an equity-centered organization. What equity means for us is that Black girls who come into BGDSTEM programming have a space to simply exist as they are, to be seen, to be heard without any external expectations. They can guide their learning because there is a sense of freedom and imagination and curiosity. If we do nothing else well but create that space, I think we’ve achieved such a good goal and sound foundation for girls to start exploring themselves and what they can become in this world.”
To donate and help continue the wonderful work of Black Girls Do Stem, click here.
Here is a link to the digital version of the June issue of CWEA Griffin.