Puerto Rico Focuses on STEM Learning for All

Founded in 2004, Puerto Rico’s Science, Technology, and Research Trust is on a mission to “to continually advance Puerto Rico’s economy and its citizens’ well-being” through its three main pillars of research & development, entrepreneurship, and public health. The Trust also recognizes the need to support a pipeline of access to STEM learning for all students on the island if it is to succeed in its mission. The Trust’s STEM Education Program focuses on STEM education public policy, strategic partnerships, and supporting the local STEM education ecosystem. The program includes activities such as STEM in the Mountain, a weeklong summer program offering hands-on STEM learning to 5th through 8th grade students. To meet students where they are, the program has also developed STEM Boxed Kits delivered to students’ homes. The kits provide everything necessary to provide access to experiential STEM learning and begin to build early pathways to STEM careers.