A New Exciting Beginning for SEM Link

In January 2010, SEM Link began its journey to become a national nonprofit organization by expanding our programs to the San Francisco Bay Area. Since it has been March since we last posted on our blog, you can see that it has been a busy but exciting time of transition for us to lay the foundation for becoming a national nonprofit. With today being the final day of the 2009-10 fiscal year, we thought it would be appropriate to give a summary of how we spend the final months of the 2009-10 fiscal year that we are about to close and what is to come in the new 2010-11 fiscal year.

The main reason, San Francisco Bay Area was chosen as the city that we would provide programs and services in addition to Metropolitan Atlanta, because establishing a presence in the West Coast would truly establish us as a national organization by offering programs on both coasts. Over the past few months, we have experienced the successes and challenges of this transition. Some of our challenges have been the same ones that other nonprofits are facing with decreasing financial support from individuals, corporations and grantors. The other challenge was while our Executive Director and Founder was in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was hard to determine who in the organization (staff, board of director, volunteer) in Atlanta would step up and do some of the things that she did when while she was living in Atlanta. It was also a challenge to determine what programs and services would be offered in each city and how our program structure would be affected as we transition beyond just serving Metropolitan Atlanta K-12 students, parents and educators.

However, we have had several successes with the transition. We were able to secure new corporate sponsors for our 3rd Annual Science, Engineering and Career Fair and Exhibition in Atlanta. We were able to establish a Bay Area community partnership with the ASA Community Science Center in Oakland. We have increased our presence on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Group as well as discussing a partnership with an online community for high school students www.TrackAhead.Com. In this past few months more people all over the country and the world have learned about who we are and what we do as an organization and that is exciting.

So what should you expect in the 2010-11 fiscal year, that will start on August 1st? The first major project before all of our programs start in September is to update our website to reflect the national nonprofit organization that we are now. We will offer programs in Metropolitan Atlanta, San Francisco Bay Area and possibly the DC Metropolitan Area as well as offer more activities on our website and through social media for K-12 students. You will see our web presence increase with articles about current trends in STEM research, policy and education as well as more articles for our Executive Director. We will establish partnerships with other nonprofits, corporations including small and medium sized businesses, college and universities, government agencies, and media outlets to either collaborate on programs or obtain resources to help us achieve our mission. Focus on getting individuals that support our organization and believe in our mission to show their support with financial contributions. As a nonprofit organization, we can't achieve our vision of "unveiling potential through exposure" if we don't have resources and the relationships to do so. In order to do our part in contributing to the creation of the pipeline of the future STEM workforce, we must build a community that supports our organization with their time, professional expertise and finances.

January is National Mentoring Month

January is National Mentoring Month. It is the time when we highlight and celebrate the work of organizations that are involved in mentoring youth (for more information visit www.mentoring.org). There are many nonprofit organizations that are doing wonderful things to make a difference in the lives of children. I want take this time to honor those organization. I want to take this time to thank and honor SEM Link program assistant, Ms. Angela M. Hardin and volunteers that are involved directly in our programs that serve at the schools and interact directly with the students exposing them to math and science.

The origin of the term mentor comes from Greek mythology, when Mentor the friend of Odysseus, was left in charge of Odysseus's son Telemachus when he went off to the Trojan War. The first recorded modern usage of the term was in the "Les Aventures de Telemaque", by the French writer François Fénelon in 1699 in which the lead character was Mentor. Mentoring is when more experienced, in most times older person, serves as a teacher, friend, counselor and example to a younger person as the person advance through life and/or a project.

Mentors play an important role in one's personal and professional development. If we are honest with ourselves, most adults would not be where they are today if weren't for a few good mentors that we were fortunate enough to have in our lives. A good mentors does two major things for you; teaches you thinks that you and introduces you to people you need to know to be successful and puts you in an environment where you can develop your natural gifts and talents. Mentors invest in their proteges simply because they believe that you are worth the investment and want to see you become all you can and accomplish all you can.

Mentoring can take place in an informal or formal setting. There are mentoring programs that set youth up with mentors like Big Brothers or Big Sisters. Or informal mentoring that takes place, when a student is introduced to people that provide an example of who they want to become and accomplish in life. Although SEM Link is not an organization that has a formal mentoring program, our vision statement- "unveiling potential through exposure" is the essence of what the results of good mentoring should be. Through our programs, we have exposed students to undergraduate and graduate students and professionals with stem backgrounds that have not only have engaged in hands on math and science activities, helped them with their homework and exposed them to what scientist do; but gave them a glimpse of who they could be and what they could accomplish. Our volunteers have let students know that they are so worth the investment of their time in helping them academic achieve and explore careers in math and science.

As an organization, we will continue to provide mentoring to our youth. Not enough youth feel that they can academically achieve or pursue careers in math and science. At times, we may not get to have opportunities for a long term mentoring relationship with our students like other organizations. But we do a great job of mentoring our youth by giving them a glimpse of what they can do and who they can be; a student that academic achieves in math and science and a part of the future STEM workforce.

Making 2010 SEM Link's best year ever

The close of one year and the start of another one is the time for reflection for many people. We determine and make lists of the goals and plans we have for the new year with the intentions of completing them all in the upcoming year. I know I do that annually and most years I accomplish those things and some that weren't on the list, but I also fall short on completing some of them. So as 2010 approaches I want to share some of the things that we as an organization will focus on and the things I want to ask you to do in 2010.

Since our inception in 2005, SEM Link has exposed over 1000 Metro Atlanta youth to hands on activities and career exploration in math and science. We are very proud of our work, but in order to increase our impact as an organization we can't just focus on Metropolitan Atlanta. We have some initiatives that are going to focus on expanding our programs nationally and possibly internationally. In addition, we are going to look for ways to incorporate instructional technology and multimedia in our programming. In addition, we are working on building relationships with other organizations that have complementary mission to increase the impact we have on the students we serve. In addition, we are working on increase our corporate partnership and community relations so that we can have the resources that we need to achieve our mission. In addition, we want to expand our online community through our social media outlets such as this blog and our facebook page.

In order for all these goals and plans for 2010 and beyond to happen, we need everyone who supports and believes in SEM Link mission to put our organization in their goal and plans for 2010. Determine what you are going to do to support the organization or increase your level of support. Will you promote the organization by encouraging others to visit our website to find out more, follow our blog and became a fan of our Facebook page? Will you start making or increase your financial contribution to our "Donate Your Lunch Money" Individual Donor Campaign? If you are a business owner will you become a corporate partner? If work for a small, medium or large corporation, will you encourage your company to become a corporate partner and/or encourage your colleagues to donate or volunteer their time. It takes a village to educate a child and SEM Link needs to make that village larger in 2010. We have to make strides to create the pipeline for the future STEM workforce. Happy New Year. Make 2010 your best year ever. We are certainly expecting 2010 to be SEM Link's best year ever.