Stemstars for Schools

Our second Live Change Squads event is today and we're excited!

We are Live 11 am - 12pm WAT

......See Zoom details on flier........

Don't miss this!

Cheers ❤

Rasheedat Yahaya

We are looking forward to our second Live event tomorrow Thursday 17th March.

You can bring a class to join or a mix of students from different classes that you think will benefit the most from our STEMAZING event.

We wants to inspire scientific understanding and innovation in our young students and a culture shift.

Don't miss this!

Remember registration for the after Live event activities is still open. Closes Fri 18th March.

We will send details to those who registered to the email address provided.

Cheers ❤

Rasheedat Yahaya

Our second Live event is still going on.

Thursday 17th March

Question: Is Change Squads only for girls?

Answer: It’s for both boys and girls.

Don't miss this!

Registration for after Live event activities is still open. Closes Fri 18th March

Cheers ❤

Rasheedat Yahaya

Yes, don't miss the second Live event if missed it today.

And register early so we can get information to you in a timely manner.

It's today... 2022 Change Squads Live Launch

11 am - 12 pm WAT

I'm excited and our energetic speaker AdeJumoke OlowoWaste said the word is ANTICIPATE!

See you and your young scientists there.

See Zoom details on the flier

Registration for thebafter launch challenges closes 12th March

Cheers ❤

Rasheedat Yahaya

1 Day to go...

We are counting down to the launch of our 2022 Change Squads

Live on Thursday 10th March 11 am -12 pm WAT

Don't let your young scientists miss out on this!

See Zoom details to join in flier.

Registration for the challenges closes by 12th March.

Cheers❤

Rasheedat Yahaya

Have you registered your school?

Join Stemstars Africa 2022 Women in Science Change Squads Live Launch!

Get your students exploring the problem of waste, water and sanitation with the energetic Mrs Jumoke Olowookere on the Live Launch

Thursday 10th March 2022 11 a.m. - 12p.m.

Mrs Jumoke Olowookere is a passionate ecopreneur who brings her passion to help your students explore sustainability, waste, water and sanitation.

An alumni of Academy of Women Entrepreneur by the US Mission in Nigeria. She is the recipient of many awards including USADF. Her passion for solving waste problems has enabled her to turn waste to treasure whilst empowering communities.

She opened the Waste Museum in the presence of representatives of the US Mission in Nigeria and Oyo State governments.

Want a free sneak peek for your students into the Waste Museum? Don't miss the Live Launch event on Thursday 10 March 11 am - 12.30 pm.

Need support to join the Live Launch with the tech you already have in your school?

Register by 9th March 3pm to get support information https://forms.gle/EBfoDa5y7CvjnAPv8

To participate in all the other exciting activities and competitions after the Live Launch.

Register by 12th March to get details
https://forms.gle/EBfoDa5y7CvjnAPv8

Cheers ❤

Rasheedat Yahaya

Join Stemstars Africa 2022 Women in Science Change Squad (2022 WiScs) this March and April for 6 weeks of improved water and sanitation themed events and activities.

Get your students thinking about this relevant issue and developing solutions to the challenge through practical science. And have fun doing it along with the arts.

Launch webinar: Thurs 10 March

Participation in the launch webinar and other activities is free.

Interested in getting your students to participate in the competitions and practical workshops?

Register now: https://forms.gle/m54TTAkaqxBM3ZUL6

Registration by Sat 12 March

Also register to get information about how to get your students to join with the technology your school already has.

We have changed our launch date to Thursday 10th March 2022.

I learnt that some schools are just returning back from the half-term break this week and that they may need some days to settle back properly into school life.

I want any school that wants their students to join to be able to do so. At the heart of Stemstars Africa is access to quality education to all young people in Nigeria and Africa.

Thank you to all people who have reached out to me for your enquiries.

Participation is free for all events and activities.

But registration is required to be able to join any of the 6 week long events and to know how to participate in the competitions.

See details in the following post.

Cheers ❤

Rasheedat Yahaya

We are counting down to the launch of our 2022 Change Squad on 3rd March 2022.

5 Days to go

There is something about culture.

Culture can make it possible for change to happen.

But culture can also stifle. Culture can keep us stagnant or slide down.

Good thing is we can also create culture.

With the right culture, we can widen our minds and bring about the world we wants.

Through our 2022 Women and Girls in Science Change Squad, we are inspiring a culture that makes change possible and at the same time showing girls that they can be change makers through science.

At Stemstars Africa, we believe that talent isn't a gender thing.

Remember to book it a date with us for upper primary and secondary pupils and all teachers of school-aged children.

It's virtual so you can join anywhere in Nigeria.

Parents be sure to share this with your child's school.

More details of the event will follow shortly.

Cheers❤

Rasheedat Yahaya

We are counting down to the launch of our 2022 Change Squad on 3rd March 2022.

6 Days to go

A conversation with a Nigerian parents back in Nigeria whose child is in SSS3...

What course is she planning to study?

Parent: BSc in Nursing

That's a great course. But why is she going for nursing?

Parent: You know as a girl...

I'm sure you can complete the remaining sentence.

Nursing is a great course. More than before, we need brilliant male and female nurses.

And who knows the child might become a top nurse practitioner in the world in the future.

But choosing nursing for a child shouldn't be because she is a female.

Doing that is closing the door of other potentially great courses to her. It could limits her potential and even her interests. And limits what she can truly offer the world.

Is that what the child really wants to do?

Would she like other courses if given the choice that does not limit what she can do to her gender?

Many well meaning parents and teachers can find themselves holding this kind of thoughts.

At Stemstars Africa, we believe that talent isn't a gender thing.

So book it a date with us for upper primary and secondary pupils and all teachers of school-aged children.

It's virtual so you can join anywhere in Nigeria.

Parents be sure to share this with your child's school.

More details of the event will follow shortly.

Cheers❤

Rasheedat Yahaya

Today, Stemstars Africa is celebrating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Here at Stemstars Africa, we're highlighting a remarkable woman by sharing her story as a reminder that STEM careers are not gender specific, challenge gender bias in STEM and inspire the next generation of women in STEM.

..........................................................................

Imagine a place where there is not a single female doctor.

You might be thinking of a poor country in a corner of the world, but this was the United States of America before 1849 when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive a medical degree from an American medical school. And if you think about it, that was not too long ago, barely over 100 years.

Elizabeth was born in 1821 in Bristol England. Her father Samuel Blackwell and her mother Hannah Lane were active in the movement to end slavery. As a young girl, Elizabeth and her eight brothers and sisters had a very happy childhood. When Elizabeth was 11, her family moved to the United States of America. Although Samuel sugar business depended on slave labour, he tried to change the industry and even took all his children to anti-slavery meetings.

Her father died when Elizabeth was 17, but she and her siblings continued his work even though they no longer had any money. This experience would prove useful to Elizabeth that change is possible.

Elizabeth became a teacher and set up a school with her sisters so she can support herself financially and because she loved history. She was no one to consider herself a doctor because she wanted nothing to do with the human body which she found disgusting. But a remarkable event changed her mind and life completely when her dying close friend told her that she would not have suffered as much if her doctor had been a woman. Elizabeth was inspired to become a doctor but this was not going to be easy because no woman had ever done it before in America and most of the world. Back then in America, thousands of women worked as midwives and healers, but they were not formally trained or recognised as doctors as the medical world was a man's world and women were not welcomed.

Elizabeth was determined to change that. She applied to dozens of medical colleges and was rejected by all except one: Geneva Medical College (now Hobart and William Smith Collges) in New York. They took a bet on her because they were convinced that the male students would never allow a woman to join them so the college let them vote on whether she should be admitted or not. Believing it to be a prank, the students all voted yes and Elizabeth became the first female medical student in the United States.

In 1849, Elizabeth became the first woman to receive a medical degree in America.

Inspired by Elizabeth's success, more women in America and Europe decided to pursue a degree in medicine and become doctors. But despite that Elizabeth example showed what women can achieve, the gender stereotype that medicine is a male field and to get a job as a doctor you have to be a man did not change that much. In fact, all the medical schools in America kept their doors shut at the increasing number of women who applied to them.

Elizabeth travelled to work in clinics in London where she became friend with Florence Nightingale, and to Paris, France where to gain experience in obstetrics, despite finishing top of her class, she had to become a midwife.

Upon returning to New York, she set up her own practice because no one would hire a female doctor. Soon she was joined by her younger sister, Dr Emily Blackwell, and their friend Dr Marie Zakrzewska.

In 1868, realising the rejections women still received from medical schools, they opened the Medical College for Women in New York.

Returning to England with her adopted Irish orphan Kitty, Elizabeth set up another successful medical practice in London and founded the National Health Society to promote good hygiene, pioneering the belief that 'prevention is better than cure'. She promoted the power of simple hand-washing as she believed it could stop the spread of many diseases.

Elizabeth changed the way people saw women and the medical profession forever showing that talent is NOT a gender thing.

Images - Elizabeth's photo and the Medical College for Women

2022