The goal of our work is to increase participation in the sciences by re-engaging youth who may have decided that science is not for them. Our work continues to build and expand upon a longitudinal success pathway for youth from Grades 7th through 12th by engaging youth in learning and applying a range of science and technology concepts. Our work focuses on engaging youth in a variety of learning experiences with the goal of exposing them to learn a variety of skills. We believe a unique aspect of our work is that the youth are exposed to a variety of sciences and technologies throughout their participation in our programs especially because for many youth they often do not have an opportunity to explore or experiment in a range of areas within science or technology or design in school (and more importantly they often do not have the time to make mistakes, learn from those mistakes, and try again, and keep experimenting) and as a result will likely never choose to explore those fields. Another and very important and critical aspect of this work is our near-peer mentoring model where it is not adults who are always the leaders and teachers but rather it is the youth themselves who transition into being teachers, leaders, and mentors to their younger peers in our programs.  To that end, youth engaged in work across the collaboratory develop not only problem-solving skills  but also how to serve as a role model and leader.  Through their work youth are building enduring skills that will serve as the foundation of their future success.

In total the economic impact of the partnership is (on average) over $1.5 million per year across all programs in the city of Waltham. As always it is our pleasure to support the youth of the city of Waltham. Dr. Barnett is a finalist for the highly prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in STEM mentoring (https://paesmem.nsf.gov/)  which is the nations highest honor for those working to improve access for those who may not have access to STEM fields.  This work would not be possible without the support of the larger Waltham community and partnerships including the Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation and the Waltham Public Schools.

This interim summary report covers the reporting period starting in June 1st 2023 and May 11, 2024.  This summary focuses on the city of Waltham which is one of our partner cities/communities.  The other communities and cities have their own summaries and are included in the larger report, we create this document separate because the city and public schools in Waltham have been one of the longest standing partners.

Due in part to the work at the Charles River Collaboratory and other programs, Dr. Barnett has been recognized as a 2024 Finalist for the Presidential Award in Excellence in STEM Mentoring (https://paesmem.nsf.gov/).

Financial and Economic Impact

  • In total $52,700 in food purchases have occurred within the city of Waltham. We strive to purchase from local vendors however, that is not always possible as the youth in the programs often make the choices on where to get food from.  The restaurants and caterers that we have ordered food from have included:
    • Pinis Pizzeria, Pizzis Farm, AKs, Los Amigos (Newtonville), and 2-3 times over the course of the year from Chipotle.
  • Youth in the programs have been paid as of Dec 11th, $225,000 in stipends (all but one are Waltham Public School students, the exception attends Our Lady Academy’s and whose parent is a teacher there). This is across 250 youth that have attended the programs.  Most youth attend the programs regularly, but some youth have only attended the programs 1 or 2 times to see if it was a fit for them.
  • We continue to support the near-peer mentoring component and have expanded that to include three tiers. Tier 1: Leader-leaders (Advisors). This is a group of 5-6 youth who are the core advisors to the program and serve as the primary advisory board for the program. We meet with them 3-5 times each semester. Tier 2: Leaders: These a youth who serve as leaders across the programs. We currently have 15 leaders. Tier 3: Apprentices: These are youth who are leaders in training. We currently have 8 apprentices.
  • We have employed 5 Waltham Public School teachers throughout the year and have provided them stipends totaling $25,000 over the course of the year at the Charles River Collaboratory.
  • The BC team has been providing support, funding, materials, and supplies for the after-school STEM program. This year the support has increased as all youth are provided stipends (at both schools), the teachers have been provided 3D printers, drones, robots, microcontrollers, and the BC team is providing stipends for the after-school STEM club teachers.  This is approximately $25,000 in support.
  • In terms of materials and supplies that have been utilized that will be open to the community starting in the Fall of 2024. The materials and equipment total $75,000 that is use at the Charles River Collaboratory.
  • The Charles River Collaboratory is now open to the public and is ran by the youth leaders from 3:00 to 5:30 on Wednesdays and Thursday. We have hired Ms. Deborah Jose (a former physics teacher and bilingual educator). These after-school sessions are led by the youth leaders and apprentices. Wednesdays is the busier of the two days with an average of 20 individuals visiting the Collaboratory with Thursdays being an average of 5. We have yet to do a significant marketing campaign for the public opening of the Collaboratory as to make sure the youth are really comfortable with troubleshooting the equipment and answering questions. We are scheduling a more aggressive marketing campaign for May 2025 for preparation for a major public event.
  • Supported the Charles River Museum in obtaining a $150K Cummings Foundation award
  • Supported the Charles River Museum in obtaining a  $15K Boston Scientific Foundation award
  • Undergraduate Engineers from Boston College in mentoring the youth at the collaboratory
  • Lasell University biotechnology and education students mentoring the youth at the collaboratory
  • Field trips to colleges for the youth, particularly sophomores,  juniors, and seniors to help evaulate college.

As such the direct economic impact of the Collaboratory on the city of Waltham is just under $1.5 Million simply through stipends to teachers, materials and equipment, and stipends to youth and youth leaders, foundation and grant awards to the Collaboratory.

The in-kind support is a little harder to calculate but the estimate is per man-hours which includes the rates for undergraduates, faculty, post-docs, and graduate students.  Given that faculty have spent an estimated 200 hours, post-docs spend 2 days per week in McDevitt and Kennedy, and the Undergraduate and Graduate students spend 3 hours every other each Saturday at the Collaboratory the estimated in-kind support is approximately $350,000.

In May of 2024 every eighth grade student in the city will participate in the smart automated greenhouse project where the BC team continues to provide time and financial support in terms of materials and supplies that totals $20,000 per school and will be providing $1500 stipends to 8 Waltham High School seniors this year.

Outcomes Reported

Zhang, H., Barnett, G. M., Jackson, D., Kiel, J., Beal, K., & DePamphilis, D. (2024). Moving beyond Hierarchies: Building and Sustaining Equity-Focused Collaborative Partnership over Time. In Boundary Spanning in School-University Partnerships. Information Age Publishing.

Zhang, H., Hira, A., Phatak, J., Barnett, G. M., & Shah, S. A. (2024). Growing STEM Leaders: High School Youth as Teachers and Mentors through Teaching Physical Computing. In Ş. Orakcı (Ed.), Redesigning the Future of Education in the Light of New Theories, Teaching Methods, Learning, and Researches. Information Age Publishing. P. 168-182.