Open House for STEM Program for HS Students with Disabilities on Feb. 20

Do you work with rising 9-12 graders who are interested in STEM careers? If so, they may be interested in participating in an award-winning national program called Catalyst. Catalyst Virtual Open House for Summer 2021 and School Year 2021-2022 Saturday, February 20th at 10 a.m. RSVP at: https://forms.gle/naVg9yPkZFXJw8n39

More About Catalyst

Catalyst was founded five years ago and is located at The Science House on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus. Students pay only $50 to attend weeklong institutes in the summer and Saturday Sessions throughout the school year. Rising 9th-12th graders with any disability are eligible to participate. Students can be in regular education classes (AP, honors, regular level) or in the OCS program. Catalyst is designed specifically for students interested in STEM and who want to pursue a STEM Career following high school. Program features include:

  • Paid STEM Internships
  • Field Trips, Research Projects
  • Project-Based Learning
  • Engineering Design
  • Mentoring, and
  • Workforce Readiness Skills

Catalyst is funded by North Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation. Catalyst also has many community partners including N.C. State, Wake Tech, N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, Biogen, Duke Energy, IBM, Fidelity, SAS, EPA, NASA, and Bank of America. This program would not exist without the generosity of our funders and partners.

Awards for Catalyst

  • 2021 STEM Program of Excellence Award from the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association
  • Winners of National 2017 Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam Competition. (Students invented a mat that screens for lameness in cows and an app that notifies farmers. This device costs less than $1,000, and the current one on the market is over $100,000. They also won the technical award and were the only team in the country with all students with disabilities. All participants presented at MIT and received a $10,000 grant to build their invention, which we hope to patent.)
  • Winners of National Energy Education Development Project: Special Project Award, 2020
  • Invited to the US Patent Office, June 2018 for a special program.
  • Letter of Commendation from President Obama
  • All graduating Catalyst Seniors have gone on to STEM Educational Pathways in College.