Pretty Brainy: Empowering Girls to Gain STEAM
Pretty Brainy empowers girls to gain STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art + Design, and Math - as a force for innovation and growth, positively impacting their communities and world. That’s our mission. Through Pretty Brainy, girls also gain the professional skills and self-efficacy to help shift the academic and professional environments to which they contribute and have a right to belong. That's girl empowerment through STEAM and resilience. And that’s Pretty Brainy.
Pretty Brainy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to transform how girls see themselves and their capabilities in science and math. In 2015 we introduced service learning to our programs, directly appealing to girls' interests in humanitarian engineering and social entrepreneurship. What’s service learning? Learning by doing while serving others and providing a solution to a recognized need. At Pretty Brainy, girls give back through STEAM.
Pretty Brainy and its skilled volunteers mentor girls in physical science, engineering, design thinking, creative technology, and computational thinking. Girls work with scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and developers. They also gain professional skills to advocate for themselves and communicate the science and decision-making behind the projects they develop.
Through Pretty Brainy, girls gain empowerment through out-of-school enrichment, professional mentoring, and STEAM with a purpose.
"I am most proud of the work I have done with Pretty Brainy because I am making an impact instead of just sitting back and watching other people fix the problems I am most passionate about. Working with Pretty Brainy has been one of the most beneficial experiences in my life."
— Emma Younger, Colorado School of Mines '23; Windsor High School '20
Pretty Brainy empowers girls to gain STEAM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art + Design, and Math - as a force for innovation and growth, positively impacting their communities and world.
BACKGROUND. Pretty Brainy is an award-winning education nonprofit founded with the purpose of transforming how girls ages 10 to 18 regard themselves in science, technology, engineering, art + design, and math (STEAM). We began by integrating math problem-solving into girls' apparel. Knowing the value of experiential learning and critical thinking, in 2013 we quickly pivoted to creating workshops and curricula that appeal to girls' interests in humanitarian engineering, philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and design.
IMPACT. From 2019 to the present, Pretty Brainy and its corps of skilled volunteers brought girls more than 2,500 direct contact hours of learning in physical science, humanitarian engineering, design thinking, creative technology, and computational thinking. During these hours girls ages 10 to 18 gained experience and mentoring from scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and developers. In the words of one girl -
"I am most proud of the work I have done with Pretty Brainy because I am making an impact instead of just sitting back and watching other people fix the problems I am most passionate about. Working with Pretty Brainy has been one of the most beneficial experiences in my life."
OUTCOMES. Our accomplishments to date include, but are not limited to -
a. Facilitating a full-force self-defense course for girls and women so they are prepared to protect and defend themselves physically and verbally in the lab, the field, on campus, and wherever their studies and work may take them. A new group of girls and women now can carry themselves confidently into their futures.
b. Ever connecting girls and young women to scientists and leaders who make up the community of those committed to successfully bringing girls and women to STEM.
c. Launching the first-ever all-girl and all-woman innovation marathon for climate action. The marathon drew a racially and culturally diverse cohort of 40 girls, 20 mentors, and 10 subject-matter experts in the fields of energy, physics, engineering design, sustainable living, and human-centered technology. Held at Colorado State University, judges chose three innovations for development based on their feasibility to reduce CO2 emissions.
d. Making it possible for our all-girl team (average age: 17) to build and launch a scalable, mobile application to help citizens sustainably change their behavior to reduce their carbon emissions and contribute to a cooler planet Earth.
VISION. What started as the drive to keep one little girl as strong and confident in her abilities at age 13 as she was at age 7 has grown into this vision: Pretty Brainy will empower 2 million girls to develop their STEAM abilities and genius to positively impact their communities and world.
Organization name
Pretty Brainy
2008
Tax id (EIN)
80-0958846
Category
Education, Science & Technology
Organization Size
Small Organization
Address
150 E. 29th St. Suite 250Mailing
P.O. Box 7812Larimer County, CO, US
Weld County, CO, US
Boulder County, CO, US
Denver, CO, US