Union County Teen Helps Lead STEM Program Reaching 96,000 Students Nationwide

SCOTCH PLAINS, NJ — Most high school students spend their summers balancing jobs, sports, college prep or simply enjoying time away from school.

For 16-year-old Academy for Allied Health Sciences student Iona Nandy, part of that time is spent helping a student-run nonprofit reach nearly 100,000 elementary school students with hands-on science lessons.

Nandy, a Scotch Plains resident and member of STEMsters' publicity team, helps support the organization's outreach efforts while balancing her schoolwork and extracurricular activities.

"Like everyone else on our team, I am doing this while balancing a full course load and everything else that comes with high school," Nandy said.

STEMsters is run entirely by students and organizes hands-on STEM workshops for younger children across the country. According to the organization, it now includes 169 chapters nationwide and reaches roughly 96,000 students each year through more than 3,200 lessons.

For Nandy, the mission is personal.

"My passion for STEM started early, but it was not always something I had easy access to growing up," she said. "When I discovered STEMsters, I saw an opportunity to give younger kids the kind of early exposure I wish I had."

She said those early experiences can leave a lasting impression.

"I truly believe that first hands-on project is what sparks curiosity, and once that curiosity is lit, it tends to stick," Nandy said.

Each session starts with a short introduction to new concepts before students break into small groups and begin building projects together with guidance from volunteers.

"The kids then get to work building their projects, following along with the video while volunteers circulate and help every step of the way," Nandy said.

One of the moments that stands out most to her has less to do with science and more to do with how students interact during the activities.

"Kids will come in sticking to the people they already know, and by the time they are racing their geared cars across the floor or testing out whatever they just built, they are cheering each other on and collaborating with people they had never spoken to before," she said.

As the organization has expanded, maintaining consistency across chapters in multiple states has become one of its biggest challenges.

"One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that students across all 169 chapters are receiving the same quality of education and that chapter management stays consistent no matter where a chapter is located," Nandy said.

Funding and operational costs have also remained an ongoing challenge for the student-run organization, she added.

While Union County was not involved in STEMsters' founding, Nandy said some of the work is now being coordinated from Scotch Plains through her role on the publicity team.

“A piece of that work is being coordinated from Scotch Plains,” she said.

According to STEMsters, the organization currently has New Jersey chapters operating in Monmouth County, Monroe Township and Liberty High School, with hopes of continued expansion across the state.