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Author: 901stem

  • Join Us for the 901STEM Ribbon Cutting

    Join Us for the 901STEM Ribbon Cutting

    We’re cutting the ribbon, and we would love for you to join us!

    The Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony welcoming 901STEM to the Chamber on Thursday, October 22.

    Since launching earlier this year, 901STEM has been working to expand access to meaningful, hands-on STEM experiences for students throughout the Memphis area. We’ve begun developing school partnerships, supporting educators through Classroom Spark Grants, testing inclusive STEM activities and building relationships with volunteers, donors and community partners.

    Joining the Chamber gives us another opportunity to connect with local businesses and community leaders who believe in investing in students and strengthening our community.

    Whether you have already supported the mission or would simply like to learn more about our work, we hope you’ll come celebrate with us.

    901STEM Ribbon Cutting
    Thursday, October 22, 2026
    4:00–5:00 p.m.
    Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce
    2195 S. Germantown Road
    Germantown, TN 38138

    Register to attend

    Come celebrate this milestone, meet members of our Mission Control team and help us continue building a community where every kind of learner can discover their potential through STEM.

  • Support the educator

    Support the educator

    What do several high-performing Memphis schools featured in the 2026 State of Education Report have in common?

    They invest in educators.

    The report highlights strong instructional materials, teacher autonomy, collaboration, coaching, targeted support and educators who understand their students deeply.

    That’s an important lesson for 901STEM.

    If we want to reach more students, we can’t only deliver one-time STEM activities.

    We also need to put great resources into the hands of teachers.

    That’s why 901STEM is building classroom-ready STEM activities and expanding our Classroom Spark Grants—$1,000 investments that help schools and organizations bring promising STEM ideas to life.

    Support an educator, and the impact can reach student after student.

    #901STEM #Teachers #STEMTeachers #ClassroomInnovation #MemphisEducation

    Source: Memphis Education Fund, 2026 Memphis State of Education Report.

  • Every kind of learner

    Every kind of learner

    One finding in the new Memphis State of Education Report is especially important to us:

    Students with disabilities in Memphis continue to trail their statewide peers academically.

    At 901STEM, inclusion isn’t a separate program.

    It’s part of how we think STEM experiences should be designed.

    Different students communicate differently, process information differently and solve problems differently. Hands-on learning creates opportunities for students to demonstrate strengths that aren’t always visible on a worksheet or test.

    That’s why our promise is:

    Hands-on STEM for every kind of learner.

    #901STEM #InclusiveSTEM #SpecialEducation #STEMForAll #Memphis

    Source: Memphis Education Fund, 2026 Memphis State of Education Report.

  • Germantown, You Helped Us Build More Than a Tower.

    Germantown, You Helped Us Build More Than a Tower.

    At our very first Germantown Festival, more than 200 people stopped by the 901STEM booth to add to our Community Tower, meet our team, learn about our programs, and discover how we’re working to expand access to hands-on STEM experiences in our community.

    We talked with families. We met educators with ideas for their classrooms. We connected with potential volunteers and partners. R2-D2 made a lot of new friends. And we watched kids of all ages stop, grab a handful of blocks, and start building.

    But perhaps our favorite result from the weekend:

    A donation we received at the festival will fully fund our next $1,000 Classroom Spark Grant.

    That means the impact of this weekend didn’t end when we packed up the booth last night. It will continue in a local classroom, giving an educator resources to turn another STEM idea into an experience for students.

    That’s exactly what we hoped 901STEM could become: a community helping create more opportunities for kids to build, experiment, solve problems, and discover what they’re capable of.

    To everyone who built with us, talked with us, supported us, or simply stopped to learn what 901STEM is all about: thank you.

    And to our 901STEM team: thank you for an incredible weekend.

    We built a pretty great tower.

    We’re even more excited about what we’re building together.

  • One More Day to Build with 901STEM

    One More Day to Build with 901STEM

    What a first day at the Germantown Festival!

    Families helped our community tower grow, more than 50 people entered the Ultimate STEM Basket giveaway, and we met potential volunteers, educators and community partners interested in helping expand access to hands-on STEM learning.

    Now we’re ready to build some more.

    Visit the 901STEM booth today, Sunday, September 13, from noon to 6 p.m. Add your creativity to our building-block tower, meet our Mission Control team and learn about our workshops, Classroom Spark Grants and partnership opportunities.

    Entries for the Ultimate STEM Basket giveaway remain open until 6 p.m. Children and grown-ups are both invited to build with us.

    Come help us finish the weekend strong!

  • 901STEM’s Inaugural Spark Grant Awarded to Concord Academy

    901STEM’s Inaugural Spark Grant Awarded to Concord Academy

    On 901 Day, we are proud to announce an important first for 901STEM: Concord Academy has been selected as the inaugural recipient of a 901STEM Spark Grant and will serve as our pilot education partner.

    The $1,000 grant will support meaningful, hands-on STEM learning for Concord students.

    The 901STEM Spark Grant program helps schools, school systems, and community organizations remove practical barriers to engaging STEM experiences. Our goal is to award one $1,000 grant each month, supporting ideas that give students opportunities to build, experiment, collaborate, and discover their potential.

    Concord Academy prepares students with learning differences for lifelong success. Its community embraces students’ differences, honors their individual learning styles, and creates an environment where they can learn, grow, and thrive.

    That mission makes Concord Academy a natural partner for 901STEM. We believe STEM should be accessible to every learner, not only those who have traditionally seen themselves represented in these fields or who thrive in conventional learning environments. Hands-on STEM experiences can offer students new ways to explore ideas, solve problems, express creativity, and recognize their own strengths. By working with educators who understand and celebrate different ways of learning, we can help expand what meaningful STEM participation looks like.

    This first award is also an opportunity to learn. As our pilot education partner, Concord Academy will help us understand how the application, funding, and reporting process works from a school’s perspective. What we learn together will help us build a program that is useful to educators, responsive to students, and capable of growing throughout Memphis and the Mid-South.

    This milestone was made possible through the generous support of Jason and Lindsay Taylor. The Taylor family believed in 901STEM early in our journey, and we are grateful for their investment in our students and educators.

    901 Day is a celebration of the people, organizations, and ideas that make Memphis special. We can think of no better day to begin putting this new program into action, and no better first partner than a school committed to helping all kinds of learners succeed.

    Congratulations to Concord Academy. We look forward to learning, building, and creating an impact together.

  • Come Build with 901STEM at the Germantown Festival

    Come Build with 901STEM at the Germantown Festival

    901STEM is coming to the Germantown Festival September 12–13, and we’re inviting the community to build with us.

    Festival visitors of all ages can stop by our booth (F-153) and add their creativity to a community building brick tower. Throughout the weekend, families will help the structure grow one brick at a time as we see just how tall we can build it together.

    The activity reflects something we believe strongly at 901STEM: Everyone can contribute.

    Visitors will also have an opportunity to meet the 901STEM team, learn about our hands-on programs and 901STEM Spark Grants, and discover ways to become involved as a family, educator, volunteer, donor or community partner.

    The Germantown Festival will be held September 12–13. Come find the 901STEM booth, add something to our community creation, and help us celebrate the curiosity and imagination of local students.

    We can’t wait to build with you.

  • Start early

    Start early

    The need for meaningful STEM experiences begins long before high school.

    According to the 2026 Memphis State of Education Report, math proficiency among MSCS Zoned elementary students is 23%, compared with a statewide average of 40%.

    The encouraging news: elementary math performance improved across every school type measured.

    Our job is to help build on that progress.

    Give a student something to design. Something to measure. Something to wire. Something that doesn’t work the first time.

    Then give them permission to figure out why.

    That’s STEM.

    #901STEM #ElementarySTEM #HandsOnLearning #STEMForKids #MemphisEducation

    Source: Memphis Education Fund, 2026 Memphis State of Education Report.

  • Failure Is Part of the Plan

    Failure Is Part of the Plan

    Sometimes the best STEM lesson is the one that doesn’t go according to plan.

    At Saturday’s 901STEM workshop, our students took on the Stuffed Animal Tower Challenge: work as a team to design and build the tallest tower capable of supporting their new stuffed-animal teammate.

    Before they started, we gave them two demonstrations.

    My demonstration partner carefully built a tower designed to be strong and stable.

    I built mine with a different goal: I wanted it to fail.

    The idea was to show the students that engineers don’t always get things right the first time, and that failure isn’t the end of the engineering process. It’s information you use to make the next design better.

    There was just one problem.

    Her tower fell.

    So, committed to the lesson, I used skills I never thought I had to balance Napoleon the Pig atop my tower.

    It held.

    For a precarious 10 second countdown, the tower held.

    Apparently, I had accidentally discovered something else engineers know pretty well:

    Strong foundations matter.

    And that applies to more than towers.

    Research supports the value of giving children positive STEM experiences early. Studies of elementary students have found that hands-on STEM experiences can significantly increase students’ awareness of and interest in STEM subjects and careers, while research on STEM outreach shows that even relatively brief experiences can increase excitement, knowledge, and STEM interest. (ERIC)

    That’s why experiences like Saturday matter.

    We’re not expecting an elementary student to decide what she wants to do for the rest of her life. We’re helping build the foundation: an opportunity to design something, build something, fail at something, improve something, and discover that STEM might be for her.

    Sometimes that foundation becomes stronger than you planned.

    I have the tower to prove it.

    #901STEM #STEMEducation #HandsOnSTEM #Engineering #STEMForAll #GirlsInSTEM

  • Why hands-on math matters

    Why hands-on math matters

    Here’s one number that caught our attention:

    15%.

    That’s the math proficiency rate reported for MSCS Zoned middle schools in the 2026 Memphis State of Education Report. The statewide rate is 38%.

    A hands-on STEM activity isn’t a substitute for excellent math instruction.

    But engineering and design give students another place to use math—to measure, estimate, calculate, test ideas, identify mistakes and try again.

    Sometimes understanding starts when the numbers become something you can build.

    That’s the kind of learning we want to help create more of across Memphis.

    #901STEM #STEMEducation #MathEducation #MemphisStudents #EngineeringEducation

    Source: Memphis Education Fund, 2026 Memphis State of Education Report.