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Category: Community Partnerships

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • Building, Testing and Trying Again: Inside Our Latest STEM Workshop

    Building, Testing and Trying Again: Inside Our Latest STEM Workshop

    Eight young engineers came together on August 29 for a 901STEM stuffed-animal tower challenge.

    Working in two teams, the students were asked to design and build a tower capable of supporting a stuffed-animal passenger. The challenge encouraged them to explore structure, stability and balance while practicing teamwork and communication.

    As our facilitators demonstrated the activity, only one tower withstood the test, which we used as a lesson in learning from failure and not getting discouraged.

    The students discovered that the first design is rarely the final design. Towers leaned, materials shifted and teams made adjustments based on what they observed. Each new attempt gave them more information to use.

    Both teams were successful in supporting our guest participants, Mr. Pickles and Napoleon, with the winning tower reaching nearly two feet tall!

    The experience also helped the 901STEM team learn more about pacing, materials and the kinds of guidance that help students remain engaged without taking ownership of the challenge away from them.

    Workshops like this are helping us shape affordable, welcoming STEM experiences in which every student has an opportunity to contribute.

    Thanks to everyone who helped make the workshop possible.

  • Young Engineers Prepare for a Stuffed-Animal Tower Challenge

    Young Engineers Prepare for a Stuffed-Animal Tower Challenge

    On August 29, another group of young engineers will participate in a hands-on 901STEM building challenge.

    Working in small teams, students will design and construct towers capable of supporting stuffed-animal passengers. The activity will encourage them to explore structure, stability and balance while practicing creativity, communication and teamwork.

    Like real engineers, participants will be encouraged to test their ideas, learn from what happens and make improvements. A tower that falls isn’t a failure—it provides information that can make the next design stronger.

    The workshop is part of 901STEM’s continuing effort to develop welcoming, free STEM experiences that give every student an opportunity to participate and contribute.

    We look forward to sharing what these young engineers create—and what the experience teaches us as we continue improving our programs.

    #901STEM #HandsOnSTEM #YoungEngineers

  • Why 901STEM Exists

    Why 901STEM Exists

    Progress is happening in Memphis schools. But opportunity is still not distributed equally.

    The 2026 Memphis State of Education Report found that in three regions where roughly 70% of students are economically disadvantaged, only 21–29% of schools earned an A or B rating.

    That’s one reason 901STEM exists.

    Our goal isn’t to replace the work schools and educators are already doing. It’s to help expand access—to hands-on STEM experiences, classroom resources and community partnerships that can give more students opportunities to discover what they can do.

    Amplify what works. Fill the gaps. Expand access.

    #901STEM #MemphisEducation #STEMEducation #Memphis #HandsOnLearning

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

  • Join 901STEM: Empowering Students Through Hands-On Learning

    Join 901STEM: Empowering Students Through Hands-On Learning

    We’ve been quietly building something—and we’re ready to introduce it.

    901STEM is a new Memphis-area nonprofit working to expand access to meaningful, hands-on STEM learning, with a particular focus on students and communities facing barriers to opportunity.

    Our vision is simple: Every student should have the opportunity to discover their potential through STEM.

    Over the past several months, we have established the organization, developed our first programs and begun testing hands-on STEM experiences with local students and educators.

    Our early pilots have already reinforced some important lessons:

    – Students learn best when they can build, test, adjust and try again.
    – A successful STEM experience doesn’t require expensive equipment.
    – Small teams create opportunities for every student to contribute.
    – Educators and community partners must help shape the programs intended to serve them.
    – There is no single kind of student who belongs in STEM.

    Those lessons are guiding our approach: Amplify what works. Fill the gaps. Expand access.

    In the weeks ahead, we’ll share more about our workshops, classroom resources, community partnerships, and a new grant initiative supporting
    hands-on STEM learning in local schools.

    We’re just getting started—and we’re glad you’re here.

    Follow 901STEM and visit 901stem.org to learn more.

    #901STEM #STEMEducation #HandsOnLearning #Memphis

  • Celebrating our second 901STEM workshop!

    Celebrating our second 901STEM workshop!

    Yesterday, students explored circuits, electronics, and hands-on problem solving with Snap Circuits kits. We saw curious questions, creative tinkering, and confidence building one connection at a time.

    A special thank you to Anna Belk Haynes for her thoughtful guidance as we continue shaping these early workshops and growing 901STEM’s community impact.

    This is why we started 901STEM: to make hands-on STEM learning more accessible, welcoming, and fun for every kind of learner.

    #901STEM #STEMEducation #HandsOnLearning #MemphisNonprofit #EveryKindOfLearner