College of Natural Sciences Celebrates a Decade of Eureka! At UMass

Today, the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst celebrated 10 years of partnership with Girls Inc. of the Valley in the Eureka! at UMass Program with a reception in the Campus Center.

Launched in 2013, Eureka! at UMass is a partnership involving the university, Girls Inc. and schools, community colleges and internship sites in western Massachusetts. The intensive, five-year STEM-based summer program for rising 8th grade girls is designed to build their confidence and skills through hands-on opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math.

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“I was being prepared for a lot more than just college,” says Eureka! at UMass alumna Janira Portorreal, who had an externship at a UMass breast cancer research lab this summer. “I was being prepared for how to be a woman, how to be a leader, how to be a woman in STEM.”

More than 100 faculty and graduate students took part in running this summer’s 50 different workshops, says Eureka! at UMass campus coordinator and CNS Special Projects & Outreach Manager Jane Markarian.

“It wasn’t just the professors in the College of Natural Sciences,” who have worked to make the UMass workshops a success, says Suzanne Parker, executive director of Girls Inc. of the Valley. “It was the folks at the rec center, it was the folks at the auxiliary programs. Everybody came to the table and wanted to make enriched, deep, meaningful experiences for the teens that we were bringing here.”