SOUTH JERSEY ROBOTICS INC

In 1999, a group of high school students and local volunteers from STEM professions formed a competitive robotics team to introduce youth in rural Salem County, NJ to STEM. By 2008 the team had inspired other youth and had helped to form several teams. To support the growth they filed for non-profit status as South Jersey Robotics. Since inception, SJR has supported over 25 teams for youth K-12 across multiple counties by introducing them to STEM through robust, robotics programs, and STEM camps and activities with the goal of introducing youth to STEM career fields and developing 21st century skills.

SJR robotics is a 100% volunteer organization serving K-12 youth in schools and communities in Southern NJ. Within our programs is an Equity Initiative called It's a Girls World. Most girls lose interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) between grades 5-8. Girls, in particular, lack the confidence and self-esteem to pursue STEM. Exposing girls early to STEM careers and providing them with confidence, mentoring, and business skills before high school is critical to providing a gender-balanced workforce. In partnership with a Million Women Mentors, Salem Community College, Learning Blade, and others, A Girl’s Word, Inc. is a program that focuses on young women entering 7th, 8th, and 9th grades.

There is a focus on reciprocal relationships through a near-peer mentoring program called Fast Track, in which our high school students that have gone through the lower levels of our program, mentor younger students participating in FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge.

Our high school students participate an international, competitive robotics program. We have a unique pre-engineering program to prepare students for post-secondary education toward STEM careers. This experience includes participation in our Adaptive Device Program during the off-season, where students design, manufacture, and donate adaptive devices to physically challenged individuals and organizations that provide assistance to them. These projects include a volleyball launcher for a quadriplegic, and Jump Assist, a jump rope designed for a child with a congenital arm amputation. Most recently, they created a custom mold and manufactured swim fins for Project Propel, to promote health, independence, and quality of life for Veterans wounded in battle, and individuals with spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, MS, spina bifida, and other maladies.

We have created a STEM pathway, with the goal of providing quality STEM experiences to youth in order to change their future and create a gender balanced workforce of skilled employees who will one day work in a global economy.