JULY 2016 The 3rd Astra S.T.E.A.M. SummitAstra Women’s Business Alliance

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letter From Astra

Overview

Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summits

July 2016 Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit

Next Step

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It was a pleasure to present you our third year of bringing young talented girls together with women business owners, corporation and agency leaders to provide education and mentoring on developing innovative businesses in S.T.E.A.M. industries. We thank David Pell, Supplier Diversity Consultant at PG&E for hosting and being one of the major sponsors for this program by providing Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit space and resources. Through the support of David Pell, and the continued visions of Diane McClelland, Astra President and Co-Founder, and Suzanne Lackman, Astra Vice-President and Co-Founder, this program continues to grow, inspire and empower young women to develop innovative ideas for new businesses in S.T.E.A.M. fields as future supply chain solutions for both small and large businesses globally. We also thank Fernando Hernandez, Director of Global Supplier Diversity & Sustainability for Microsoft who was the inaugural sponsor and chief innovator for the Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program. His strong belief of encouraging young girls to pursue S.T.E.A.M. related businesses was the genesis of the support Astra received which has exceeded over $30,000 in prize money from Microsoft Corporation over the last three years. Words cannot express how excited we were to bring you another Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit that empowers more young women to pursue their dreams in S.T.E.A.M. fields and entrepreneurship. We welcomed the parents and guardians of our young entrepreneurs and thank them for supporting their daughters to follow their dreams. Based on research, S.T.E.A.M.-related jobs will grow 17% by 2018 with less than 40% of graduates receiving a S.T.E.A.M. degree. Moreover, only 10% of S.T.E.A.M. college degrees are awarded to women. Currently, US women make up only 20% of the S.T.E.A.M. workforce. These are the reasons why programs and organizations

like Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program are here to inspire, empower, and support young women in S.T.E.A.M. fields and entrepreneurship. Through our endless efforts, we want to see more women in the S.T.E.A.M. workforce, change the gender roles, and break the glass ceilings. Thank you to Willamette University Atkinson Graduate School of Management and Jason Tokarski of Mountain West Investment of Salem, Oregon whose donations support the paid internships of three MBA students who have served as Project Leads for the Astra S.T.E.A.M. program. Patricia Victorio, who helped launch our S.T.E.A.M. program in 2014; Jill Tucker, who led the program in 2015 and designed S.T.E.A.M.-In-A-BoxTM, and Ina Song, who is our current 2016 Program Lead. All these women have helped shape the Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program and prepare it to be shared in other areas nationally and globally. Special thanks go to WBE sponsors, Ampcus, Inc., AKRAYA, and CB Technologies, Inc. Hunter Hawk, Inc.for their continued support of our program. We thank our corporate and agency representatives from NASA, PG&E, International Game Developer Association, and WBE companies, Evolve Manufacturing Technologies for their mentoring support. We thank Lisa Castillo, AT&T, Jeff Applebaum, Applebaum & Associates and Arzu Ozbeck, PG&E for their contributions on the Judges Panel. We are grateful for our speakers, award-winning writer and parenting expert - Annie Fox; Kate Edwards, International Game Developers Association; Deborah Todd, Producer, Writer, expert on game development. We are excited to have welcomed back five of our 2014 and 2015 STEAMers who served as peer mentors and speakers for the 2016 STEAMers and will continue as Alumni Association Members for the S.T.E.A.M. project this year. Our returning STEAMers are: Entrepreneur, game developer, and MIT student – Jenny Xu; Co-founder of Branch Out – Shreya Parjan; Blogger and 3D printing jewelry maker – Haritha Shah; STEAMer Alumni – Alyssa Schimm and Ananya Panchal. Astra Women’s Business Alliance believes in the power of togetherness. Together we grow, together we lead, and together we can inspire and empower more women to see their values in S.T.E.A.M. fields and experience making a difference in the lives of others through innovation!

“If you want to go quickly, go alone; If you want to go far, go together.”

- African Proverb

Diane McClellandPresident

Astra Women’s Business Alliance

Suzanne LackmanVice President

Astra Women’s Business Alliance

Ina SongProgram Lead

Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program

Overview

Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program was started in 2014 by Diane McClelland and Suzanne Lackman, the Co-founders of Astra Women’s Business Alliance, with a mission to equip young women with the confidence, skills, and the network to successfully pursue S.T.E.A.M. education and careers. Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program believes that the young women today are the future leaders, visionaries, and CEOs of tomorrow. The Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program takes a holistic, pathways approach to S.T.E.A.M. Education. Following a pathways approach, encourages a shift in focus from numbers of people in S.T.E.A.M. jobs and people with S.T.E.A.M. degrees to focusing on equipping individuals, specifically girls, with the skills needed to thrive and grow in the workforce.

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Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summits

The main event for Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program is its annual Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit. So far, Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program has organized three successful Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summits and served a total of 55 STEAMers plus their parents. These STEAMers are from all over the U.S. including the following eight states: California, Oregon,

Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, Montana, and Connecticut.

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What makes Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summits successful is our multi-dimensional program which covers many factors that help student success in S.T.E.A.M. fields. The following factors are from a study done by the Institute for Broadening Participation.

Early ExposureEarly interest in science is positively related to students’ desire to major in science in college, which is why Astra S.T.E.A.M. Programs targets at young women ages 12-18 as our primary market;

Family SupportParental expectations and involvement can facilitate the success of students in S.T.E.A.M. courses and academic pathways, so to include and educate STEAMer parents Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit has a parent track that’s specially designed for parents to learn how to raise their daughters who are passionate about S.T.E.A.M. subjects and entrepreneurship.

Active LearningHands-on learning approach improves retention of information and critical thinking skills and increase persistence of students in S.T.E.A.M. majors, with our new venture competition, STEAMers gain first-hand knowledge on how to start a business and develop an app.

Role ModelsAccess and exposure to role models is important because visualizing or seeing people who achieve positive can raise one’s self-efficacy, the belief that he or she too can achieve those outcomes, which is why Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program brings successful women entrepreneurs and female executive representatives from companies such as Google, PG&E, Microsoft, and NASA to speak to these young girls.

Mentor and MentoringStarted last year, Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit has been inviting back STEAMer Alumni as peer mentors for the new STEAMers. Study shows, peer influence has been shown to inspire students’ decisions to major in a S.T.E.A.M. fields.

Financial SupportWith help from our sponsors, we have also been providing a total of $30,000 cash awards to all STEAMer participants as scholarships.

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The July 2016 Astra S.T.E.A.M. SummitsJuly 7-8, 2016 | PG&E Building | San Francisco, California

In July 2016, at Astra’s 3rd Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit, we welcomed 19 STEAMers. All 19 STEAMers are from different and diverse backgrounds. 84% of the 2016 STEAMers are minorities including 6 South Asians or Indian Americans, 3 African Americans, and 7 East Asian Americans. These STEAMers were chosen for their extraordinary academic performances and their active involvement with their community and with extra curriculums.

The average GPA of these 19 STEAMers is 3.94 on a 4.0 system.

With the highest weighted GPA being 4.43. All 19 STEAMers have extensive background and knowledge in S.T.E.A.M. subjects and entrepreneurship. Some of them have attended other programs and summits, such as TechHive and TechBridge, and many of them are taking leadership roles with local clubs and societies. Some of these young women have also started their own businesses, and some are interning at companies this summer, such as SPSCommerce.

The ages of these 19 STEAMers range from 13 to 18 years old. 4 STEAMers are in 8th grade, 2 in 9th grade, 2 in 10th grade, 7 in 11th grade, and 4 in 12th grade. When forming the STEAMer teams, we have made sure to divide the team evenly by analyzing their age and experience with S.T.E.A.M. subjects and entrepreneurship.

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The third Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit was similar but improved from the previous two summits. One of the major difference was that Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program not only welcomed back four Alumni as mentors, but also one of the 14’ STEAMers, Jenny Xu, as a speaker.

Jenny joined our very first summit in 2014. With connections she made during the summit, she was able to form her own company - JCSoft Inc. So far, she had developed over 50 web and mobile based games, with a total of over 3 million downloads worldwide. She had also presented one of her apps, Hungry Trash, to the members of Department of Education at the White House. Not to mention, Jenny is currently a student at MIT and externing this summer at Sony.

“Astra connected me to some of the people who became, and still are, my role models and mentors. Coming back to Astra gave me the chance to give back and reconnect with a community that continues to support me after graduation. “

- Jenny Xu

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Another 2014 STEAMer, Shreya Parjan, who had come back both last year and this year to serve as a peer mentor for the new STEAMers. Together with Claire Wang, a 2016 STEAMer, they started their organization, Branch Out, with a mission to “make innovation accessible to all”. They believe “all young students deserve this opportunity, regardless of background”. Branch Out offers free courses for younger students, these courses include: introduction to Python, Science of Design, and Entrepreneurial Incubator. This summer, they organized their first session and welcomed 15 young students.

“Don’t end the momentum with what you accomplish at the (Astra S.T.E.A.M.) summit or in an isolated event; instead, facilitate the spread of ideas and aspirations”

- Shreya Parjan

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After our two-day summit, Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program has sent out a post-event survey to ask for STEAM-ers and parents’ feedbacks on their experience with the July 2016 Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit. We were able to collect 16 responses with 9 STEAMers and 6 parents. All summit activities were rated with averages of above 4.5, on a scale of 1 to 5. The comments we have received were also very positive and appreciative. When being asked to rate the overall experience, 80% said excellent while the other 20% said very good. At the same time, 87% indicated that they would be promot-ers for Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit.

We have also sent out an Alumni Association sign-up form where STEAMers can indicate what types of information they would be interested in receiving. Out of 19 STEAMers, 12 have signed up via the form. And 100% of them have expressed their interested in receiving newsletter from Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program to stay updated. All of them also indicated their strong interest in being a mentor for future summits, and 100% of them said they would love to be interviewed for Alumni Spotlight.

“This is a great opportunity for girls interested in STEAM. I especially appreciate your message of ”networking.” ...Sasha (my daughter) was “over the moon.” She and I had an awesome experience. Thank you!”

- Yolanda, 2016 STEAMer Parent 09

Our Next StepBuilding a community is Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program’s long-term goal. With the information collected through the Alumni Association Sign-up Form, we were able to further target the STEAMers who are interested in being involved. Alumni Spotlight is the first step for them to feel included by sharing their stories with everyone on our website. So far, Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program was able to interview 8 STEAMer Alumni. We’re currently in the process of creating a newsletter, and we are planning on inviting STEAMer Alumni to be the writers for the upcoming issue. 80% of the STEAMer Alumni have indicated that they would be interested in writing for Astra S.T.E.A.M. Newsletter. This process will aid in the co-creation strategy, and to further involve the alumni they will also act as ambassadors to help Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program promote our brand and upcoming summits.

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Visit www.AstraSTEAM.org to learn more

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WWW.ASTRASTEAM.ORG

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ASTRA STEAM PROGRAM!