Will Lindau and Hannah Hatch are AmeriCorps Maker Fellows serving at BoSTEM, an initiative led by United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley.

Sitting down with BoSTEM AmeriCorps Maker Fellows (AMFs) Hannah Hatch and Will Lindau.

Describe your role at BoSTEM

Will: My main responsibility is to create opportunities for the students of Greater Boston, especially those who are underrepresented, to engage in high quality STEAM learning. My day-to-day can vary greatly:

write lesson plans and policy
engage volunteers
plan community events
help run the BoSTEM social media accounts, and more!

Hannah: As an AMF at BoSTEM, most of my day-to-day work falls under these buckets:

outreach to our partner organizations to help plan STEM community events,
build and manage the BoSTEM website,
research and edit policy briefs
keep our STEM ecosystem connected through our newsletter.

What has been your favorite part of your service?

Will: My favorite part of my service year has been getting to know the local communities in Boston through our in-person and virtual events. I’ve also loved connecting with the other Maker Fellows from around the country.

Hannah: My favorite part of this year has been our recent event at the Franklin Park Zoo. After working virtually for most of my service, I finally got to be present with students and explore hands-on activities with them. It was a great time! It was amazing to see kids and families excited and engaged in STEM (not to mention we got to spend the day next to zebras and red pandas)!

What is the biggest thing you've taken away from serving as an AMF?

Will: I’ve learned how to build and maintain relationships with our partners by collaborating on projects together.

Hannah: Since beginning my service, my eyes have been opened to how many people and organizations are working to make STEM education equitable and accessible in Boston. It is truly a STEM ecosystem of schools, organizations, families and more.

Why does planning educational events become essential for capacity building?

Will: Our educational events are a chance for us to build our brand within Boston amongst students, teachers, corporate partners and out-of-school time educational organizations. When these key groups are looking for ways to be involved in STEM learning in the future, they will know that they can turn to us.

Hannah: For BoSTEM, community events are essential, because a lot of the work we do is systems-level, working with the school district, companies and nonprofits to provide programming for students. We need community events to get the word out to families about our programming, our partners and make connections to more groups and people. As we are now starting to hold in-person events again, we need to re-introduce BoSTEM to the community, so our work can be more far-reaching and have more impact. We are hoping to continue the events we led and participated in this year into the next few years, and plan to make a calendar of events to present to our partner organizations at the beginning of each year, so they can plan ahead to attend events.

Hannah mentioned the Franklin Park Zoo Earth day event, how did you contribute and how will it grow in the future?

Will: I contributed to our Earth Day event by supporting Hannah in planning the event, assisting organizations with developing their activity for their table, and by making sure we were marketing the event to Boston students and their families. We brought in a record number of people to the zoo on Earth Day, but in the future, I think we can have even more organizations present, and bring in even more families.

Hannah: This past Earth Day (April 22nd), BoSTEM partnered with Franklin Park Zoo to host our event Party for the Planet, a celebration of the Earth and conservation. Part of the day was a STEM fair with afterschool programs, organizations, and businesses leading a hands-on, family friendly activity related to climate, conservation, or the Earth. BoSTEM also committed to paying for free admission to the zoo for Boston Public Schools family members, students, and educators.

The event required a lot of prep, and as the primary person at BoSTEM working on the event, I reached out to our partners to find people to hold tables at the event. I also worked with organizations and volunteers to brainstorm ideas for their tables, managed our ticketing and communications with families and educators who had questions about the event, and attended the event, helping run our own activity with micro:bits! Thankfully, all of our work paid off, and we had over 10,000 visitors to the Zoo (the most they have had in one day) including over 300 Boston Public Schools family members, students and educators.

Thank you Hannah, Will, and the BoSTEM crew for all the amazing work you do!

Last week (5/15-5/22) was the National Week of Making, celebrating makers across the country. As a Maker Fellow, tell us how you celebrated and participated.

Will: For Maker Week, I made a social media campaign highlighting maker activities that only require common household items, as well as BoSTEM YouTube videos depicting STEM professionals throughout Boston, sharing “bites” of what their career looks like. In my personal life, I celebrated by making homemade banh mi and working on some drawings.

Hannah: Leading up to Maker Week, I created several hands-on lessons in BoSTEM's new design template that families or educators could access and follow. I also sent out a Maker Week-themed newsletter, directing the BoSTEM community to resources about making.

Thanks for ALL you do, Hannah and Will!

Building Capacity and Strengthening Communities: How AmeriCorps Maker Fellows Help Lead this Work for Host Sites