SPARK
Run by the Vergnano Institute for Inclusion (VII) in UConn’s School of Engineering, SPARK is an initiative designed to shrink the STEM gender and confidence gap. SPARK consists of four one-week sessions through July and August. As a residential summer program, each week of SPARK focuses on different engineering disciplines to expose middle school girls to various STEM topics and ideas. Students learn from a diverse group of undergraduate female engineering students about empowering the next generation of engineers. During SPARK, students participate in projects to develop their STEM skills, empowerment workshops, and demos on different STEM phenomena. Students tour various on-campus labs and have fun with Counselor Planned Activities (CPAs). Industry professionals visit as guest speakers to present their experiences as women in STEM and share their technical expertise.