In 2020, current Lexington seniors Owen Jiang, Stephanie Wan, and Nishtha Chhabra founded All the Sprouts: an educational organization offering various STEM programs for local middle schoolers.
All the Sprouts has become an outlet for middle and high schoolers to come together to learn about science, strengthening a community of people with similar passions. The organization is entirely self-run by students.
“Because we did STEM and we loved it, we wanted more kids to become exposed to STEM, to show them how fun it could be, to have them try it out, or to get them more integrated and make new friends in STEM communities, if they were feeling isolated,” Wan said. “We see ourselves in these young kids.”
Structured programs within All the Sprouts, like Science Outdoors, last five days, with each day corresponding to one of five science subjects. For more freelanced programs, like the Summer Science Seminars, there is much more diversity among the classes. A teacher can choose when and what to teach, and students can attend specific blocks depending on their interests. For teachers, seeing their students progress from middle school to high school is exceptionally rewarding, as they will often join science clubs at LHS like Science Bowl and Science Olympiad.
The founders hope that by fostering a strong community, All the Sprouts can assist students pursuing STEM.
“It’s important to have this scientific inquisitive mind to question things around you. To try and find out why things are the way they are, and see how things are built. That’s how you build up a society that has these continuous innovations and continuous progress. These are the kinds of people that I want in a community,” Wan said.
Wan encourages prospective STEM students, even those who are in high school, to constantly seek out new educational opportunities and join organizations that they are interested in.
“You already have that passion, and even if you think you’re too old to try and learn something new, you might not have to go to our program to do it. But there’s so many resources now, especially taking science classes and building foundations. There’s many more opportunities out there. And I do think that having this knowledge is really valuable,” Wan said.
