{"id":77109,"date":"2025-07-20T04:25:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T04:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/77109\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T04:25:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T04:25:37","slug":"how-a-dallas-nonprofit-is-launching-girls-into-stem-dallas-innovates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/77109\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Dallas Nonprofit Is Launching Girls Into STEM \u00bb Dallas Innovates"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s about 9 a.m. on a Thursday in Annette Caldwell Simmons Hall on SMU\u2019s campus, and 30 girls, ages 12 to 14, walk into a classroom to the sound of cheers, hugs, high-fives, and noisemakers. This is GEMS Camp\u2014girls interested in engineering, mathematics and science.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was started by Saki Milton, who was a teacher before becoming a founder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started noticing that the girls who I taught in seventh and eighth grade, once when they started moving up with me, they started kind of acting like, \u2018Oh, I don\u2019t know how to do these things,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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GEMS founder Saki Milton [Photo: GEMS]<\/p>\n

Milton wondered what math in an all-girl environment might look like, began researching, and discovered that educating girls separately was a hot topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was being studied sociologically, psychologically\u2014and I wanted to do something about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Taking shape<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The idea for GEMS Camp started to form\u2014a small cohort of girls entering seventh, eighth, and ninth grade in the fall, learning together and helping each other. They are admitted through an application process to keep the cohorts manageable.<\/p>\n

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Classroom time [Photos: GEMS]<\/p>\n

GEMS earned its nonprofit status in 2014, which also marked the first year of longitudinal tracking. As of July 2025, 1,300 girls have come through the program, and 85% of them have gone on to major in a STEM subject in college.<\/p>\n

Fourteen-year-old Ashley Castro will be a freshman in high school in the fall; this is her third year participating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in fifth grade, I had a teacher who helped me a lot. Then I took an engineering class my middle school year \u2026 I keep coming back because I really love it here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said she doesn\u2019t like to sit still and appreciates the hands-on learning she gets through GEMS.<\/p>\n

Earning a reputation\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cohorts are 80% local DFW students, but word is getting out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a girl from Georgia who comes every year, and one from Philadelphia. We also get girls from Lubbock, Houston, and Midland,\u201d Milton said.<\/p>\n

Once they age out of the program, many come back as mentors and volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the kids, Kennedy, came back and worked for us part time. She just graduated from Florida A&M and now she\u2019s applying to grad school because she wants to be an animal scientist,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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STEM in nature [Photo: GEMS]<\/p>\n

Another GEMS alum secured a TCU Chancellor\u2019s Scholarship and will be studying biomedical engineering.<\/p>\n

With multiple stories like this, you might think that parents would be pushing their daughters into the camps\u2014but Milton said getting parental consent can be the hardest part.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of our clients are first-gen students,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it\u2019s really hard to get their parents to understand the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than mathematical equations<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each camp day starts with a \u201cbling up,\u201d where the girls celebrate each other\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

Mary Cabanas is the site director. She emigrated from Mexico in middle school and remembers how hard it was just to learn English.<\/p>\n

At GEMS Camp, the girls learn not just advanced problem-solving but also the soft skills that are critical to navigating the professional world\u2014like meeting someone with a firm handshake and eye contact, creating a r\u00e9sum\u00e9, and asking for letters of recommendation. The goal is to empower them academically and personally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe teach them how to manage their feelings, how to manage themselves, and become leaders,\u201d Cabanas said.<\/p>\n

Every camp also includes a service project\u2014something more than a \u201cwhat I did on my summer break\u201d report. It\u2019s a chance to add value and see the impact of their skills. For this cohort, the girls are creating an AI cybersecurity training program for a nonprofit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will incorporate AI\u2014they\u2019ll use ChatGPT to create a script, and then they have to make an avatar that speaks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Seeing math in the world [Photo: GEMS]<\/p>\n

Khadija Marenah, 15 years old and heading into ninth grade, said the skills and confidence she\u2019s gained at GEMS help her throughout the school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy science fair project\u2014I called it MyB\u2014it stands for Mycelium and Beeswax,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was basically a compound\u202fthat I created to clear oil spills in Dallas-Fort Worth areas and hopefully soon, across the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dallas support<\/b>\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the first time this year, the Texas Workforce Commission awarded GEMS a grant, but the organization is primarily funded through private foundations and corporate partners like Charles Schwab, Texas Instruments, CBRE, and Cummins. Milton said being based in Dallas is an advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cDallas is such a hub for innovation and, you know, so many headquarters and corporate centers of excellence are here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

What started as her classroom observation in 2010 has quietly grown into a movement that\u2019s helping girls open their eyes to futures they may not have considered\u2014girls who, like Marenah, are creating solutions to problems that extend far beyond a classroom on SMU\u2019s campus.<\/p>\n

Voices contributor Nicole Ward is a data journalist for the Dallas Regional Chamber.<\/p>\n

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