MOUSE Squad of California (MOUSE) is a school-based program that prepares underserved students in grades 4-12 for academic and career success in STEM fields by empowering them to learn, lead, and create with technology.
Today, MOUSE reaches more than 3,000 students in grades 4-12 at over 100 California schools. MOUSE performs outreach across California to identify schools with a need for increased STEM education opportunities, and then builds partnerships between schools, districts, and local tech business networks to help make those opportunities available. Once partnerships are forged, MOUSE introduces teachers to its project-based STEM curriculum, administers in-person training to teachers and administrators, and launches activities with students. Once programs are implemented, MOUSE continues to support schools by providing technical and administrative support as students collaborate, experiment, design, and build using socially responsible games, green technology, robotics, and more.
Technology professionals from local companies partner with MOUSE Squad to provide hands-on design thinking seminars centered on 3-D printing, coding, robotics and digital security. The series runs from February - May and provides an outlet for enthusiastic tech people to give back to their community and expose youth to a variety of STEM topics, education and career pathways. When recruiting professionals, MOUSE Squad aims to bring in an eclectic and diverse group with women, Latino, and African-American professionals making up the core of speakers.
One youth last year said:
Spending time with our speaker was the best part of my day. I learned about her job as a software engineer and found out she was from San Jose. IT meant so much for me to see a woman engineer from where I grew up. I realized that if she can do this work, so can I!