The BranchOut! Blog

At BranchOut!, our mission is to create real community impact, whether that’s organizing hands-on STEM workshops for underserved youth at the John M. Barry Boys and Girls’ Club or bringing student perspectives directly to local leadership. Late this September, that mission brought our chapter of middle and high school leaders to Newton City Hall for a sit-down with Mayor Marc Laredo. Arriving early as chapter leader, I greeted our volunteers in the lobby, ran through our agen

Boston may run on Dunkin’, but it also runs on the MBTA. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has evolved throughout its half-century of existence (although predecessor systems date back to 1834). It includes the oldest subway in America and the third-oldest in the world, making it one of the longest-running and most expansive public transit systems in the United States. Which makes its history of unreliability all the more baffling. The MBTA is divided into the Com

This August, at Broad Cove Reserve in Maine, I stood beside a small wave-energy prototype while families and children gathered around to watch. The device was designed to turn wave motion into electricity—powering live demonstrations like wireless charging and "Tony," a small sea turtle toy that shared stories about the ocean. Since toys like Tony are especially popular with younger kids, I hoped he could catch their attention long enough for me to introduce them to the scien

It’s fire season across the country. A few weeks ago, my home state, Massachusetts, looked up and beheld a sepia-yellow sky, like something out of Breaking Bad. You could step outside and smell something burning. Something was, hundreds, thousands of miles away. A flare-up of wildfires across Ontario and far northern Minnesota kicked up a cloud of smoke, moved by jet streams across a wide swath of the Great Lakes, New England, and a significant portion of the Northeast. It wa

If you walked onto the playground at the John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club in Newton, MA, this past week, you would have seen it: a swarm of middle schoolers cheering, a flurry of straws, tape, and tarps, and raw eggs plummeting from 12 feet in the air. Week 4 of BranchOut!’s Boston summer STEM program was dedicated to Gravity and Engineering, challenging the students to build protective landers to keep their eggs intact. Moving the session outdoors brought a completely new