On December 2nd, 2019, BranchOut!’s Innovator team won third place overall in Virginia District 10 in the Congressional App Challenge (CAC), a national competition for students to create an app and present it to the public. Innovator is a team consisting of 20+ students from different schools and backgrounds. The team consists of three sub-teams: Developers, Curriculum Design, and Marketing. The Developer team programs and designs the app using tools such as Android Studio a

Sunday, October 13th, 2019 is the fourth annual BranchOut! celebrate event. About 300 people from DC, Maryland, and Virginia gathered at the Kreeger Auditorium to attend this regional event. This year, we had Tony lodge, Ryan McElveen, and Paul Li as guest speakers. The guest speakers talked about their experiences, insight, and support of STEM education in society as well as cultural interaction. There were also several ethnic student groups performing this year, ranging f

As the school year ends, many high school students struggle to find the answer to one question of what they will do over the summer. With a plethora of options to choose from, from a summer job to tackling summer online PE, students tirelessly search for an activity that will allow them to explore their passion and stand out amidst hundreds of other high school students. This requires an activity that is fun, rewarding, and beneficial for both parties involved. BranchOut! is

On June 15, 2019, BranchOut! STEM Education had its fourth annual training at the James Lee Community Center in Falls Church, Virginia. Founded in 2016, the organization’s main purpose is to spread STEM education to underserved communities and improve inter-community understanding through peer-mentoring. Mentors serve at community centers, homeless shelters, and summer schools as of 2019. Dr. Yuhsien Wu, a Harvard graduate from the School of Education, and Mr. Richard Wang we

On Saturday, September 14, 2019, about 40 BranchOut! student mentors and parents took part in BranchOut!'s DC National Mall trash pickup event. About 10 student leaders got to the National Mall at 8am to set up and meet with the staff from the National Park Service. The actual trash pick-up event started around 9:30am after the team was debriefed. This was our first trash pick-up event, and BranchOut! team was proud to be able to take care of our environment by collecting

Arriving at Patrick Henry Homeless Shelter, I thought that similar to the children at the Willston Community Center, they merely came to the shelter for a summer camp. But, it was when I heard the kids say that they were going up to their apartment, saying that they were neighbors, that I realized that these kids did not have a place other than a shelter to call home. When I asked one of the older boys what school he was going to, he shook his head, saying that he did not kno

BranchOut! will be holding a trash pickup at the DC National Mall from 9AM to 12PM on September 14th, 2019. This is another way for BrachOut! to give back to the community while broadening our reach in the DMV area. You can sign-up for this event at this link: https://forms.gle/143y3jLjwRmtBjy17 Please also look at the items that we need to bring in for the event, and if you are able to bring in something please also select the item(s) & quantity you will be bringing. If y

On April 27, 2019, representatives of the Veritas Branchout! Multicultural STEM Mentoring Program accepted the Gold Star Group volunteer award from the Fairfax Neighborhood and Community Services organization for Branchout!'s exceptional work at the James Lee Community Center for the summer of 2018. At the event, different volunteers around the county were recognized for their service in volunteering. Award categories included Initiative, Outstanding Contribution, and Develop

As the end of the school year approaches, the BranchOut! leadership team has been interviewing new mentors in preparation for another exciting summer. Check out this clip of some of our interview process!