This week’s special guest on the Hope Matrix is Sandy Marshall. Sandy is the founder, CEO, and visionary of Project Scientist, a national nonprofit that turns girls age 4 to 12 onto science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). She is passionate about igniting girls’ confidence that a STEM career is obtainable for any girl. 

In the nine years since it was created, Project Scientist has served more than 10,000 girls. More than half have attended the Project Scientist summer STEM camps on scholarship, representing low-income households near college campuses. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Project Scientist has also offered virtual STEM camps nationwide. 

In this week’s episode, Sandy and Kathryn discuss how to use hope tools to inspire young girls to aspire to careers in STEM. From the importance of role models and support networks, to understanding how to handle failure, to using negative emotions to energize positive feelings and inspired actions, Kathryn and Sandy chat about the complex obstacles that young women in STEM face from an early age, and identify how a hopeful mindset can help women overcome them. 

For more information about Project Scientist or to donate to the Project Scientist scholarship fund, visit https://projectscientist.org. For more resources for young girls interested in STEM careers, visit https://pbskids.org/scigirls/ or https://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectScientist/featured.