Grow.
Lead.
Change the Future.
Sunflower STEMS helps girls of color grow in STEM and AI through hands-on learning, near-peer mentorship, family engagement, and real pathways into advanced coursework, college, and careers.
📍 Serving Santa Ana & Tustin, California
Students, Cohort 1
Program Weeks
Sessions per Week
to Every Participant
Girls of color belong in every STEM space.
Too often, they are one of the only girls — and one of the only students of color — in advanced math, science, or technology spaces. That isolation can reduce confidence, belonging, and long-term persistence at the exact age when students decide whether STEM is “for them.”
Sunflower STEMS changes that.
Identity
Students see themselves as scientists, engineers, technologists, and innovators.
Grades 7–9: The Critical Window
When students decide whether STEM is for them. We show up early.
Near-Peer Mentors
Role models who look like them help build aspiration and belonging.
“Like a sunflower, each student already carries a blueprint for growth. We provide the light, soil, and support.”Sunflower STEMS Program Philosophy
Your beginning does not decide your ending.
Sunflower STEMS is rooted in a simple belief: talent is everywhere, but opportunity, encouragement, and pathway knowledge are not.
We believe girls of color should not be limited by where they were born, their gender, their ethnicity, family income, parents’ education, or what others expect from them.
Through STEM and AI learning, mentorship, family engagement, and pathway guidance, Sunflower STEMS helps students see futures that may not yet feel visible — and take the first steps toward them.
Your pathway can start here.Sunflower STEMS Founding Belief
Building carefully before launch.
Sunflower STEMS is currently in formation and preparing the legal, governance, school partnership, mentor, and funding infrastructure needed to launch the first pilot responsibly.
Sunflower STEMS is not currently accepting online donations through this website. Donation and tax acknowledgment details will be shared once nonprofit or fiscal sponsorship status is confirmed.
Founding Advisory Council — in formation
We are seeking advisors with experience in STEM education, girls’ youth development, nonprofit governance, school partnerships, university pathways, and community-based mentorship.
- Helaine Gariepy, PhD — Founder & Director
- Keith Gariepy — Program Operations & Partnerships
- Advisory invitations and partner conversations underway
Safety Statement
Sunflower STEMS is developing youth safety policies before launch, including parent consent, media permissions, mentor expectations, incident reporting, safety training, and appropriate background-check protocols.
Safety and privacy contact: safety@sunflowerstems.org
Founding Cohort Progress
Sunflower STEMS is moving from concept to launch through a focused, transparent build process. We are recruiting founding partners now.
Program Framework
R.I.S.E. model, Helia identity layer, pilot concept, and evaluation targets.
Legal & Advisory Path
Confirming nonprofit or fiscal sponsor route and forming advisory support.
School + Mentor Network
Seeking one pilot school site and founding mentors in STEM and AI.
Founding Cohort Launch
A focused proof point for future schools, districts, and community partnerships.
Program Framework
R.I.S.E. model, Helia identity layer, pilot concept, and evaluation targets.
Legal & Advisory Path
Confirming nonprofit or fiscal sponsor route and forming advisory support.
School + Mentor Network
Seeking one pilot school site and founding mentors in STEM and AI.
Founding Cohort Launch
A focused proof point for future school, university, employer, and funder partnerships.
8-Week After-School STEM & AI Cohort
One founding school site. One age band. One high-quality cohort. Intentionally focused and designed to become a replicable model.
Hands-On Learning
- Hands-on robotics, AI literacy, engineering design, and real-world problem solving
- Girls-of-color-centered learning environment
- How AI models work and where bias can enter
- Capstone project built over the final weeks
Near-Peer Mentorship
- Matched with a college-age or career mentor of color
- Weekly support inside and outside the cohort
- Mentors share authentic STEM identity stories
Family Engagement
- Family STEM workshops — no prior knowledge needed
- Resources to support confidence and curiosity at home
- Local college and scholarship pathway information
The Sunflower Pathway
Sunflower STEMS is designed to help students move from first exposure to long-term possibility: STEM confidence, project experience, mentors, advanced classes, college pathways, scholarships, research, careers, and leadership.
The first cohort is only the beginning.
STEM and AI need your questions.
Students are not here simply to fit into STEM. They are here to help shape what STEM becomes.
Every cohort ends with students presenting capstone projects to family, mentors, and community — and receiving their lab coats as a visible symbol of belonging in STEM.
Inside the Sunflower Scientist Lab.
The Sunflower Scientist Experience is about more than completing activities. Students build confidence, practice problem-solving, meet role models, identify possible future paths, and leave with a clearer sense that their questions and perspectives matter.
Hands-on learning: robotics, AI literacy, engineering design, and real-world problem solving.
Mentor support: students learn alongside near-peer role models who help normalize belonging in STEM.
Belonging ritual: the Lab Coat Ceremony gives students a visible symbol of identity and achievement.
You are here to help shape what STEM becomes.
STEM and AI are shaped by the people who ask the questions, collect the data, build the tools, and decide what problems matter.
When girls of color enter STEM, they bring perspectives, creativity, and lived experience that can lead to better science, safer technology, and more inclusive innovation.
STEM and AI need your questions, your creativity, and your perspective.
You are not here to fit into STEM. You are here to help shape what STEM becomes.Sunflower STEMS Student Message
Her name comes from Helianthus, the scientific name for sunflower. Helia represents curiosity, courage, joyful rigor, and the belief that girls of color belong in labs, classrooms, engineering teams, and leadership.
She is not just a mascot. She is the program’s guide — a visual reminder that STEM can be rigorous, beautiful, welcoming, and rooted in identity.
Mistakes are data.
Questions are power.
Growth starts with trying.
You belong here.
Measuring what matters.
Sunflower STEMS is designed to produce measurable growth, not just inspiring moments. Year 1 tracks confidence, belonging, mentor engagement, family engagement, and next steps.
STEM Confidence & Belonging
Pre/post reflection tools measure shifts in identity, confidence, and belonging as a scientist.
Mentor & Family Engagement
We track mentor participation, family workshop attendance, and student and family feedback.
Next Steps Into STEM Pathways
Students are encouraged toward STEM classes, clubs, camps, and local opportunities.
Replicable Pilot Model
The first cohort creates a proof point for future school, university, employer, and funder partnerships.
Students Collaborating
Real photos coming after pilot launch
Mentor Moments
Real photos coming after pilot launch
Lab Coat Ceremony
Real photos coming after pilot launch
One focused cohort. One proof point.
Every metric is designed to be honest, trackable, and reproducible.
Students
Weeks
Per Week
Pilot Site
Three ways to help launch.
We are seeking one founding pilot school, STEM mentors, and founding support for the first cohort.
Nominate a Founding School Site
Schools provide space, student recruitment support, and a staff point of contact. We bring curriculum, mentors, evaluation tools, and program coordination.
Join the Founding Mentor Network
College students and professionals in STEM and AI — especially women of color — are invited to support students and share their own STEM journeys.
Support the Founding Cohort
Founding funders and donors help underwrite student kits, mentor support, transportation, family workshops, and program coordination — all free to participants.
Support Through Goods & Services
Sunflower STEMS welcomes in-kind support from companies and community partners that want to help launch our first cohort.
In-kind partners help reduce pilot costs and make the student experience more memorable, hands-on, and accessible.
Offer Goods or ServicesTax acknowledgment availability may depend on Sunflower STEMS’ nonprofit status at the time of contribution.
We are especially looking for:
- Student safety glasses
- Lab coats / embroidery support
- STEM notebooks and school supplies
- Sunflower seeds or student garden kits
- Printing services
- Snacks or refreshments
- Transportation support for campus or employer visits
- STEM kits, robotics parts, laptops, tablets, or learning tools
- Photography or design support
- Legal, accounting, insurance, or nonprofit operations support
- Guest speakers or workplace tours
Planning levels for sponsorship conversations.
These suggested support levels help partners understand the scale of support needed to launch the founding cohort.
Suggested support levels are provided for planning and sponsorship conversations. Sunflower STEMS is not currently accepting online donations through this website. Tax acknowledgment availability may depend on nonprofit or fiscal sponsorship status at the time of contribution.
Discuss SponsorshipSuggested support levels
- $50Student kit
- $1,250Kits and lab coats for one cohort
- $5,000Family workshops and materials
- $10,000Mentor and site visit support
- $35,000–$50,000Full founding cohort sponsor
Sunflower STEMS Lives
Future profiles will highlight great women of color in STEM and AI history, with research prompts and mini activities for students.
Bloom Projects
A future pathway for motivated students who want to extend cohort learning into independent study, science fair work, portfolios, or mentor-supported projects.
Sunflower Stories
Future student and cohort stories will celebrate projects, reflections, milestones, and growth after the pilot begins, using privacy-safe sharing.
Tell us how you’d like to help.
Choose the pathway that best matches your interest. We’ll follow up with the most relevant next step.