This MIT grad found a big, bold, and fun way to get girls of color working in STEM

New York (CNN) — Yamilée Toussaint has always been passionate about two seemingly unrelated things: dancing and mathematics.

Growing up on Long Island in New York, as she pursued her diverse interests, she always had the support of her father, a mechanical engineer, and mother, a nurse.

“I think my parents’ careers in the STEM fields made it so that I always believed that I could also do something in STEM,” Toussaint said.

While she had a love for math, the dance studio was her “home away from home,” she said.

“It’s always been a source of community, perseverance, and learning how to be determined.”

This dual passion led Toussaint to study mechanical engineering at MIT, where she was also head of the dance team. It was there she saw for the first time that Black women were not pursuing education in STEM – an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. She was one of only two Black women in her major, an experience that highlighted the need for greater diversity in these career fields.

“What struck me the most is I didn’t feel like I was so exceptional that I should be one of two,” Toussaint said. “I felt like it should be different and can be different.”

Bringing STEM and dance together

While teaching math at a high school in eastern Brooklyn in 2008, Toussaint encountered many students who had negative views of math. This spurred her desire to find a way to change young people’s mindset, especially for girls of color, and empower them to embrace STEM.

“I just started to wonder about a world where the benefits that you get from dance can lead to the outcomes that we’re looking for in STEM,” Toussaint said.

In 2012, she created STEM From Dance, a nonprofit program that integrates dance with STEM education to make these subjects more engaging and accessible. Today, the program works with girls of color ages 8 to 18 in nine cities across the US and is free to its participants.

The organization’s school and summer programs typically attract girls who identify as dancers but are hesitant about STEM. Through the supportive community and hands-on projects, the girls begin to see themselves as programmers, engineers, and innovators.

“Through dance, we’re able to create this atmosphere that feels comfortable,” Toussaint said. “And with that space, we’re able to introduce something that feels kind of intimidating.”

Lighting up the stage with STEM

Rather than teach dance and STEM separately, the program combines the two. Working in small groups, the girls choreograph dance routines that include STEM elements, such as LED light strips that they code to light up with the music. The girls also create songs through computer science that they incorporate into their performance.

“When I first started the dance part, I really liked it,” recalled Myrtha Plaisime, 14, a STEM From Dance participant. “Then, when we went to STEM, I was skeptical at first but then we really started to go deeper into the STEM part. I realized that STEM can relate to my deepest interests.”

On the final day of the program, the girls perform in front of family and friends. For Toussaint, this is an important day she hopes all of the girls carry with them.

“That feeling that they get, we want them to remember that and … remember that they are celebrated for doing things in STEM,” Toussaint said. “So, when they face that hard math problem, they’re reminded, ‘I can do hard things.’”

Toussaint hopes that by showing girls of color they are capable of being in STEM fields, it will change more than representation in STEM.

“I believe that the solution to some of the world’s most pressing problems relies on these girls being in the room because they have a different set of life experiences,” Toussaint said. “They’re creative, they’re intellectual, they’re curious, they’re artistic, and they’re going to bring a different set of ideas to the table, so we must make sure that they are included.”

Want to get involved? Check out the STEM From Dance website and see how to help.  

To donate to STEM From Dance via GoFundMe, click here

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