Annual Awards Celebrate Everyday People Who Dedicate Their Time To Improving Others’ Lives and Making The World A Better Place

(Black PR Wire) NEW YORK, NY – Yamilee Toussaint, the founder of STEM From Dance and MIT engineer, is selected as a CNN Hero. Her groundbreaking national nonprofit is transforming the STEM field by empowering girls of color with the know-how, experience, and confidence to dream big in STEM — all through the power of dance.

“It’s an honor to be selected as a CNN Hero,” Toussaint said. “I’m so proud of the work we do to help bridge the gap between girls of color and STEM careers – in a joyful and impactful way.”

Since 2012, thousands of young girls have entered STEM From Dance. Through the rich programming and dedicated community, many participants have been inspired to pursue careers in STEM. Young girls of color create dance routines involving technology, such as lighting up sneakers to the beat of the music or designing projections through computer programming.

“I saw at the time that girls just tend to not feel like math is a place they belong in,” Toussaint explained. “That's really why we exist and what we are working to change. Because our method attracts girls who otherwise wouldn’t raise their hand to code or build a robot, we know we can impact the field. A big part of getting there will be releasing our curriculum and training so that teachers across the country and the world can adopt our approach and implement it locally.”

CNN has teamed up with GoFundMe to encourage donations. You can donate here.

Click here to view the feature story about STEM From Dance on CNN.

Learn more about STEM From Dance here and follow Toussaint’s journey on LinkedIn.

Source: STEM From Dance