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SPIN Girls Monthly Newsletter | May 2021

It's Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!

In light of the rise in violence against the AAPI community since COVID began, it is more important than ever that we take this month to educate ourselves and each other on the history of the AAPI community and to celebrate AAPI heritage. Scroll down to our resources section to find out how!

In this month's newsletter, you'll find a recap of our activities in April and what your students can look forward to in May. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Nell

rtc - field day - edited.png

MONTHLY RECAP

Field Day: Luminous Cohort heard from Renton Technical College about the pros of a technical education and a career in a trade. Stellar & Epic Cohorts learned about how mRNA vaccines work and got to hear from a panel of amazing women from UW Immunology. This was Epic's last Field Day ever!

RESOURCES

11 Moments From Asian American History That You Should Know: Read this article to learn about AAPI history in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Seattle Asian Art Museum is reopening: After being closed for a year due to the pandemic, Seattle Asian Art Museum will reopen to the public May 28. The Museum recently underwent a major renovation and redesign in 2019. Current exhibits include Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, and Be/longing: Contemporary Asian Art.Tickets will be released every Thursday at 10 am and everyone must get tickets online in advance of their visit.

Social Media & Youth Sociopolitical Development Study: Each participant will attend: 1 orientation, 4 interviews and 1 "social media ride along" where you and the researchers will talk about your social media activity together as you go through your account (total of 6 meetings between May and October). You will also submit social media posts weekly. Each enrolled participant will receive a $25 e-gift card for each interview (total of $100 for 4 interviews), $25 for the social media 'ride along', and $10 a week (requires at least 3 posts per week) from July-August 2021 (total of $80 for all posts). Five young people (ages 13-18) will be selected for this project. Applications submitted before May 30 will be given priority. You will learn more about all these activities in orientation. If you have questions, you can email Angie Malorni (she/her) at malorni@uw.edu

What’s Open?: Washington has entered its fourth wave of COVID-19 and Gov. Inslee may move certain counties back to Phase 2. To review what’s open in each phase, visit the “Roadmap to Recovery” link. 

Vaccinate WA: COVID-19 Vaccine Availability: Tool for finding COVID-19 real-time available vaccine openings in Washington.

LOOKING FORWARD

  • Lab Day on May 15th from 10AM-12PM for Luminous & Stellar Cohorts and 1PM-3PM for Epic Cohort. This is the last Lab Day of the year and Epic Cohort's last Lab Day ever!

  • Summer Retreat will be held the week of July 12-16. Timing is TBD but assume an all day retreat schedule for now. Retreat will be held in a hybrid model - two days in person, three days virtual.

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SPIN Girls Monthly Newsletter | April 2021

Happy Spring!

I hope you all are staying safe and feeling hopeful about the future. The SPIN team is almost fully vaccinated and so excited to see you all in person as soon as we can! 

In this month's newsletter, you'll find a recap of our activities in March and what your students can look forward to in April. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Nell

MONTHLY RECAP

Lab Day: Luminous Cohort started working on their Capstone project - designing a bio-inspired backpack for a client that fits in a specific environment. Stellar Cohort dove deeper into designing their apps and started putting things in their Lucidchart projects. Epic Cohort identified their post-HS hopes and concerns and continued working on their climate change projects. One group even met up in person and did their experiment!

RESOURCES

Getting vaccinated in King County: Visit King County’s website for information on who is eligible for the vaccine, how to get vaccinated, and more. If you need any assistance navigating the vaccine process, please let us know.

Support the Asian American / Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community: Check out these resources we’ve compiled to provide guidance on supporting the AAPI community. If you’d like any support from us or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. 

Supporting Students’ Mental Health as We Return to School: While this article is written for teachers, I still recommend that everyone read it. It provides valuable guidance on how to support students as the world opens up again.

Back to School Resources for Families & Educators: For more resources on supporting students as they go back to school, visit Child Mind’s Back to School page.

LOOKING FORWARD

  • Field Day on April 24th from 10AM-12PM.

  • Summer Retreat will be held the week of July 12-16. Timing is TBD but assume an all day retreat schedule for now. Retreat will be held in a hybrid model - two days in person, three days virtual.

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Support the Asian American / Pacific Islander (AAPI) Community

Between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021, the Stop AAPI Hate reporting center received 3,795 reports of hate incidents (source). That number only represents a fraction of total incidents since not all incidents get reported. And according to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, anti-Asian hate crimes across 16 large US cities increased by nearly 150% in 2020 despite an overall decline in hate crimes. In Seattle specifically, there’s been a 55% increase since the pandemic began. In light of these numbers and the recent shooting in Atlanta, SPIN has compiled the following resources to help folks support the AAPI community and to #StopAsianHate. For a comprehensive national Google Doc, visit here.

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Understand what’s happening & why it’s not new by checking out some of these resources.

SUPPORT

REPORT

If you or someone you know experiences or witnesses hate, report it to Stop AAPI Hate, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and if you are comfortable, the local police & the FBI.

To support the Black Lives Matter movement, click here.

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SPIN Girls Monthly Newsletter | March 2021

It's Women's History Month!

Make sure to check out our resources section where you can find a link to watch free videos and documentaries that highlight important contributions by women in history to celebrate this month's theme.

In this month's newsletter, you'll find a recap of our activities in February and what your students can look forward to in March. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Nell

Stellar Cohort with 343 Industries

Stellar Cohort with 343 Industries

MONTHLY RECAP

Lab Day: Luminous Cohort learned about Bioluminescence by designing a switch that a spy could use to turn on a light from two feet away. Stellar Cohort continued to learn about app development and started to explore Lucidchart. Epic Cohort dove deeper into their climate change projects, finalizing designs and experiment protocols.

Field Day: Luminous Cohort learned about Blue Origin, created a lunar lander prototype, and heard from some of the amazing aerospace employees there. Stellar Cohort heard from an inspiring panel of women at 343 Industries - the video game studio that brings us Halo. Epic Cohort learned about Facebook Reality Labs, listened to an incredible panel of engineers, and created their own optics pyramid.

Facebook Reality Labs panelist, Sahar Karimi, with Epic Cohort students and mentors above.

Facebook Reality Labs panelist, Sahar Karimi, with Epic Cohort students and mentors above.

RESOURCES

What to Watch: Women's History Month: Free documentaries and videos spotlighting important contributions by women in history

TechConnect WA: The TechConnect Community Helpdesk provides the diverse and multilingual Seattle-area community with access to FREE technical support to better engage in a virtual environment. The Community Helpdesk will be able to provide the technical guidance and navigation support, while ensuring that other needs can be met via established channels.

Med-o-vate Hackathon: Register here to join a biotech centered hackathon, organized to target problems prevalent in our healthcare industry.

Fred Hutch High School Explorers Program: The Pathways Research Explorers Program, funded by the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health, supports rising 10th and 11th grade students (especially those from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in science) in a two-week introductory summer program at Fred Hutch. We run two sessions in August of approximately 16 students each. Students must have completed a high school biology course to participate. Apply by March 17, 2021.

LOOKING FORWARD

  • Lab Day on March 27th. 10AM-12PM for Luminous & Stellar Cohorts. 1PM-3PM for Epic Cohort.

  • Summer Retreat will be held the week of July 12-16. Timing is TBD depending on whether or not we are able to meet safely in person, but assume an all day retreat schedule for now.

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Katherine Barr Katherine Barr

Looking for awesome Board Members!

SPIN is looking for 3-4 new board members to plan our strategic direction for the next 3-5 years!

SKILLS AND COMMITMENT

SPIN is looking for board members who are focused on equity and education. 2021 brings renewed opportunity and we are looking for board members who are inspired to lead us as we explode into the future alongside our community.

We are looking for board members who:

  • Help us understand community dreams and rise to meet them;

  • Assist with budgeting and fundraising to fulfill those dreams; and

  • Imagine what the future could look like with no barriers to STEM.

Board members are expected to meet every other month and:

  • Be visionaries for our community’s future

  • Understand and fulfill board Fiduciary responsibilities

  • Champion SPIN’s work to external organizations

  • Raise operating funds 

If you are interested in learning more, contact our Director, Katherine Barr, at 206.271.2872 or katb[at]stempaths[dot]org

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