Five years, sowing Seeds of Success

This year we are celebrating five editions of Seeds of Success! We invite you to get to know the history of our great project.   

Ever since she was a little girl growing up in the La Playa barrio in Ponce, Dr. Greetchen Díaz Muñoz, our Director of STEM Education, was interested in science. She grew up without knowing a single Puerto Rican scientist to motivate her into those fields, nor did she have access to programs that would provide her with that opportunity. Years later, this inspired her to create Seeds of Success, a program in which she would have loved to participate.

Thanks to a partnership with the Amgen Foundation, Seeds of Success launched in 2015, recruiting 162 middle school girls with the aim of exploring careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), receiving mentorship from professional women in those disciplines, and developing their leadership through community outreach activities.

During its first edition, girls from all over Puerto Rico participated in educational activities, lab visits, and leadership workshops. More than 60% of the girls became STEM Ambassadors, a title given to young women who complete STEM community projects. Among them, Rose Arroyo Ramírez organized a "Coding Hour" in her school; Patricia Rodríguez Rodríguez held a Student Scientific Congress; and Amy López Flores launched a recycling campaign. Beyond sharing their excitement for science and developing their leadership skills, our girls impacted nearly 11,000 people in that first year! That's how we discovered the true potential of this program.

“Seeds of Success allowed me to look at life in a different way, to trust and believe in myself and my abilities, to be able to demonstrate them to other girls" ” Alejandra García, Seeds of Success Participant (2019)

“Seeds of Success gave me the opportunity to meet and make connections with women worthy of admiration who to me are role models” Paola Lee Vega, Seeds of Success Participant (2019)

After a few years on pause, the program made its comeback in 2019, thanks to the support of Johnson & Johnson in Puerto Rico, this time recruiting a cohort of 100 high school students. This return was pivotal to the continuity of the project, which has been sustained ever since thanks to the continued support of the companies that believed in the program initially and those that have joined our coalition of collaborating organizations.

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put our educational model to the test, and we passed the test! The IF/THEN initiative joined our effort, in a special all-virtual edition for middle school girls. Seeds of Success proved to be a resilient educational model that maintained the enthusiasm and interest of the participating girls. Moreover, it exceeded expectations, raising the girls' community impact to over 18,000 people! The pandemic did not stop the mission and continuity of Seeds of Success, but rather, it fostered creativity and helped improve and redesign the program into today's hybrid model.  From that creativity, several components and resources stemmed, such as the Latinas in STEM Digital Collection, online mentoring, the Juntas Podemos webinarss, and the Leadership Power Training, among others.

Since 2015, we have cultivated the excitement for science of 565 girls, who have completed nearly 300 science outreach projects and reached over 43,000 people in total! As if that wasn't enough, more than 200 women in STEM and role models, from Puerto Rico, the United States and several Latin American countries, have served as mentors, facilitators, speakers and allies of the program.

Currently, with the support of the Medtronic Foundation and the rest of the Coalition members, the program has been able to reach schools in Puerto Rico, providing materials and digital lessons for local STEM educators. This year, we reached a milestone, expanding our “garden” to the state of Connecticut, where we will continue to grow with a new cohort, thanks to a grant from the National Institutes of Health. 

Now, we want to complete an important goal: reaching out to girls with disabilities and girls from rural areas of Puerto Rico,which are underrepresented among participants. You can help us provide these girls with quality science education and access to role models. Help us continue the Seeds of Success mission and celebrate this 5th edition of the program with your contribution at Eng.SembrandoSemillasPR.org!