STEM Greenhouse

08/21/2026

Numbers tell you what a program does. This video shows you what it means. Watch what happens when Grand Rapids kids get real science, real mentors, and real belief in who they can become. Then share it. This city should see what its young people are capable of.

STEM Greenhouse helps students achieve their dreams by supporting t...

07/07/2026

The robots work. And judging by the looks on these faces, we may have a few future engineers on our hands.

Our Sankofa students brought their robotics lesson to life at the YMCA this week. They built the lesson, wired the arms, made the posters, and then handed the controllers to younger kids and watched them light up. Every single one wanted to take a robot home.

There is no better proof that a lesson went well than a room full of kids who do not want it to end. ❤️

Would your little one want one of these? Tell us below.

07/03/2026

Brandon doesn’t use more words than he needs.

He’s 13, the youngest of four, bilingual in Spanish and English, and he’s been with STEM Greenhouse since third grade. What he loves: science, math, teamwork. What carries him away is history and how humans evolved. One day, he wants to teach it.

His thank-you note to Dr. Keli read:

“Thank you for the good times and fun. You made me learn a lot.”

We’ll take it.

Brandon is one of five students in “Sankofa: Four Summers and Counting.” link below. Read it and share it with your people.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sankofa-four-summers-counting-stem-greenhouse-n6whc

07/03/2026

Christian didn’t plan to be here at all.

He flew in from Las Vegas in June to spend a pretty chill summer with his dad. His aunt signed him up for Sankofa “without much warning.” He didn’t mind.
Ask him about algebra and he shrugs: “The numbers just pop right when I see the letters.” In his future, he has plans that include the NFL and a microphone.

His end-of-summer thank-you note said it all: “The STEM academy is so cool. I had the best time here.”

Meet Christian in “Sankofa: Four Summers and Counting,” our new article at the link below.

Read and share.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sankofa-four-summers-counting-stem-greenhouse-n6whc

07/03/2026

LaNiece is 13. She’s been with STEM Greenhouse for four years, in middle-school math, that’s nearly a third of her life.

She loves math because she’s “fascinated by problem-solving and thinking.” She wants architecture and engineering, because she plans to build things that stand up.

Her family is moving out of Grand Rapids at the end of July. But she has a solids plan! She’s already telling everyone she’ll be back next summer for year five.

That’s what this program means to our kids.

Meet LaNiece and four of her classmates in “Sankofa: Four Summers and Counting,” link below. Read it, then share it with a family who should know about Sankofa. 💚

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sankofa-four-summers-counting-stem-greenhouse-n6whc

07/03/2026

Four summers ago, Juliana sat in her mother’s car outside Grand Rapids Community College, crying, begging to go home. Ten minutes after walking in, she texted her mom to come get her.

Her mom didn’t come but instead encouraged her to hang in there. Today Juliana is 13, four years into the Sankofa STEM Summer Academy, and planning to study architecture at Florida A&M University.

That same first summer, Zariah was too nervous to speak, until a girl with a nearly identical name, Zariya, introduced herself and wouldn’t let her sit alone. This fall, Zariah walks into Aquinas College’s dual-enrollment program at 13. She says it wouldn’t have happened without Sankofa.

Two girls who almost didn’t stay and two futures being built brick by brick.

Their stories, and three more, are in our new article, “Sankofa: Four Summers and Counting.”

Read it at the link below, and share it with a parent whose kid is scared to try something new. 💚

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sankofa-four-summers-counting-stem-greenhouse-n6whc?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&utm_campaign=share_via

07/02/2026

Our older students are learning robotics this week so they can teach it to the younger ones next week. Turns out nothing sharpens your focus like knowing a kid is about to ask you how it works.

06/30/2026

Picture a teenager holding up a cup of pond water, explaining pH to a younger student who is hanging on every word. That happened at our Sankofa Summer Academy.

Our older Sankofa students ran the whole show. They built the water quality posters. They then (even more impressively) broke down the big words, pH, nitrates, chlorine, lead, the EPA. Then they took the younger crew down to the water to scoop real samples and test them, hands wet, brains on.

No worksheet does what this does. When a young person teaches, the lesson sticks twice, once for the student learning it and once for the student giving it away.

Later, the amazing team from Young Money Finances
pulled up to put our students mind on their money and teach them about healthy financial habits.

Tell us: water science or money management, which would have intrigued you more at their age?

06/29/2026

Last week, we traded the classroom for the lakeshore, and it was a good time to be a Sankofa student.

Our crew spent Field Trip Friday at P.J.Hoffmaster State Park, where a park guide walked them through the history of the dunes before they hit the trail. They hiked through the woods, climbed a sand dune, and came out to Lake Michigan stretching all the way to the horizon. For a lot of them, it was their first time standing at the edge of one of the Great Lakes.

Then came the part everyone remembers: a cookout in the pines, watermelon and burgers, games in the sand, and a couple of kids hauling a giant piece of driftwood down the beach just because they could.

What is your favorite Michigan state park?

06/25/2026

Science doesn’t always happen at a desk. Sometimes it happens at the edge of a pond.

This week our Sankofa STEM Academy students traded the classroom for the field to study water quality up close. Gloves on, sample cups in hand, they collected water straight from the source and got to work like real scientists.

They had spent a considerable amount of time preparing for this in the classroom.

This is what we mean when we say STEM should be hands-on and we are proud of these young scientists.

Who remembers the first time you did real science outside the classroom? Tell us below.