The ALMA (Aspire, Learn, Mentor and Achieve) program is based on best practices that better prepare students from Santa Ana for academic success and growing opportunities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers and higher education.
*The ALMA program and MSP program run concurrently (11:00 AM-1:00 PM), therefore it is recommended mentors commit to one program*
*Elementary Science Academy is only available for Madison, Kennedy, and Roosevelt Walker elementary school*
From a 2014 report from the OC STEM Initiative via the OC Business Council: “Orange County, a leading region in terms of high-tech employment, will continue to depend upon the competitiveness of firms that employ increasing numbers of STEM workers to drive economic growth.
Labor market information clearly demonstrates that a growing number of open STEM positions go unfilled in Orange County. Aligning education and workforce training with STEM workplace needs is vital to improving Orange County’s competitiveness as a center for technological innovation.”
ALMA encourages lifelong learning of the sciences and promotes a high priority on academic achievement and continuation into higher education. ALMA’s facilitated mentorship approach seeks to connect student’s funds of knowledge to a practice-based environmental and public health STEM education while showcasing diverse career pathways through our existing academic and organizational partners. ALMA’s new curriculum ensures active learning through scaled activities that are connected to localized health needs that leverages the community’s lived expertise as its key resource to achieve creative solutions. In addition to curriculum, ALMA emphasizes the mentorship pipeline through selecting mentors from a pool of STEM undergraduates and graduate students from UC Irvine and UCLA, and UCI medical students from the Program in Medical Education for the Latino Community (PRIME-LC).
