I am Hripsime Mkrtchyan, PhD, atmospheric physicist. Already more than 5 years I am doing outreach activities trying to increase interest in science. I have opened this fundrise to organize STEM camp for school kids. This initiative will provide transporation to/from Yerevan, transportation to research laboratories, housing, hygiene items, stationeries and food for 50 school kids during two camps in July and in Auguts.

Why this is important ?

During the last decade the number of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students in the universities of Armenia drastically decreased. Almost no-one applies from the regions for that specialities, which creates a huge void not only in the scientific fields but more crucially, it generates decrease in numbers of STEM teachers in regions and endangers the future of education. For instance, in 2010, there were 2092 applicants in physics at the Armenian State Pedagogical University. And this number, unfortunately, felt to 1 in 2020.    

On the way to find the solution, with an enthusiastic group of young scientists and activists, I am organizing an informative camp for 50 school kids where during different activities the youth will learn about opportunities and importance of STEM directions. The selection of the school kids will be based on their location and interest. The applicants from frontier regions will join to the camp. 
Camp will also be open for school kids from Yerevan(with limited number without funding), and they will be able to join  to trips inside Yerevan as well.

You can reach out to me by hripsi.mkrtchyan@gmail.com. And I can share with you the programm and details of the camp․