TI has been instrumental in supporting Girls Inc. programs designed to encourage girls to consider STEM careers through early positive educational experiences.

At this point in their summer vacation, many students have forgotten some of what they learned during the school year. In fact, researchers say students will likely lose a month or more of math skills over the course of the summer break. To help combat the "summer slide," TI supports organizations devoted to making high quality summer learning available to all students.

"Statistics show that without summer programs, a lot of students lose ground," said Trisha Cunningham, TI's chief citizenship officer. "We partner with these organizations to help mitigate the losses taking place in the summer and instead take advantage of the extra time to advance students to higher goals."

Bridging the summer vacation gap
TI's long relationship with Girls Inc. is part of the company's ongoing focus on engaging girls in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, subjects more difficult to retain during the summer. For more than a decade, TI has been instrumental in supporting Girls Inc. programs designed to engage girls to consider STEM careers through early positive educational experiences and summer camps.

Since 2011, TI has sponsored a new Girls Inc. STEM summer camp called Camp Scimatech. This interactive experience serves girls, ages 6 to 14, through hands-on science experiments, field trips and STEM exploration. This summer, more than 270 girls had the opportunity to participate in the camp in four different Dallas locations.

"This camp is based on age-appropriate, successive instruction tailored for each age group," said Lori Palmer, executive director of Girls Inc.

"The goal is to expose girls, beginning at a young age, to science in as many different ways as possible, stimulating a sense of engagement, exploration and empowerment while learning and having fun at the same time."

In North Texas each summer, the High Tech High Heels organization sponsors Advanced Placement® physics summer camps. This donor-advised fund established by TI women executives in 2001 to help address the shortage of women in engineering and other STEM career fields has underwritten camps in the Plano and Dallas school districts.

The organization's two-week AP physics camps are held in high school classrooms and feature fun, hands-on exercises and activities that demonstrate physics concepts to girls in a concrete, real-life way. The camp exercises are designed to help increase the girls' interest in pursuing STEM careers.

This summer, 58 girls attended the 2012 Dallas Independent School District's (ISD) AP physics camp. Before camp, 38 percent of the participants said they were interested in STEM careers. By the end of camp, that percentage had grown to 80 percent.

The students' comments after the camp indicated they were motivated by the experience:

• "The camp was very helpful, fun, awesome, and I simply loved it! I feel so much better about taking physics next year!"
• "I liked the way the instructors taught me and how fast I could learn the things that would normally be covered in multiple weeks of class."
• "I liked learning how important engineering jobs are."
• "I really enjoyed this camp. Thank you for the opportunity that you gave me. I feel like I was able to step out of my shell more, and able to learn more."

Participants in the AP physics camp for girls in Dallas ISD visited TI this summer to learn more about careers in technology. Watch a video about their experience.

TI has also partnered with The Heart of a Warrior Charitable Foundation, a public nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing tools for educational advancement to underserved children. TI is a co-sponsor of the Young Warriors Summer Learning program, which just completed its fifth year serving the Hamilton Park Community, a neighborhood near TI's Dallas headquarters, with summer education.

Over the years, the program has touched several hundred children each summer from the community and has consistently seen 35-40 percent gains in math and science learning over an eight-week period. The program's consistent growth every year illustrates the need to fulfill the gap in summer learning. During the first year, the program had 80 students enrolled, and this summer it grew to 300 students each week.

In addition to these, TI supports summer programs for students at the Museum of Nature and Science, the African American Museum, the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas "College Journey - Teaming for Tomorrow," and Frank Greene Scholars Program.

Continued summer learning isn't just for students. TI sponsors a teacher training program in the summer called STEP in STEM at the University of Texas at Dallas that helps science and math teachers keep their skills sharp over the summer as well providing hands-on development of programs that can enhance student learning.

"Keeping students sharp by exploring meaningful ways to learn throughout the summer helps ensure success during the school year," Cunningham said. "These organizations have proven to spark students' interest in learning and retain skills even during the summer months, boosting their confidence and securing their success in school and beyond."