UNC Asheville’s STEAM Studio’s SkillSet Program Receives Grant to Expand Its After-school Programming for Underserved Youth

The SkillSet program at UNC Asheville’s STEAM Studio received its largest grant to date from Dogwood Health Trust, amounting to $499,860 over five years, in order to expand the reach and impact of the program’s out of school-time programming.

“It really speaks to the need for the program and the desire for the program to thrive,” said Sara Sanders, director of STEAM studio. “It’s still a relatively new program, so to receive an award like this just reinforces that we’re doing the right thing and it’s worth all of the work and effort we’re putting into it.”

SkillSet was founded in 2018 and hosted its first after-school programming in 2019, with the focus of addressing the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) fields and trades. The program has since expanded to include a wider audience of learners but is still underpinned by the idea that under-represented people should be taught STEAM skills so communities can be designed and built by the diverse people who live in them.

“Our entire mission is to give students or just people in general access to tools and equipment, knowledge and material literacy that they’ve been systematically barred from,” Sanders said. “It’s super important to engage students from lower socioeconomic status and black and brown students who haven’t had access to these sorts of resources.”

The program is housed in UNC Asheville’s STEAM Studio, where science, technology, engineering, art, and math come together in a 12,000 square foot state-of-the-art making space that houses tools ranging from drills to lasers and welders. The grant will allow Skillset to expand off-site by funding the purchase of a cargo van for the purpose of bringing equipment and staff to local schools for classes and after-school programming.

SkillSet currently works with Partnership for Appalachian Girls Education at Madison County Middle, hosts an elective class at Hanger Hall Middle and works with In Real Life (IRL) after-school programming at Asheville Middle.

The grant will also go toward funding a bilingual full-time employee to work in collaboration with SkillSet Coordinator Amanda Simons in expanding programming to migrant and English-learning communities.

Several student employees who will help develop curriculum and teach the classes will also be funded by the grant, with the hope of training future educators. 

“One of the aspects that feels really important with this grant was acknowledging that there’s a challenge in just finding professionals to deliver out of school-time programming,” Sanders said. “So as our student workers leave UNC Asheville with their degrees they can then participate in community-based programs wherever they end up.”

Being employed with SkillSet allows UNC Asheville students to solidify their own understanding of material relevant to them by engaging with younger students and learn short-term programming organization and teaching skills, all while being paid a competitive wage.

“It’s a lot of teacher training in short-term programming which looks a lot different than classroom teaching in many ways. It’s logistically very complicated to go set up somewhere and then repack and bring everything back,” said Amanda Simons, SkillSet coordinator. “A lot of them are not education students, but they’re interested tangentially in teaching. The teaching artist opportunities post-graduation will look a lot like what we’re doing, so in that respect we’re giving really valuable training.”

Having student workers assist with the classes not only engages college students with the community but also gives younger students someone to connect with and see their future in.

“Student workers are closer in age often to the students that we’re serving,” Sanders said. “It’s a closer kind of peer mentorship. It’s also really important that the middle school students and high school students see people that look like them who are currently in college so that can help them develop a college identity.”

To find out more about SkillSet visit steamstudio.unca.edu/programs/skillset/.