Closing the STEM gap with mentors and a student journal

Around 500 members and growing, and a reach she puts at over 350,000 people. That is UrbanBEARS as Khadija Elbedwehy describes it, a youth led initiative she works on that is focused on closing STEM inequality "by turning access into action."

The initiative helps students turn curiosity into research, into writing and into projects, and they publish their work in the BEARS Journal. She says UrbanBEARS has helped students access opportunities like TKS, MIT, NYU and Columbia, and competitions such as the Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition and NASA related awards.

“Talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn't. One opportunity can change everything, so instead of waiting for connections, I started building them.”

Khadija Elbedwehy

She says she has seen how often students do not feel "qualified" for STEM opportunities, even when they clearly have potential, and that she noticed the same thing in her own experience. "When students are exposed to the right opportunities and environments, they start to see themselves differently and try things they would normally avoid," she says. "That made me realize that a lot of the gap in STEM is not talent, but access."

From girls in Aswan to students in New York, she says, the team has seen the same issue. "Many students are left out of STEM spaces not because they cannot learn, but because systems are not designed for them."

Beyond UrbanBEARS, she went to the UN One World, One Game, One Goal event, where she met people including Gianni Infantino and Amina J. Mohammed, and she attended the UNESCO Arab Youth Consultation Education Beyond 2030. She is a Yalla Success volunteer, working with UN Youth Advisors.

She is a student at Notion International School. "UrbanBEARS is growing because talent is everywhere, but access is not," she says.