AccessSTEM Team Member Profile: Kayla Brown

Hi! My name is Kayla and I am an AccessSTEM Team member. I will be graduating this spring from BC, and I plan on transferring to the UW to pursue a degree in psychology and disability studies. I first participated in AccessSTEM after I graduated from high school. I was looking for an internship so I could build a more impressive resume, and AccessSTEM helped me find one. They even paid me to do my internship, for which I was grateful. My first internship was at the Kindering Center. I have completed a few more internships since then. In addition, AccessSTEM is currently providing financial assistance to pay for my tutor.

I am also on the A-Team, which is a group of college students at AccessSTEM partner schools who help design project activities that promote AccessSTEM to students with disabilities and support those majoring in STEM fields. One of our recent activities provided AccessSTEM Team members with an opportunity to complete accessibility reviews of local informal science venues for the opportunity to earn money. We also ran a resume contest, with more than forty submissions. There were prizes for the best resumes, but the most important outcome was that lots of students, with help from AccessSTEM staff, improved their resumes. You can read more about the contest on page eight.

My work through AccessSTEM has motivated me to start an AccessSTEM student group at BC. The goal of the group is to provide a way for AccessSTEM Team members to stay in contact by meeting on a monthly basis. Activities for the meet-ups include mock interviews, networking gatherings (with pizza!), movie nights, STEM workshops, and much more. If you are a BC student with a disability who would be interested in joining the AccessSTEM club, please email me at kayladb@uw.edu.