My name's Julio, and I'm a student here at CU Denver and the Undergraduate Ambassador of Josepha's Kapamilya for Outreach and Advancement (J-KOA) in STEAM—an outreach branch of the Denver Metro Regional Science and Engineering Fair (DMRSEF). Cc'd is Koya Conradson—our President—and Yvonne Kumah—our Vice President. We are working to recruit volunteers for our outreach efforts as well as mentors for our new mentorship program. This includes faculty, undergrads, or anyone interested in STEAM.
J-KOA's mission is to serve our communities while supporting the fair and its mission by recruiting more students to compete and partake in events. Beyond the inherent joy of teaching and advancing scientific skills, my previous engagement with the Fair underscores its numerous advantages, ranging from exclusive awards to lucrative scholarships. However, it's worth noting that participation in the fair has decreased, particularly among students from underrepresented backgrounds (please refer to the attached impact report) since the onset of the pandemic.
To ameliorate this, our organization—J-KOA—has been working hard to recruit more students to the fair. This past academic year, we reached over 1,200 students across 10 schools and a library. Out of the 210 students we polled, 90 expressed an interest in the fair, most of whom are from underrepresented backgrounds and who didn't know about the fair before attending our event (see attached academic-year report).
With this momentum, we are working to expand our outreach efforts and reach more students this year as well as provide them with mentors to support them through their projects in collaboration with Aurora Science and Tech. However, we need more volunteers and mentors to help with these efforts.
Given the talent and knowledge that folks from CU Denver bring, we'd like to recruit more volunteers from campus and could use your help in doing so. This could be in the form of an email or telling folks through word-of-mouth. We would also be happy to make our pitch through a presentation-like format at a venue you feel is appropriate.
Feel free to reach out with any questions. I look forward to any future communication and thank you for your time.
Julio and the J-KOA Family
Julio Jaime
Daniels Scholar | MARC U-STAR Scholar
Student Research Assistant - Craniofacial Biology
Julio.Jaime.04062002@gmail.com | 303-475-0392