Presence Shaping Science Futures

Celebrating Difference to Fix Leaks

There’s no question: Americans are a little different. We are tenacious and determined. We know how to work hard. We do it every day. When the time comes to get things done, we know and value our neighbors. We place trust in our communities. It is our identity and our legacy. When we teach or parent our children, we expect to make a lasting impact, and we expect to do so together. We know there is no other way to be exceptional. That’s why Americans are poised to fix the leaky STEM pipeline at the source, because we are different. All of us. Each of us.

And what a difference difference makes.

Americans already know it is not only advantageous but essential to familiarize ourselves with the valuable perspectives and experiences that difference provides each and every community. At Sustainable Horizons, we apply these time-tested values and practices to the world of students and science, a world filled with diversity that extends beyond women and other minorities to include every individual, every idea, and every form of creativity and achievement. We know that conditioning students of science to value themselves as differently contributive to scientific discourse can be the essential first step in the production of a diverse, creative, and innovative scientific workforce. We are interested in building strong and successful communities, and we know these communities must be different to be better. At Sustainable Horizons, we are celebrating difference to fix leaks. For good.

At Sustainable Horizons Institute, we believe expressions of difference, encompassing personal, familial, and community-level histories, perspectives, and abilities, can serve as meaningful points of entry into the critical thinking and creative problem solving required of every scientist. We know it is not only advantageous but essential to familiarize ourselves with the valuable perspectives and experiences that difference provides each and every community. At Sustainable Horizons Institute, we apply these values and practices to the world of students and science, a world filled with diversity that extends beyond women and other minorities to include every individual, every idea, and every form of creativity and achievement. In addition, we believe the spontaneous and structured exploration of forms of difference is vital to the development of all students and citizen-scientists in a global STEM world, because it forms the basis of habitual interactivity with real challenges on the pathway to becoming a scientist.

We don’t stop there. We put our beliefs into action every day on behalf of the communities we build and serve. At Sustainable Horizons Institute, we develop and implement programming according to proven approaches to broader engagement. Everything we are and everything we do is dedicated to helping students imagine themselves as members of a scientific community. When we establish the connection between personal difference and scientific achievement, the students we serve can envision the link between complex science challenges and their personal complexities as scholars. As a result, our students are positioned to demand an unprecedented level of exploration, performance, and achievement from themselves. We are interested in building strong and successful communities, and we know these communities must be different to be better. At Sustainable Horizons Institute, we are celebrating difference to fix leaks. For good.

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