MISSION: The SMILE Program aims to increase the numbers of underrepresented and educationally under-served students who graduate high school well prepared to enter higher education and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
SMILE is a pre-college science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) based after-school program that includes 4th though 12th-grade students statewide. SMILE aims to increase access to STEM for underrepresented students and encourage the pursuit of higher education. Through participation in SMILE, students will engage in STEM activities that combine art, design, and communication to find creative and innovative solutions in a variety of problem-solving opportunities.
SMILE provides professional development to teachers throughout Rhode Island who run the weekly club meetings. SMILE regularly opens its doors to the community through district-wide Family Science Nights where students become the teachers and share their work with the
family in friends. All SMILE students participate in a grade-level annual event at one of the University of Rhode Island’s campuses where they work with URI student and professional mentors to apply a variety of STEM topics to a final challenge project. Finally, SMILE club members are given an opportunity to give back to the world around them through annual stewardship projects.