Escuelabs

Cristina is a staunch advocate for STEM education and vocations. She was troubled by the fact that intervention was being taken at such a late stage in childrens’ development, and so co-founded Escuelab to provide better access to quality STEM education for the next generation. In 2015, encouraged by the One Young World Summit in Bangkok, Cristina took the leap to pursue this project full-time.

The project comes in four formats: one-off workshops, extra-curricular programmes, day camps, and summer camps. Since founding, they have provided education to 12,000 children with 3,824 participating in Escuelab’s 2019 programmes. Of that number, 808 are participating in the “Robin Hood Programme’’ which provides the service free-of-charge to children considered to be at risk of social exclusion for a variety of reasons. Based on academic research, 5.6% of the children will pursue a STEM vocation as a direct result. For children at risk of social exclusion, this number rises to a staggering 9.5%(1). 

Additionally, Escuelab has begun to train teachers in primary schools to teach STEM subjects, broadening the teachers’ skill sets and improving the education for their pupils. For its first five years, Escuelab is committed to reinvesting all its revenue into the programme and scholarships, and even once this time has lapsed it has committed to dedicate 15% of profits to reinvestment into scholarship programmes.

As it grows within Spain, it has also launched a pilot programme in the Dominican Republic. The project continues to expand, and the benefits rise exponentially, but most promising is Cristina’s commitment to ensuring Escuelab remains self-sustaining and driven by its principles of better STEM education for all.

Sources:

(1) https://www.fecyt.es/es/publicacion/como-podemos-estimular-una-mente-ci…