What is Avela?

Inspired by our own experience, we are a student group at the University of Washington who are passionate about bridging the opportunity gaps currently present in the public education system. We accomplish this goal by creating and leading workshops, camps, panels, and other forms of community outreach that allow our university members to share their experiences with colleges and industries, as well as their technical expertise. Open to all students, we center the experience of younger underrepresented minority students.

The Founding of AVELA

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The founders of AVELA - A Vision for Engineering Literacy & Access (AVELA) helped the University of Washington and the College of Engineering with pre-college outreach and recruitment at the Northwest Earth and Space Sciences summer camp (NESSP) in 2018, Math Academy in 2019, and Early Engineering Institute summer events (EEI) in 2019. While studying abroad the summer before his graduation, one founder was inspired by the tenacity of students at Sinethemba Secondary School in Philippi, South Africa. Sinethemba student leaders demonstrated a resolve for academic achievement, despite socioeconomic and health barriers, by voicing the issues plaguing their communities that make it so much more difficult for them and their peers to succeed. Connecting particularly well with one of the students at the school who carried with her the spirit of Ubuntu, the founders named the official organization after Avela.

Our Values

Ubuntu

Ubuntu

Community

Community

Integrity

Integrity

Our Mission

Members

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Connecting

AVELA members teach K-12 students about college, computing, and engineering through classes, workshops, and other forms of community outreach by representing the populations we aim to support.

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Educating

To teach multi-week classes, AVELA members will first meet with the stakeholders at the school to determine which STEM concepts the students are most interested in learning.

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Adapting

Our members work to create a lesson plan for a project that is catered towards the specific interests of those students, while also covering the academic concepts required of them in their respective grades through state Common Core Standards.

Community

For students who are new to the University of Washington, AVELA offers an opportunity to gain hands-on experience developing and presenting STEM activities to K-14 students. Anyone is welcome to participate, however we specifically encourage freshmen, sophomores, and graduate students at UW who want to build upon their hands-on project and mentorship experiences to join!

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