K-12 Enrichment & Outreach

Tapping into the College's extensive network of technology, Lehman faculty plan to provide a virtual research and "ask-a-scientist" experience to excite curiosity, develop skills of inquiry, and present successful role models. The program will build on Lehman’s well-established partnerships with local public elementary, middle, and high schools, which already foster a college-going community from early on. In addition, Lehman has submitted a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation to change the way the Living Environment course is taught in the public schools and, if funded, will partner with Digital Age Learning to implement the changes.

At the same time, several Lehman programs work directly with secondary-school students:

• A five-week Summer Science Academy provides intensive work in biology, chemistry, and geographic information science for qualified high school seniors through Lehman's College Now program. These courses, which carry college credit, are prerequisites for premedical, preveterinary, and predental programs. In summer 2012, sixty-seven students from twenty-seven NYC public high schools took part in the program.
• Since 1985, the College's Center for School/College Collaboratives has also helped high school students prepare for college majors leading to careers in STEM. Altogether, almost 7,000 students have enrolled in STEP (Science and Technology Entry Program) — funded by the State Education Department — and pursued summer courses for college credit. Over 95 percent of these students have entered college, and almost 40 percent have pursued STEM majors and/or careers, drawing on STEP's unique project-based curriculum that uses hands-on activities to learn challenging concepts in math and science. This program is closely aligned with DeWitt Clinton High School's Macy Medical Sciences Honors Program, which Lehman helped to establish in 1984.
• During the 2012-13 academic year, the Bronx Institute at Lehman College will continue Saturday and after-school classes built around STEM content for hundreds of Bronx secondary-school students enrolled in the Institute's ENLACE and GEAR UP programs.