Rosie Riveters wants to make STEM classes in public libraries as common as story time

Brittany Greer was spending lots of time in the library. It was her two-year-old daughter: “She’s a bookworm.”

Soon Greer, a communications consultant based in Alexandria, noticed that not all youngsters were equally infatuated with story time and the “amazing community hub” that surrounded it.
“There weren’t necessarily kids in school age” at the library, she said.
So she teamed up with Casey Huerta, a high school friend from Texas, and launched Rosie Riveters — a nonprofit that aims to take advantage of the growing range of modern resources in public libraries to offer girls hands-on STEM experience.
Rosie Riveters will launch its pilot program — a series of free after-school courses for girls ages 4 to 14 — during the four weeks of March at a Northern Virginia library.
Each course will explore a STEM field through a hands-on project. “We want everybody to walk away with something tangible from each class,” said Greer. “If you’re interacting with it every day, it’ll constantly remind you that you have the ability to make this.”

Greer will teach the classes with a couple of volunteers; she is also working to get local teachers involved in drawing out the curriculum, and eventually wants to bring in student volunteers.
“The high school senior who did an awesome job at the science fair” and is orienting herself towards the STEM fields could become an important mentor, explained Greer. “They’re a relateable peer.”
Eventually, Greer, a fast talker who was inspired by the legendary war-era feminist icon, hopes to roll out the classes to other regions throughout the country, develop internship programs in partnership with other organizations and build a mentorship network to help place women on the STEM track.
Much of the nonprofit’s funding has come from grassroots donations, said Greer.
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