Million Girls Moonshot | July Resources
The Indiana Afterschool Network is proud to be part of the Million Girls Moonshot initiative, working to inspire and prepare the next generation of innovators by engaging one million more girls in STEM learning opportunities through OST programs over the next five years. The Million Girls Moonshot is an initiative of the STEM Next Opportunity Fund.

The Million Girls Moonshot seeks to re-imagine who can engineer, who can build, who can make. See below for some information and resources that can help advance this goal!
Featured Webinars
Deep Dive Into Engineering Practices
Presented by: Christine Cunningham & Shannon McManus
This 3-part webinar series takes a deeper dive into the 10 critical features of an engineering mindset. This series is designed specifically for program staff facilitating STEM activities in afterschool.
Role Models Matter Training for STEM Volunteers
Presented by: Techbridge Girls Inc.
In this webinar, participants will explore three strategies for connecting to and preparing role models to work with youth. Strategies will consist of making a connection, talking about your work in age-appropriate ways, and using culturally relevant and youth development practices.
Incorporating STEM Role Models into Afterschool - Strategies, Examples, and Resources
In this webinar, participants will discuss strategies, examples, and resources for OST programs looking to bring STEM role models into their programming.
Incorporating STEM Role Models into Afterschool - STEM Role Models in Action
In this webinar, participants will discuss examples of incorporating STEM role models into their programming. You'll hear from OST professionals who have folded STEM role models into their programming, as well as from STEM role models themselves, regarding how they've interacted with youth in the past.
Transformative Programming
Equity and Inclusion
  • Poster: This is What a Scientist Looks Like - Poster featuring Dr. Monica Rho who is the head physician for the US Women's National Soccer Team. This poster can be used in your physical spaces to highlight an inspiring role model in sports & STEM.


Engineering Mindsets
  • Poster: Engineering Mindset Graphic - This printable graphic presents the 10 critical engineering practices and shows how they all contribute to the development of an engineering mindset.


Incorporating Role Models
The IF/THEN Collection is the largest free resource of its kind dedicated to increasing access to authentic and relatable images of real women in STEM. In this library, you'll find thousands of photos, videos, and other assets that authentically represent women in careers as diverse as shark tagging, fashion design, and training Olympic athletes, including these videos that highlight women in STEM who work with top US Olympic and Paralympic athletes:

Assets That Include Role Models in Sports & STEM
These assets highlight different aspects of working in STEM. These can be used in marketing, social media, and in programs to attract and sustain girls in STEM programs.

Incorporating Role Models


  • Webinar Recording: Listen, Learn, Lead Webinar by Flamboyan Foundation - Speakers discuss what they are hearing through their ongoing work with families, particularly their Black and Brown families facing the intersecting crises of racism and COVID-19.
Activities for Programs

  • Student Design Activity: Straw Towers to the Moon - Let your kids’ imaginations run wild. Build the biggest tower, or the best balanced, or the most attractive…change the criteria to change the design. Grades K-8. 


  • Student Design Activity: Be “Cool” with Popsicle Engineering - Students learn the design process using easy to find materials (for example, popsicle sticks and KoolAid) to produce purple popsicles. Perfect for a summer day with young kids!
Additional Virtual Professional Development
Build Upon Your Understanding of Engineering, Equity & Inclusion, and STEM
  • Webinar Recording: Representation Matters! Highlighting the IF/THEN Collection - Join IF/THEN Ambassadors in a conversation about representation and why it is important for girls to see role models in STEM. In this webinar, learn why representation matters and how to use the IF/THEN Collection to increase representation of women in STEM.

  • Webinar Recording: Girl STEAM Ahead with NASA Free Resources - This Girls STEAM Ahead with NASA webinar will provide a brief overview of the program and its free resources, including a range of computer-based and paper-based activities, print products, and a Program Cookbook for facilitators. Presenters will then delve deeper into some Girls STEAM Ahead with NASA activity-based resources.
Mizzen by Mott - Moonshot Collection
The Mizzen By Mott app delivers inspiring and engaging activities that spark learning in young people. Supported by the Mott Foundation, Mizzen is available at no cost to afterschool professionals! Encourage partners to download the Mizzen By Mott app to access STEM activities at your finger-touch! You’ll find it in Mizzen here.