{"id":257,"date":"2017-10-05T16:54:57","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T16:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/stem\/?page_id=257"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:14:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:14:40","slug":"about-us","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/about-us\/","title":{"rendered":"About The Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>\u201cFinding Our Way\u201d Science Experience<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><em>For K-12\u00a0Graders &amp; Their Families<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Finding Our Way (FOW) Builds STEM Communities of learning by connecting Western Connecticut State University STEM resources with partnering stakeholders, teachers, and families.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Using NOAA funding, FOW started as an informal middle school STEM experience program that provided access and opportunity to quality summer programming and Saturday Family Science programming. Outcomes have included inspiring young minds enough to win nationally recognized competitions <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/stem-in-the-news\/\">In The News<\/a> \u00a0and regional environmental stewardship competitions <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/stewardship-project\/\">Stewardship Projects &amp; Competitions<\/a>. Outcomes have also included the development of resource kits (tried and tested by teachers) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wcsu-science-resources-to-borrow\/\">school kits<\/a> that can be borrowed by educators for their classes. Restoration projects have repurposed open space to improve recreational value and ecological complexity. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Families have accessed our resources and faculty to help gain direction and advice for personal development and growth as well as academic support and college readiness for their children. Our goal is to help everyone, especially those who are furthest from opportunity. Currently we are focused on increasing academic success in advance placement of all students. Please see our call for summer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/155\/2022\/02\/2022S-WSA-student-application-v2.docx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2022-SWSA-student-application<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-160\" src=\"http:\/\/wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/155\/2017\/06\/FE1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"409\" height=\"307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/155\/2017\/06\/FE1-1.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/155\/2017\/06\/FE1-1-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 409px) 100vw, 409px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Students are selected for the program in the spring of their 6th-grade year through an application process that includes an essay and formal application.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.wcsu.edu\/media\/Finding+Our+Way+2018+video\/1_06e0zkxq\">Finding Our Way Summer Experience 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.wcsu.edu\/media\/2017+FINDING+OUR+WAY+VIDEO\/1_yxb1dc35\">Finding Our Way Summer Experience 2017<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; \u201cFinding Our Way\u201d Science Experience For K-12\u00a0Graders &amp; Their Families Finding Our Way (FOW) Builds STEM Communities of learning by connecting Western Connecticut State University STEM resources with partnering stakeholders, teachers, and families.\u00a0 Using NOAA funding, FOW started as &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"left-navigation.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-257","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/stem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}