The document summarizes the 3rd annual Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit held in July 2016. It discusses how the summit brought together 19 young women to learn about STEAM careers through hands-on activities, mentorship from female role models, and the opportunity to win $30,000 in scholarships. Previous summit alumni returned as peer mentors and speakers, including one student who started her own successful game development company. Post-event surveys found the summit was rated excellent by most participants and helped foster interest in STEAM careers.

1. JULY 2016 The 3rd Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit
Astra Women’s Business Alliance

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Letter From Astra
Overview
Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summits
July 2016 Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit
Next Step
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3. 02
It was a pleasure to present you our third year of bringing
young talented girls together with women business owners,
corporation and agency leaders to provide education and mentoring
on developing innovative businesses in S.T.E.A.M. industries.
We thank David Pell, Supplier Diversity Consultant at PG&E
for hosting and being one of the major sponsors for this program by
providing Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit space and resources. Through the
support of David Pell, and the continued visions of Diane McClelland,
Astra President and Co-Founder, and Suzanne Lackman, Astra Vice-
President and Co-Founder, this program continues to grow, inspire
and empower young women to develop innovative ideas for new
businesses in S.T.E.A.M.fields as future supply chain solutions for both
small and large businesses globally.
We also thank Fernando Hernandez, Director of Global
Supplier Diversity & Sustainability for Microsoft who was the inaugural
sponsor and chief innovator for the Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program. His
strong belief of encouraging young girls to pursue S.T.E.A.M. related
businesses was the genesis of the support Astra received which has
exceeded over $30,000 in prize money from Microsoft Corporation
over the last three years.
Words cannot express how excited we were to bring you
another Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit that empowers more young women
to pursue their dreams in S.T.E.A.M. fields and entrepreneurship. We
welcomed the parents and guardians of our young entrepreneurs and
thank them for supporting their daughters to follow their dreams.
Based on research, S.T.E.A.M.-related jobs will grow 17% by
2018 with less than 40% of graduates receiving a S.T.E.A.M. degree.
Moreover, only 10% of S.T.E.A.M. college degrees are awarded to
women. Currently, US women make up only 20% of the S.T.E.A.M.
workforce.These are the reasons why programs and organizations
likeAstraS.T.E.A.M.Programareheretoinspire,empower,andsupport
young women in S.T.E.A.M. fields and entrepreneurship. Through
our endless efforts, we want to see more women in the S.T.E.A.M.
workforce, change the gender roles, and break the glass ceilings.
Thank you to Willamette University Atkinson Graduate School
of Management and Jason Tokarski of Mountain West Investment of
Salem,Oregon whose donations support the paid internships of three
MBAstudents who have served as Project Leads for theAstra S.T.E.A.M.
program. Patricia Victorio, who helped launch our S.T.E.A.M. program
in 2014; Jill Tucker, who led the program in 2015 and designed
S.T.E.A.M.-In-A-BoxTM
, and Ina Song, who is our current 2016 Program
Lead. AllthesewomenhavehelpedshapetheAstraS.T.E.A.M.Program
and prepare it to be shared in other areas nationally and globally.
SpecialthanksgotoWBEsponsors,Ampcus,Inc.,AKRAYA,and
CB Technologies, Inc. Hunter Hawk, Inc.for their continued support of
ourprogram.Wethankourcorporateandagencyrepresentativesfrom
NASA, PG&E, International Game Developer Association, and WBE
companies, Evolve Manufacturing Technologies for their mentoring
support. We thank Lisa Castillo, AT&T, Jeff Applebaum, Applebaum
& Associates and Arzu Ozbeck, PG&E for their contributions on the
Judges Panel.
We are grateful for our speakers, award-winning writer and
parenting expert - Annie Fox; Kate Edwards, International Game
Developers Association; Deborah Todd, Producer, Writer, expert on
game development.
We are excited to have welcomed back five of our 2014 and
2015STEAMerswhoservedaspeermentorsandspeakersforthe2016
STEAMers and will continue as Alumni Association Members for the
S.T.E.A.M.project this year.Our returning STEAMers are: Entrepreneur,
game developer, and MIT student – Jenny Xu; Co-founder of Branch
Out – Shreya Parjan; Blogger and 3D printing jewelry maker – Haritha
Shah; STEAMer Alumni – Alyssa Schimm and Ananya Panchal.
Astra Women’s Business Alliance believes in the power of
togetherness. Together we grow, together we lead, and together we
can inspire and empower more women to see their values in S.T.E.A.M.
fieldsandexperiencemakingadifferenceinthelivesof othersthrough
innovation!
“If you want to go quickly, go alone;
If you want to go far, go together.”
- African Proverb
Diane McClelland
President
Astra Women’s Business Alliance
Suzanne Lackman
Vice President
Astra Women’s Business Alliance
Ina Song
Program Lead
Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program

4. Overview
AstraS.T.E.A.M.Programwasstartedin2014byDianeMcClelland
and Suzanne Lackman, the Co-founders of Astra Women’s
Business Alliance, with a mission to equip young women with
the confidence, skills, and the network to successfully pursue
S.T.E.A.M. education and careers. Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program
believes that the young women today are the future leaders,
visionaries,and CEOs of tomorrow.TheAstra S.T.E.A.M.Program
takes a holistic, pathways approach to S.T.E.A.M. Education.
Followingapathwaysapproach,encouragesashiftinfocusfrom
numbers of people in S.T.E.A.M.jobs and people with S.T.E.A.M.
degrees to focusing on equipping individuals,specifically girls,
with the skills needed to thrive and grow in the workforce.
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5. Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summits
The main event for Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program is its annual Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit. So far, Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program has organized three successful Astra S.T.E.A.M.
Summits and served a total of 55 STEAMers plus their parents. These STEAMers are from all over the U.S. including the following eight states: California, Oregon,
Washington, Minnesota,Wisconsin,Virginia, Montana, and Connecticut.
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6. What makes Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summits successful is our multi-dimensional program which covers many factors that help student success in S.T.E.A.M. fields. The following
factors are from a study done by the Institute for Broadening Participation.
Early Exposure
Earlyinterestinscienceispositivelyrelatedtostudents’desiretomajorinscience
in college,which is why Astra S.T.E.A.M.Programs targets at young women ages
12-18 as our primary market;
Family Support
Parental expectations and involvement can facilitate the success of students in
S.T.E.A.M. courses and academic pathways, so to include and educate STEAMer
parents Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit has a parent track that’s specially designed for
parentstolearnhowtoraisetheirdaughterswhoarepassionateaboutS.T.E.A.M.
subjects and entrepreneurship.
Active Learning
Hands-on learning approach improves retention of information and critical
thinking skills and increase persistence of students in S.T.E.A.M. majors, with
our new venture competition, STEAMers gain first-hand knowledge on how to
start a business and develop an app.
Role Models
Access and exposure to role models is important because visualizing or seeing
people who achieve positive can raise one’s self-efficacy,the belief that he or she
too can achieve those outcomes, which is why Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program brings
successful women entrepreneurs and female executive representatives from
companies such as Google, PG&E, Microsoft, and NASA to speak to these young
girls.
Mentor and Mentoring
Started last year, Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit has been inviting back STEAMer
Alumni as peer mentors for the new STEAMers.Study shows,peer influence has
been shown to inspire students’ decisions to major in a S.T.E.A.M. fields.
Financial Support
With help from our sponsors, we have also been providing a total of $30,000
cash awards to all STEAMer participants as scholarships.
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7. The July 2016 Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summits
July 7-8, 2016 | PG&E Building | San Francisco, California
In July 2016, at Astra’s 3rd Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit, we welcomed 19 STEAMers.
All 19 STEAMers are from different and diverse backgrounds. 84% of the 2016
STEAMers are minorities including 6 South Asians or Indian Americans, 3 African
Americans, and 7 East Asian Americans. These STEAMers were chosen for their
extraordinary academic performances and their active involvement with their
community and with extra curriculums.
The average GPA of these 19 STEAMers is
3.94 on a 4.0 system.
With the highest weighted GPA being 4.43. All 19 STEAMers have extensive
background and knowledge in S.T.E.A.M. subjects and entrepreneurship. Some
of them have attended other programs and summits, such as TechHive and
TechBridge, and many of them are taking leadership roles with local clubs and
societies. Some of these young women have also started their own businesses,
and some are interning at companies this summer, such as SPSCommerce.
The ages of these 19 STEAMers range from 13 to 18 years old. 4 STEAMers are
in 8th grade, 2 in 9th grade, 2 in 10th grade, 7 in 11th grade, and 4 in 12th
grade. When forming the STEAMer teams, we have made sure to divide the
team evenly by analyzing their age and experience with S.T.E.A.M. subjects and
entrepreneurship.
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8. The third Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit was similar but improved from the previous two summits. One of the
major difference was that Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program not only welcomed back four Alumni as mentors, but
also one of the 14’ STEAMers,Jenny Xu, as a speaker.
Jenny joined our very first summit in 2014.With connections she made during the summit,she was able
to form her own company - JCSoft Inc. So far, she had developed over 50 web and mobile based games,
with a total of over 3 million downloads worldwide. She had also presented one of her apps, Hungry
Trash,to the members of Department of Education at the White House.Not to mention,Jenny is currently
a student at MIT and externing this summer at Sony.
“Astra connected me to some of the
people who became, and still are, my
role models and mentors. Coming
back to Astra gave me the chance
to give back and reconnect with a
community that continues to support
me after graduation. “
- Jenny Xu
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9. Another 2014 STEAMer, Shreya Parjan, who had come back
both last year and this year to serve as a peer mentor for the
new STEAMers. Together with Claire Wang, a 2016 STEAMer,
they started their organization, Branch Out, with a mission to
“make innovation accessible to all”. They believe “all young
students deserve this opportunity, regardless of background”.
Branch Out offers free courses for younger students, these
courses include: introduction to Python, Science of Design,
and Entrepreneurial Incubator. This summer, they organized
their first session and welcomed 15 young students.
“Don’t end the momentum with what
you accomplish at the (Astra S.T.E.A.M.)
summit or in an isolated event; instead,
facilitate the spread of ideas and
aspirations”
- Shreya Parjan
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10. After our two-day summit, Astra
S.T.E.A.M. Program has sent out a
post-event survey to ask for STEAM-
ers and parents’ feedbacks on their
experience with the July 2016 Astra
S.T.E.A.M. Summit. We were able to
collect 16 responses with 9 STEAMers
and 6 parents. All summit activities
wereratedwithaveragesofabove4.5,
on a scale of 1 to 5.The comments we
have received were also very positive
and appreciative. When being asked
to rate the overall experience, 80%
said excellent while the other 20%
saidverygood.Atthesametime,87%
indicated that they would be promot-
ers for Astra S.T.E.A.M. Summit.
We have also sent out an Alumni Association sign-up form where STEAMers can indicate what types
of information they would be interested in receiving. Out of 19 STEAMers, 12 have signed up via
the form. And 100% of them have expressed their interested in receiving newsletter from Astra
S.T.E.A.M.Programtostayupdated.Allof themalsoindicatedtheirstronginterestinbeingamentor
for future summits,and 100% of them said they would love to be interviewed for Alumni Spotlight.
“This is a great opportunity for girls interested in STEAM. I
especially appreciate your message of ”networking.” ...Sasha
(my daughter) was “over the moon.” She and I had an awesome
experience.Thank you!”
- Yolanda, 2016 STEAMer Parent
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11. Our Next Step
Building a community is Astra S.T.E.A.M. Program’s long-term goal. With
the information collected through the Alumni Association Sign-up Form,
we were able to further target the STEAMers who are interested in being
involved. Alumni Spotlight is the first step for them to feel included by
sharing their stories with everyone on our website. So far, Astra S.T.E.A.M.
Program was able to interview 8 STEAMer Alumni. We’re currently in the
process of creating a newsletter, and we are planning on inviting STEAMer
Alumni to be the writers for the upcoming issue. 80% of the STEAMer
Alumni have indicated that they would be interested in writing for Astra
S.T.E.A.M. Newsletter. This process will aid in the co-creation strategy, and
to further involve the alumni they will also act as ambassadors to help Astra
S.T.E.A.M. Program promote our brand and upcoming summits.
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13. Visit www.AstraSTEAM.org to learn more

14. WE INVITE YOU TO VISIT
WWW.ASTRASTEAM.ORG
TO JOIN OUR JOURNEY WITH THE
ASTRA STEAM PROGRAM!