Pursue STEM

Pursue STEM, is an outreach program that encourages and supports Black students interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) launched in March 2021.

Pursue STEM is delivered in a partnership between Leadership by Design (LBD), U of T’s Office of Student Recruitment, and the Department of Physics.

LBD will recruit high-achieving Black Grade 10 students from the GTA with an expressed interest in STEM for this program. The program will run from March-August with activities roughly twice a month. Each year a new cohort of Grade 10 students will enroll, and the earlier cohorts would continue in the program from grade 11 to first year university.

The following departments from the University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Science are contributing to this initiative as well: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Mathematics, School of the Environment, Cell Systems and Biology and Statistics.

Students have been participating in workshops and activities on topics such as artificial intelligence, black holes, climate change and number theory.

What is Leadership by Design (LBD)?
The Pursue STEM program is delivered in partnership with the Lifelong Leadership Institute (LLI) which offers the Leadership by Design (LBD) program. The LBD program provides innovative leadership development opportunities to promising Black youth in the Greater Toronto Area. Students enter the LBD program in their Grade 10 year and progress lockstep through subsequent grades as a distinct cohort. Hence, the LBD program is a multi-year and multi-layered program.