Program Overview
Discover STEM Together
A Community-Based, Culturally Responsive, and Intentionally Bilingual STEM Initiative Built Through Shared Leadership
Discover STEM Together (DST) is a community-based STEM initiative created through shared leadership between You Discover Math and Houston’s Young Monarchs.
DST exists because both organizations were responding to the same shifts in real time; changes in how students were learning, how families were navigating systems, and how access to opportunity was narrowing rather than expanding.
Working separately, each organization was making progress. Working together, we saw the opportunity to make a deeper, more visible, and more lasting impact.
How Discover STEM Together Took Shape
Discover STEM Together did not begin as a single idea or program.
You Discover Math
Leadership had shifted toward redesigning math and STEM learning around confidence, dignity, and youth leadership. Under the stewardship of President Dulce Mireles, YDM moved beyond traditional tutoring to build community-based experiences, paid youth leadership pathways, and multi-generational learning models. Math became a tool for agency and problem-solving, not a gatekeeper.
Houston's Young Monarchs
Co-founded by community organizer and parent advocate Jessica Campos, was already engaging youth and families through hands-on, justice-rooted learning. STEM showed up naturally through building, environmental exploration, creative problem-solving, and youth-led activities always connected to community, identity, and action.
DST emerged in the overlap.
Both organizations believed:
- Learning should happen with families present
- Youth should be trusted as leaders
- Access should not depend on ZIP code or transportation
- Hands-on experiences build confidence and belonging
Both organizations were also committed to learning that reflects the language, culture, and lived experience of the families they serve, making bilingual access and cultural relevance foundational rather than optional.
Rather than duplicating efforts, we chose to align them.
Discover STEM Together became a way to bring structure, scale, and visibility to work that was already happening, and to strengthen it by moving forward together.
What Discover STEM Together Is
Discover STEM Together is a community-based, culturally responsive, and intentionally bilingual STEM initiative that brings families, youth, educators, and organizations together through shared learning experiences.
DST blends:
- Hands-on STEM and innovation activities
- Math confidence-building and problem-solving
- Youth-led learning stations
- Family-centered participation
- Exposure to tools, careers, and real-world applications
- Learning designed to reflect families’ languages, cultures, and everyday realities
Learning happens in community spaces, with families present and youth positioned as contributors and leaders.
Shared Leadership, Shared Responsibility
Discover STEM Together is intentionally co-led, with leadership, accountability, and vision shared between both organizations.
You Discover Math contributes
Structured STEM and math program design, youth workforce and paid leadership pathways, and experience translating learning into confidence, agency, and opportunity through multi-generational, community-based models.
Houston's Young Monarchs contributes
Deep community roots, intergenerational leadership development, and a justice-informed, hands-on learning approach shaped by years of organizing, relationship-building, and youth-led action in Denver Harbor.
Where these strengths overlap — youth leadership, family engagement, hands-on learning, and dignity-centered access — is where Discover STEM Together lives.
This shared commitment to culturally responsive, bilingual learning is one of the reasons alignment between the two organizations felt natural and necessary.
Partner Participation
Active Partners
- City of Houston Houston Health Department
- Community Health Choice
- Environmental Community Advocates of Galena Park (ECAGP)
- Houston Arboretum and Nature Center
- Houston Public Library
- Rainbow Health
- Rice Office of STEM Engagement
- Soft Serve Creations
- Terry Virts for Texas
- The PRYDE Foundation
- Ulteig
Additional Support
- Book Fairy Brigade
- Community of Resources Houston
- Raising Cane’s
Hosting Organizations
- Houston Parks and Recreation Department
- Houston’s Young Monarchs
- You Discover Math
Eleven organizations signed in and contributed directly to the event with hands-on learning, health education, STEM activities, and family support resources.
Why This Matters
What's Next
Discover STEM Together launched in Denver Harbor and continues to grow.
The next Discover STEM Together event will take place on the southwest side of Houston on April 11, 2026, expanding access to hands-on STEM learning and youth leadership opportunities in a new community.
Looking ahead, DST will continue to grow thoughtfully, strengthening youth leadership pathways, deepening family engagement, and building community-based learning experiences across Houston.
Explore Discover STEM Together Impact
Discover STEM Together comes to life through participation, leadership, and community presence.
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