The Princess Program for Budding Engineers & Scientists aims to increase accessibility to STEM education, targeting young girls. The two main goals are building enthusiasm and improving accessibility.

Building Enthusiasm
It's well documented that our youth, particularly women, don't respond overwhelmingly favorably to traditional messaging about engineering being based on the application of mathematics and sciences. Many STEM outreach initiatives teach incredibly valuable lessons in these areas, but they aren't taught in a language that excited and inspires the next generation of female technologists. The Princess Program aims to mesh creative play and crafting with engineering education to speak the language that resonates with young girls and build enthusiasm while also shattering stereotypes associated with women (and girls) in STEM.

Accessibility
As new STEM programs are spun up, they often require costly tuition payments or travel to distant or inaccessible locations. This can disparity in access across socioeconomic bands, which contributes to the lack of representative diversity in STEM fields. The Princess Program is comprised entirely of free online resources that any student, parent, or teacher can download and print for free. Additionally, any parent, student, or teacher can request in-person or virtual STEM activity instruction free of charge (donations accepted). From activity facilitation guides to coloring pages, everything is available on-demand at no-cost, making sure that every young person can see themselves having a future that is stronger with STEM!

If you happen to be located in the Southern California area and would like to request a facilitated classroom visit from our founder, please use the contact us form to coordinate a FREE visit!

About the founder
Dr. Kelsey Kirrene is a real life space engineer, (pageant) queen, and girl mom. 

She is an honors graduate from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. She earned her bachelors degree in mechanical engineering and her masters degree in engineering and technology innovation management. Later, she went back to earn a doctorate in educational leadership and organizational innovation at Marymount University.

While in school she also minored in photography, worked at the Cyert Center for Early Education, and earned a certificate in Spanish language and culture. After graduation she began working with in the aerospace and defense industry, where she has worked on technologies ranging from cyberspace to outer-space!

Kelsey has also volunteered a Daisy Girl Scout Troop leader and a member of the Girl Scouts STEAM Advisory Board, where she became increasingly passionate about making STEM principles more accessible to young girls.

Kelsey began competing in pageants at age 24 - you're never too old to be a real life princess! She has focused her platform advocacy work around STEM outreach and education, volunteering with organizations like Girl Scouts, FIRST Robotics, and SWE Next. Throughout her work, she realized how exciting it was to many young girls to see a princess doing STEM, so to spread the positivity and inspiration, specifically targeting "girly girls" who are often missed with traditional STEM outreach, she founded the Princess Program! She has held titles in the Miss USA, Miss America, National United States, Miss Collegiate USA system, Mrs USA Earth, and United States of America's Mrs and won awards for community service, social media, spirit, academics, and has placed in the top 5 and top 10 nationally on multiple occasions.