The MIT Office of Engineering Outreach Programs is changing the way we serve middle school students so that they will be better prepared to become our future leaders in science and engineering.

From 2004 to 2016, the STEM Program served middle school students from Boston, Cambridge, and Lawrence, Massachusetts through the STEM Summer Institute along with an academic-year mentoring program. While we’re proud of the impact that STEM has had, we know we can do a better job of supporting all of our middle school students after they leave middle school.

We are excited to announce that beginning this fall, we will accept applications from seventh and eighth graders to Saturday Engineering Enrichment and Discovery (SEED) Academy, a free-of-charge program that meets on Saturdays during the school year. Each semester, students focus on a different technical discipline – from mechanical engineering to robotics to synthetic biology. By beginning in seventh grade, we will create a pipeline from middle school all the way through high school to ensure that all of our students can be prepared for success in science and engineering at top universities like MIT.

We encourage students who will not be able to participate in SEED Academy to learn more about our national summer programs – MITES and MOSTEC – that are open to all U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are high school juniors at the time of application.