STEM4Girls by Qeyno Labs
This project also has a Changeshop where you can read more about its latest progress.
Go to Changeshop: Qeyno Labs.
Qeyno Labs works with local partners and schools to bring technology-enabled career discovery into under-served classrooms using game-like rewards and mentorship from real-life professionals.
About You
About You
First Name
Kalimah
Last Name
Priforce
Twitter URL
Facebook URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Qeyno Labs
Organization Website
Organization Country
United States, CA, Berkeley, Alameda County
Country where this project is creating social impact
United States, CA, Berkeley, Alameda County
Is your organization a
For‐profit
How long has your organization been operating?
1‐5 years
Has the organization received awards or honors? Please tell us about them
2010 Kauffman Labs finalists
2011 Echoing Green Semi-Finalists
2011 Ashoka Changemakers (Partners for STEM) - Early Entry Prize Winners
2012 Unreasonable Institute Semi-Finalists
2012 Echoing Green Semi-Finalists
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Innovation
Name Your Entry
STEM4Girls by Qeyno Labs
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Start-Up (a pilot that has just begun operating)
How long have you been in operation?
Operating for 1‐5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
In 2010, 26% of US high school seniors paid private college and career consultants (Flew College Prep, Think Tank Learning, Oxford Advisors, and others) $8K to $40K. What happens to the 74%?
Counseling at the Crossroads (2011) reported that school guidance counselors, especially in urban and rural school settings lack the tools to provide college access and career readiness for all students, in part due to high caseloads and tasks that take up too much of their time.
Kids, especially under-served girls don't know what careers are possible and how to achieve them. Kids failing to connect scholastic achievement with lucrative yet challenging opportunities have zero motivation to work their butts off in higher demanding school work and short to long-term goal-setting.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
We solve this problem with a web and mobile software application called Qeyno where high school age kids can more readily discover what motivates and interests them which they can chart and share. We break down career pathways into incremental steps with guidance from mentors.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
Qeyno is a classroom product that uses game-like rewards to introduce young millennials to career possibilities with the help of professionals as subject-related mentors (micro-mentorship), a mission/badge achievement system, and a challenge-board where they can compete and win prizes, internships, and scholarships.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
Our direct competitors are Alleyoop (http://alleyoop.com) a Pearson Education incubated startup, and Rocket21 (http://rocket21.com), a VC-funded stealth "social learning site” focused on tweens (and subject to data collection restrictions).
ConnectEDU (http://connectedu.com) is the current market leader for web-based college and career planning has grown to include 5 million high school and college-aged students, 2,500 high schools, 450 colleges. They recently closed a $7M equity offering led by Allen & Co.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What solution(s) does your initiative address to better the lives of girls and women by leveraging technology? (select all applicable)
Access to education/training, Access to economic opportunity.
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
For our bootstrapped alpha build, we've curated over 300 playable content (videos & games) across 17 media partners including Google, NASA, EA, and the Girl Scouts of America.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
We expect to release a product beta that will go out to local schools in the San Francisco Bay Area by fall 2012. Our test run will include 15 schools with 10K-15K number of students with access to Qeyno, majority of which will be girls.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Qeyno - Private Beta Launch
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Raise 50,000 in Pre-Seed Funding
Task 2
Curate 500 playable content for 10K-15K students in 15 schools
Task 3
Launch the STEM Bound Channel (STEM for Black and Latino male youth)
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Qeyno - Public Beta Launch
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
Raise 300,000 in Seed Funding
Task 2
Launch at a major technology and/or social enterprise conference
Task 3
1500 mentors signed up for 30,000 students in 20-25 schools
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world.
The day my eighteen year old brother was shot and killed behind our old elementary school in Brooklyn New York, I had an argument with him. Frustrated with his lack of ambition to complete and pursue his post-high school plans, I asked him, "What do you want to do with your life? What are your dreams?"
He admitted to me that he didn't know and that it was too late for him to do anything about it. I'm essentially building the product that could have saved my brother's life.
It is why I focus specifically on 13-17 year olds because it is a critical time in a young person's life and the difference between why one brother makes it and how another doesn't has less to do with test scores and more to do with whom and what they are exposed to.
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
We have garnered our content from various partners that include Google, EA, NASA, Girl Scouts of America, and others.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
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| qeyno_test5.jpg | 407.46 KB |
 | 49 weeks ago Kalimah Priforce updated this Competition Entry. |
| 49 weeks ago Kalimah Priforce submitted this idea. |
