Jena Olson was born and raised in Southeastern Wisconsin. She earned her Bachelor of Arts, double majoring in Political Science and Women’s Studies, from the University of Wisconsin in 2004. She and her husband moved to San Diego over a decade ago — eventually settling in College Area. In San Diego, she earned her master’s degree in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from the University of San Diego in 2016. 

“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been passionate about helping others grow and thrive,” Olson said. “For the past 15 years, I’ve focused that passion on youth development and social justice work in nonprofits both large and small, including the University of Wisconsin, The AjA Project, A Reason To Survive (ARTS) – and now Kid Spark Education.”

The College Times Courier recently caught up with Olson to find out more about the Kid Spark Education and work this difference maker does there.

What is Kid Spark Education? Share its history and various programs.

Founded in 2015, Kid Spark Education is a 501(c)(3) social enterprise headquartered in San Diego. Our organization is helping to build a generation of young people who are confident in their ability to learn and apply science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to real-life challenges. Industry leaders have made major investments in STEM education in high schools and universities in order to develop a diverse workforce that is prepared for the 21st century but starting in high school is too late. 

By fourth grade, 1 out of 3 children have decided that science isn’t for them, and by eighth grade, it’s half of all students. This statistic is even more startling for girls, children of color, and children from low-income families who don’t typically get STEM exposure at an early age. Kid Spark exists to disrupt that pattern.

The most effective way we do that is to expose young children to STEM subjects as soon as they enter their first classroom, and to continue offering applied STEM experiences every year. Many schools are challenged in their ability to do so due to lack of funding and teacher confidence in teaching STEM. So, we’ve spent over a decade of research and development in addressing these issues to build a STEM education program that’s not only affordable for schools, but also accessible for teachers and fun for students. 

Our program, which is comprised of a progressive pre-kindergarten-through-eighth-grade curriculum, engineering and building materials, as well as professional development opportunities, makes it possible for schools to provide a self-sustaining STEM program for their entire student population for as little as $12,000. This is possible because our program utilizes existing teaching staff and classroom facilities, and reusable and long-lasting building materials.

Our programs have been adopted in all 50 states and over a dozen countries worldwide. Our clients include schools, libraries, nonprofits, and after-school educational programs and camps.

What is your role at Kid Spark?

As chief executive officer, I’m responsible for managing overall operations and company resources, working closely with the board of directors on strategy and governance, and developing community partnerships. Prior to that, I focused my career on youth development and social justice, working in organizations including the University of Wisconsin, The AjA Project, A Reason To Survive (ARTS), and now Kid Spark Education.

Can you give a specific example of how Kid Spark helped a student/group of students you worked with?

We had a teacher share with us a very powerful story recently, that I think back to regularly and want to share:
“We have special education students who are in an inclusion program, meaning they rotate in and out of the mainstream classes during a school day. A young lady in the special ed program who was very detached from the educational setting, she came to me at the end of our [Kid Spark] class where we did a hands-on project — we built the hammer, built several different prototypes — she came to me and was asking if she could return the following day to rejoin the class and the project.

“The special ed teacher then came and spoke with me and said the young lady so enjoyed the class. She is not a good writer, not a good reader, but became a design leader in the room, in her group. Then [she] went away with a renewed desire to do well in her other classes. She saw that she could succeed in something and that inspired her throughout the day. She felt empowered by being able to do some piece of the Kid Spark process.

“Her connection to being at school and being a part of the school community has improved. You can’t make this stuff up.”

How has Kid Spark made an impact in local schools? 

Thanks to the generosity of our donors such as The Boeing Foundation, Cox Charities, and The Thomas C. Ackerman Foundation, we’ve been able to create The Emerging Engineers Program, which empowers elementary schools to bring Kid Spark’s STEM program (valued at $13,000) into their classrooms for free.

Around San Diego County, we now have more than 6,100 kids that are receiving high-quality, consistent STEM experiences, and over 150 teachers that have built [up] their confidence in their abilities to teach STEM to young students.

How can people support the work at Kid Spark or get involved themselves?

The best way for people to support Kid Spark is by connecting us to school and district leaders who could benefit from having our STEM programming at their classrooms and schools or connecting us to companies that want to help get STEM into more schools. 

For more information about Kid Spark, visit kidsparkeducation.org.

—Póngase en contacto con el editor Jeff Clemetson en [email protected].