mission statement

Education is and has always been the solution. Despite the high amount of income inequality and lack of opportunities to lower-income students in the fields of STEM, Stemnova aims to increase educational equity by teaching our 10 week curriculum to schools and students all across Northern California as well as by distributing free open-source curriculum to organizations across the country and world. Since our founding in 2016, our curriculum has been custom tailored to actual classroom experiences and specific feedback from students themselves.

With the rising amount of environmental and medical problems plaguing today's world, our goal should be to educate the next generation to be able to learn and apply their knowledge to solve problems. Unlike other science programs, Stemnova strives to make education as conceptual and fun as possible, invigorating children’s inner curiosity. Currently, students are spurned away from the field of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Our lense of teaching opens their eyes to a future of problem-solving in the limitless field of science.​

Created in the spring of 2016, our program was originally called Junior Science Olympiad (JSO). And in the spring of 2018, we renamed ourselves to be Stemnova, an explosion of all things STEM. 

our team

As a group of high school students, the executive team channels their experience as students within the education system to better supplement the needs of students in local schools. 

isha sanghvi, founder

Isha Sanghvi is a senior at Irvington High School. She founded StemNova in the spring of her freshman year after learning about the lack of attention placed on science in elementary schools. While also part of her school's state ranked Science Olympaid team, she is a nationally ranked debater and the Editor-in-Chief of The Irvington Voice. 

alice ma, curriculum director

Alice Ma is a senior at Irvington High School. Her love for teaching students propelled her to join the team. As Curriculum Director, Alice uses her experience with teaching to ensure students are challenged and excited at the same time. In addition to her experience teaching, she is a varsity tennis player. ​

ryan lee, networking director 

Ryan Lee is a senior at Irvington High School. With a background in competitive Science Olympiad and as president for his state-ranked team, Ryan has gained knowledge about all STEM topics. Through StemNova, he wishes to instill curiosity for science into students, enabling them to find their own passion.