<i>Caminos a la Ciencia:</i> Creating Partnerships to Attract, Recruit, and Retain Latinas in STEM in the Central Virginia Region

Abstract We seek to address the marginalization of Latinas in central Virginia, particularly in regard to inequalities in access to college education, affordability of postsecondary education, and persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields for Latinas who show interest and promise in STEM during the high school years. To this end, we created a program called Caminos a la Ciencia, which engages with Latinas beginning in the summer after the first year of high school and continuing through matriculation to college. The program offers a summer college residential experience, mentoring, parent engagement, scholarship money to attend the college of choice, and assistance in applying to college and obtaining financial aid. To date, the program has served 61 Latinas in central Virginia, all of whom have finished high school, and all but one have gone on to attend some sort of postsecondary education after high school.