The Smart is Strong Foundation (SiS) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young women through education. Through our efforts, we seek to reduce gender inequality in STEM fields and professional outcomes. Since 2017, we have made great strides in advocating for women on campus and working with local and national partners to address needs in Tompkins County.
Last March, we organized the first International Women's Day Conference at Cornell, inviting student speakers to share their experiences with inequality both on and off-campus. We also held a silent auction to raise money for scholarships and provided two $350 scholarships for students at Lansing High School.
Through our partnership with The Princeton Review, we also hosted a free PSAT and now provide access to other standardized exam preparation materials.
Our mentorship program is underway, where Cornell undergraduates are making impacts on the lives of local high school students, by providing guidance on academics, the college admissions process, and career development. We are also organizing the second International Women's Day Conference in the Spring, too!
We will be sharing important information from both our organization and local partners in this biweekly newsletter. We encourage you to follow along, get involved, and join us in the fight for gender equality!
FUTURE EVENTS
Thursday, November 8th 6-7pm | Feminism: Food for Thought
Join The Smart is Strong Foundation for food and discussion, moderated by the Cornell Women's Resource Center. The event will be at Flora Rose House on Cornell's West Campus.
PAST EVENTS
Saturday, October 20th | Free Practice SAT
Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds often do not have access to practice college-entry exam materials. Therefore, The Smart is Strong Foundation hosted local high school students and administered a free practice SAT exam, exposing them to test-like conditions to prepare for the real exam. Test materials were provided by The Princeton Review.
MORE UPDATES
The F Word Collaboration
The Smart is Strong Foundation is proud to announce a collaboration with The F Word, hosting presentations about feminism to local 8th-grade health classrooms.
Senior Year: The Podcast
The Smart is Strong Foundation will make a guest appearance on local educator Mary Lorson's "Senior Year: The Podcast" series. Stay tuned for the published episode!
"Our hope is to break the glass ceilings that exist in the workplace by beginning with those that exist in the classroom.” - Elena Gupta, President
Drawing national headlines in 2018, The Times's Up Movement has been instrumental in bringing attention to workplace sexual assault, especially in the entertainment business.
The movement is supported by 200 volunteer lawyers and has raised $20 million for its legal defense fund. In October, New York Times author Jessica Chou interviewed former president of the WNBA and CEO of Time's Up Lisa Borders.
When asked about the organization’s ultimate goal, she was clear that the issue boiled down to gender equality, and that their strategy was to “embrace the voices but internalize them, and then make decisions.”
Borders says that the first step in creating meaningful change was raising awareness. Critics argue that celebrities spearhead the movement, a group that already has a voice and heavily associated with privilege.
Borders argues that celebrities are using a platform for good and gives credit to the 700,000 females that sent these celebrities a letter of solidarity and were the primary force behind Time’s Up. You may read the full interview here.
CALL FOR GUEST COLUMNS
Are you passionate about feminism, education or gender equality? Share your voice with us!
The Smart is Strong Foundation invites you to submit a 150-250 blog post relating to the issues above, and send it to sis.submissions@gmail.com
Don't forget to include a picture! Your post may get featured on our newsletter!
May
June