The beginner's guide to getting involved in stem

As summer begins to come to a close and many students start heading back to school, it's the perfect time to consider new opportunities and extracurricular activities. If you have ever been curious about STEM but weren't sure how to get started, this post and blog are the perfect places to start. Whether you are an incoming freshman seeking to explore STEM extracurriculars or an upperclassman who would like more in-depth involvement, here are some ways to immerse yourself.

Clubs:

This one is the most common and straightforward method. Most high schools will more often than not have at least one STEM-themed club, whether that's a school-specific, more interest-oriented club (e.g., an Astrobiology Club or Math Club) or a chapter club, often opened by students but backed by an outside non-profit (think famous ones like HOSA, TSA, Robotics, or Science Olympiad). The school-specific clubs are sometimes smaller, but they can provide some very specific and wonderful experiences in a more narrow vein of interest. A major part of the chapter clubs often includes competitions or events hosted by the large external organization, with club-specific events (e.g., guest speakers and field trips) varying by chapter. Due to these events, clubs are an excellent way to network with peers and learn more about STEM. Many club competitions have competitive events that will teach you about certain scientific topics through testing and challenge you to gain technical STEM skills. This is also one of the easiest ways to take up leadership roles and engage in teamwork, whether that's by becoming a club officer, taking initiative by pitching and organizing a club event, or working with others in a competitive teamwork event. If you want to get exposure to STEM outside of classes, clubs can be a good way to do it, especially if you want to gain leadership experience and understand how an organization runs.

Competitions

If you enjoy applying STEM and already have decent knowledge of it, competitions can be a good way to learn even more and win awards and accolades pertaining to your interests. These range from local science competitions to prestigious national and international contests, covering every field from biology and chemistry to engineering, robotics, and computer science. One typically progresses through local or regional levels of competition first, before going on to states and nationals or internationals. Competitions can be a gateway to deeper STEM involvement, as they often connect students with mentors, funding opportunities, and even internships. Preparing for these events can also teach valuable real-world skills and technical STEM skills as well.

STEM competitions can usually be split into two types: research competitions (often known as science fairs) and testing competitions.

Testing competitions are often sponsored by large organizations (like the ones that sponsor school chapter clubs) and focus on assessing your knowledge of STEM through timed tests, problem-solving challenges, or practical tasks. The most famous example would be the infamous Olympiads (e.g., Science Olympiad, USABO, Chemistry Olympiad, and so forth). These competitions tend to have clear syllabi and guidelines for studying or building a competitive project, and can be a good way to learn more about a broad topic in STEM outside of classes.

Research competitions, on the other hand, require students to conduct an original research project on a complex scientific topic of their interest and present their findings to a panel of judges. Prestigious examples include the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS). These competitions often take longer to prepare for, as high-quality science research can take time to develop and conduct, and students usually have to find a mentor in their field (often a college professor) who is familiar with research and can provide feedback and expertise. However, this is a good way to explore your passion for a very specific issue or knowledge gap in STEM in a more hands-on manner.

Internships

Linking back to the earlier information on mentorship, students often gain those through internships with a professional or in a program. These opportunities allow you to work closely with professionals in STEM fields, often in labs, tech companies, hospitals, or research institutions. Internships can be 'formal', with a set application process and structured curriculum, or 'informal', arranged through personal connections, networking, or cold emailing. Either way, they offer a chance to apply classroom knowledge in a professional environment and experience the pace and culture of real-world STEM work.

Formal science internships and summer programs designed for high school students are usually offered by universities and government agencies. They often provide structured courses and seminars on research and STEM topics, lab work, mentorship, or even stipends. Many also culminate in a final presentation or capstone research project. These can range from residential camps on college campuses to virtual bootcamps covering topics like coding, engineering design, or biomedical research. Prestigious examples include programs like MIT’s Research Science Institute (RSI), NASA Internships, or the Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program.

Informal internships are no less valuable, but they are less open to the general high schooler, with people typically relying on a combination of networking and cold emailing. These opportunities typically involve working directly in a lab or research environment under the guidance of a mentor (typically a professor at a college or university), assisting with experiments, data collection, coding, or literature review. While they may not have a formal curriculum or set schedule, informal internships provide a chance to observe how real scientific or technical work is conducted, and mentorship that is often highly personalized. Many students who pursue these internships find that the skills and knowledge they gain can feed into future original research of their own.

Self-driven Projects

Self-driven projects allow students to create something completely original through their knowledge of a STEM topic that interests them (this also includes the aforementioned original research). These projects have the largest range for creativity, and can range from designing an app or coding a game to founding an organization that brings STEM education to underserved communities. Unlike structured competitions, self-driven projects allow you to set your own pace, goals, and methods. They also provide opportunities to make a direct impact on others, whether through community service, sharing your work online, or developing tools that solve real-world problems, and create compelling experiences to showcase on applications or in competitions.

While most ways to get involved in STEM as a high schooler typically involve extracurriculars from one of these four categories, the possibilities are pretty endless. Whether you join a club, compete in a science fair, pursue an internship, or launch your own project, each experience can help you build new skills, learn new things, and ultimately decide whether you'd like to enter a field in science in the future. The key is to start somewhere and utilize your creativity - not being afraid to reach out, try new things, and take advantage of any available resources can often open doors you might have never considered or imagined.