About Us

Why STEM, STEAM, and the Arts?

We’re a 501(c)(3) nonprofit on a mission to promote and provide STEM, STEAM, and Arts education to K-12 students through in-person and virtual workshops, free and open-source curricula and educational resources, STEM and Arts projects serving special interest groups, educational programming for K-12 students, and advocacy for the importance of STEM and Arts Education. Why? Because STEM and the Arts are integral components of a well-rounded education and also tend to be the most underserved subjects for low-income and at-risk students. The Arts teach students creativity and confidence, and STEM teaches students problem-solving skills and technological literacy. When these two subjects are left out of a child’s education, they miss out on key life skills and opportunities to explore potential passions and careers. No matter what a child wants to be when they group up: an artist, a scientist, both, or even neither, every child deserves a chance to grow in these two vital fields regardless of their background or where they live. Art Technically provides support to students and educators in a fun and engaging way to help close these educational gaps and prepare K-12 students for whatever careers or academic pursuits they may want to pursue.

Our Mission

• Advocacy: To promote STEM, Arts, and STEAM education to K-12th grade students, their educators, and the general public
• Curricula: To provide always free and open-source educational resources and lesson plans to educators and students
• Workshops: To provide free in-person and virtual workshops and camps to K-12 graders
• Projects: To serve special interest groups, such as children in need and seniors, with STEM and Arts themed projects
• Programming: To provide long-term STEM and Arts programs to K-12 schools and students
• To demonstrate the importance and prevalence of intersections between STEM fields and arts and media fields
• To increase math, science, and technology proficiency among K-12th graders
• To increase access to the arts among K-12 graders

Our 2022-2023 Goals

• Teach STEM and Arts workshops to 2,000 K-12 students
• Deliver a Science Suitcase to every region and borough in New York (Hudson Valley, Capital District, Mohawk Valley, Central New York, The Southern Tier, Finger Lakes, Western New York, North Country, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island)
• Deliver a Science Suitcase to every U.S. state (+ DC and Puerto Rico)
• Deliver 4 sets of STEM and Arts toys to organizations serving children in need
• Deliver 3,000 Valentine’s Day cards coded by students to homebound seniors for Valentine’s Day.
• Collect and deliver sets of STEM, STEAM, and Arts toys to 3 children’s hospitals in New York for the holiday season.
• Run the Hello World student journalism program.
• Publish 3 new lesson plans on the Art Technically website

2021-2022 School Year Recap

Art Technically held coding workshops where students created Valentine’s Day cards in rural Tipton County, Tennessee, at the Museum of Science and History at the Pink Palace in Memphis, and for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s 26th annual Black Families Technology Awareness Day. We delivered 2,100 Valentine’s Day cards to homebound seniors through Memphis’ Meals on Wheels program and Franklin County’s Kiwanis Club for the Love Letters Project. We unveiled two new special projects: ‘Science Bears’ which provides teddy bears in scientist-themed costumes to children in need, and ‘Science Suitcases’ provides disadvantaged K-8 school libraries with STEM and STEAM books. Art Technically volunteers sewed and delivered 27 Science Bears to the Memphis Child Advocacy Center, which provides care for child abuse victims; delivered Science Suitcases to Title 1 and rural schools in all 9 Tennessee congressional districts; delivered 40 diverse scientist and artist Barbie dolls to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, and the Southern Tennessee Medical Center; reached over 1,000 K-12 students through workshops on coding, astrobotany, mixed media, and Irish dance, participated in the annual Tennessee STEAM Festival with the Museum of Science and History in Memphis, and presented at the 2022 Tennessee STEM Innovation Summit held by the Tennessee Department of Education and the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network.  

Our Team

Lily Donaldson is a 22-year-old Ph.D. student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute studying Built Ecologies. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from American University in Washington, DC, and an M.S. in Lighting from RPI. Lily has worked in software developer for the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy, and the NASA DC Space Grant Consortium. She enjoys volunteering with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and “Art Technically.” Lily went from a Title IX school in Memphis City Schools with underserved STEM education to being a first-generation college student and graduate student, and she attributes a lot of that journey to the pathways that STEM+Arts education opened for her in middle and high school; it’s these pathways that she founded “Art Technically” on.
Lily@arttechnically.org

Sarah “Sarita” Campbell-Zamudio is a National Security and Cybersecurity Management M.S. student at Nova Southeastern University in sunny South Florida and anti-human trafficking advocate. She attended American University where she majored in Arab World Studies and was a varsity cheerleader. She has also received an Associate of Art from Montgomery College. In her free time, she can be found at the beach, riding motorcycles, or training in a variety of martial arts. She’s passionate about helping people and making the world a brighter place and she believes education is one of the most effective ways to do that!
Sarita@arttechnically.org

Leelina Dagim is a business analyst and holds a B.S. in Computer Science from American University. Her interests and hobbies include learning languages, front-end design, curating music, film photography, skating, and breakdancing. She has a deep interest in building up her community, specifically Ethiopian Diasporas. Her passion is to acquire knowledge and skills to solve problems and help people. Leelina believes diversity in STEM and other fields is necessary, especially for demographics that are largely underrepresented.
Leelina@arttechnically.org

Grace Kigaita is a System Analyst at International Paper with experience in programming, data visualization, and server administration. She currently works supporting business intelligence applications such as Power BI, Tableau, and Alteryx. During her time as an intern, she optimized team reports and earned the “Most Creative” award in the 2020 Intern Hackathon. Grace graduated from the University of Memphis in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and minor in Mathematics. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, making music, and reading.
Grace@arttechnically.org

Matthew Fields is a Jr IT Support Engineer at Peloton Interactive. He studied Computer Science and Data Science at American University. His interests include web design, information technology, and statistics. He’s particularly interested in the applications of technology to wellness and healthcare. STEM is important to him because of the variety of problems it can help solve, from GPS tracking used to prevent shark attacks to the use of virtual reality in training medical students with delicate surgeries. He believes diversity is essential in STEM fields because having team members from a variety of backgrounds allows for incredibly creative and intelligent new ideas.
Matt@arttechnically.org

Fiona Rose Murphey is a senior undergraduate student in the AU Honors Program at American University. She is studying Computer Science with a concentration in Game Design and Theatre. After she graduates in May 2022, she will continue studying Game Design as a graduate student in the Literature, Culture and Technology MA program at AU, where she will focus on the humanities in game development. She has a childhood scientific background she treasures from Vanderbilt University in her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee; science remains one of her favorite subjects, and her favorite museums in DC are the Smithsonian Air and Space and Natural History museums—where the space ships and dinosaurs live. After graduating, she hopes to work in television, film, theatre and games to tell stories that will include and empower underrepresented groups, including disabled people, and give people stories to love as she has always been so grateful for. In her free time, she enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons with her friends and geeking out over TV/movies/games with her little sister.
Fiona@arttechnically.org

Tami Yousafi is a Frontend Developer at Cognizant. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from American University, where she also held a minor in Communication. She has worked as a UI/UX Developer for a start-up company called Gifted, as well as several positions at AU as a teaching assistant, tutor, and research assistant. She has also worked part-time as a karate and kickboxing instructor. She strives to bridge the gap between humans and computers, as well as technical and creative outlooks to solutions.
Tami@arttechnically.org