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Salem Academy and College will receive NASA funding to address STEM gender gap

Salem Academy and College has been awarded nearly $750,000 in funding from NASA to help address a STEM gender gap. 

Salem is one of seven schools nationwide to receive a NASA grant designed to build a pipeline for girls and women seeking careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It plans on offering a mentoring and educational program that will also be available to students from North Forsyth High School.  

Summer McGee, president of Salem Academy and College, says that NASA’s goals align with Salem’s commitment to giving women the tools they need to succeed in the areas of health, science, and the arts.

"The research that we know says that girls and women, they learn very early on whether or not they have an aptitude, and they develop confidence to be in STEM," says McGee. "And so this program is really focused on cultivating that confidence and that resiliency, giving them the support to continue to pursue their dreams to be in the sciences."

This will mark Salem Academy and College’s first-ever grant from NASA. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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