K-12 outreach

At Berkeley Engineering, one of our core values is to “create knowledge equitably in service of a diverse society.” Our mission is to diversify the engineering pipeline by providing educational opportunities for all students — whether or not they’re UC-bound. To achieve that, we’re creating a robust, impactful K-12 outreach program that reaches California students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. We believe that all students benefit from exposure to engineering and, more broadly, to STEM and scientific thinking — regardless of their future careers.

Our coordinated K-12 outreach program seeks to support underserved communities throughout the state of California and advance the recruitment of nontraditional applicants to the College of Engineering. We are building on our successful programs, like Girls in Engineering, and developing partnerships with UC Berkeley and community organizations. We envision a broad range of new outreach activities and projects, from opportunities to learn about Berkeley Engineering’s majors to hands-on workshops and summer engineering design camps. To maximize our impact, we aim to serve students and their families directly and partner with educators throughout California.

From June 2022 to May 2023, over 870 students participated in Berkeley Engineering’s K- 12 outreach activities, including our Girls in Engineering summer camps, campus visits, and presentations. We also hired our first Engineering Ambassador cohort. Our inaugural cohort brought a wide range of perspectives, was passionate about diversifying engineering, and provided excellent thought partnership. We’re excited to grow our activities and reach even more students.

If you’re interested in learning more about our K-12 programs and partnerships, please visit our Programs & resources page. If you’re a member of the UC Berkeley community and are looking for resources or policy information, please visit our For the UC community page.