WINDSOR – Two Bertie County students will spend one week this summer enriching their lives.

Jahkia Basnight and Timya Freeman were among the 150 youths to apply for the Step Up to STEM summer program, which will be held July 14 – 19 at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham. These two young ladies were recently invited to be one of the 50 participants in the program.

Basnight is the daughter of Mashawanda Razor of Windsor. She is an Honor Roll student and a member of the National Jr. BETA Club where she serves as the President. Jahkia is a member of the Varsity Cheerleader Team and represents Bertie Middle School as “Miss BMS”. She has been accepted to the Bertie High School Early College for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Freeman is the daughter of Cheryl Jefferson (guardian), Sandra Vaughan, and Careem Freeman (parents) of Windsor. She is an Honor Roll student and a member of the National Jr. BETA Club where she serves as the Chaplain. Timya is a member of the Varsity Cheerleader Team and serves as the Captain for the Jr. Varsity Team. She also has been accepted to the Bertie High School Early College for the 2019-2020 academic year.

Step Up to STEM is an innovative interdisciplinary academic program that uses exciting real-world subjects to challenge rising 9th graders across North Carolina and build their skills in science, math, and communications.

During the program’s residential summer institute, students live and learn on the historic campus of North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, where they have the opportunity to take advantage of the many unique enrichment activities available throughout the Triangle area.

Step Up to STEM provides students with opportunities to engage with curriculum in ways not typically available to them during the standard school year. During the week-long summer program, students will be engaged in an interdisciplinary science, mathematics, and biomedical engineering curriculum supported by a writing component. The program will explore biological systems and associated cellular processes.

Enrichment activities outside of class time further develop students’ social and academic learning through on-campus events and off-campus field trips. Past activities have included Morehead Planetarium shows, hip hop writing workshops, Durham Bulls games, visits to labs at Duke, board game nights, sports, STEM career panels, ice cream socials, and tours of UNC-Chapel Hill.

This is a free, one-week residential summer program valued at $1,495.