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Abstract The number of students enrolling and graduating with STEM degrees in the Unites States must increase exponentially in order to meet the predicted job shortages in STEM. Perkins Peer Advisement is a grant funded program at College X committed to increasing enrollment and retention of female and nontraditional students in engineering technology programs. Program activities include professional development, mentoring, faculty development, and community outreach. Community outreach is a critical component of the program as it benefits the undergraduate students hosting the events as well as the K-12 students participating in them. Studies indicate that greater exposure to STEM at early levels contributes to narrowing the STEM gap. The COVID 19 pandemic has forced all aspects of society to transition to a virtual platform. The pandemic has forced children to stay home and has limited their physical ability to participate in field trips and lab experiments; however, today's technology allows for students to expand the opportunities accessible to them through a virtual world. This paper will focus on the transition of the program to a virtual platform and the successful expansion of the community outreach component as a result of this transition. The program offers monthly family STEM workshops at the local elementary school. In February, the program will host its annual Girl Day event in celebration of National Engineers Week. The 2020-2021 academic year was the first time these outreach events were held virtually. Although the transition presented a challenge at first, in the end there are many benefits to the virtual platform. This paper will provide a summary of the STEM Outreach activities and provide conference participants with a tool kit that can be applied at their home institutions and local communities.
Villatoro et al. (Thu,) studied this question.