Amy Quartaro, a homeschooled high school senior, is creating a "Science Discovery" group for elementary school Austin area homeschoolers. Amy is the captain of her robotics team, vice president of the Austin Area Homeschool science team, and a former intern at UT's Center for Space Research.

Elementary School Discovery will include hands-on projects, educational videos, games and guest speakers. This group of students will meet for two hours once a month that to explore a variety of scientific disciplines.

"I hope to instill in these young students a passion for STEM and to create a more positive image of the term nerd," said Quartaro.

The annual Science Discovery Day will also be organized through the Austin Area Homeschoolers science team in conjunction with Techshop, a community-based workshop and prototyping studio on a mission to democratize access to the tools of innovation. This event will take place in January 2014.

Quartaro is planning on using her grant towards securing space for both the monthly group meetings, to purchase materials for the group to do experiments and for Science Discover Day.