Founder and Director of STEAMSPACE™ Education Outreach
As CEO & Founder of STEAMSPACE™ Education Outreach, Holly Melear is creating education outreach for all students globally, in order to help them on their paths towards their individual, powerful, inspired futures. By creating an opportunity for collaboration with industry and academics, STEAMSPACE offers students an all-inclusive community in which to grow and discover their passions and their place in the world of space. Students explore peer collaboration and leadership opportunities as well as find avenues for mentorship and research.
With over 20 years in the Education Industry, Holly has acted as education advocate, consultant, coordinator, and event director. After founding the first Cities in Space Event in 2015, Holly and her team have moved forward to offer growing opportunities for youth across the globe with events such as their Leadership Summits and Cities in Space workshops. Part of the team’s mission is to support progressive education techniques such as Project Based Learning and Social Emotional Learning, incorporating these approaches into progressive events that ensure equal opportunity, and include restrictions on team spending and access to financial aid. By 2020, STEAMSPACE has reached over 3000 youth globally, and will be including even more students in 2021. STEAMSPACE has consistently, year over year, had greater than 60% female student representation for Cities in Space, and roughly 70% of the Cities in Space teams include minority representation.
Holly is on the advisory board of STEM for Women Magazine, promoting girls and women in the STEM/STEAM Industry and sat on the former Space Economy Task Force in Austin, Texas. She has been published in such disparate and respected magazines as CASEL Magazine and Journal of Space Philosophy. In 2018, Holly received the Permission to Dream Award as well as the MSAT Morocco Award for her work in STEAM Education and space.
“Without creating a dedicated curriculum for our students to focus on space and opportunities for off-world settlement, it will be incredibly challenging to create a pipeline of future leaders and settlers. Indeed, without creating the academic programming, along with teaching the skills for leadership, collaboration and empathy, our already significant challenges for a successful future will be multiplied. By offering integrated, real-world problem-solving situations, we are helping to create our world’s next scientists, inventors, artists, innovators and pioneers of space. By teaching youth how to lead ‘up there,’ we ensure they also gain the skills to better lead here on Earth.”
