FirstHand™

Hands-on STEM experiences and career exposure that open doors for the minds of tomorrow.

FirstHand Lab students together in lab Feb 2023
FirstHand students working together on experiment in FirstHand lab space.

About Firsthand™

FirstHand™ provides free, year-round STEM learning opportunities for middle and high school students. Our program is designed to offer skills-based career exposure, with industry-informed curricula that delivers real-world, hands-on experience. The state-of-the-art FirstHand Lab serves as a dynamic bridge, connecting local students to Philadelphia’s thriving entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem.


Program Benefits

STEM Career Exposure

We inspire an early interest in the STEM disciplines and supplement the classroom experiences with hands-on, project-based lessons with real world applications.

How it works

Hands-on Learning

Our lab-based programming incorporates project-based learning and industry-relevant curricula.

View Curriculum and Apply

Mentorship

You can’t be what you can’t see. That’s why we engage STEM professionals to demonstrate what a variety of STEM careers look like and provide guidance to students.

Become a mentor
  • FirstHand students collaborating on a STEM project

A look inside the FirstHand Lab

  • STEM in action

    City School students brainstorming their final projects

  • STEM in action

    Paul Robeson High School students prepare their projects before pitching to an audience made up of professionals from CHOP and the Science Center.

  • Making the pitch

    8th graders from Chester A Arthur Elementary present their final projects to the community.

  • In the lab

    Middle school students busy at work in the FirstHand lab.

  • The FirstHand team

    Melissa Kurman, Stef Bingham, Maya Heiland, Adam Durant, and Tiffany Copeland in the FirstHand Lab

I’m most excited about how I’m gonna actually make something of my own from scratch and look forward to seeing how it turns out. I’ve been working on it every day!

Tiara Milas-Stark, 10th grader at Paul Robeson High School
Jackie FirstHand Student Act Like a Scientist Blog Post

FEATURED ARTICLE

Act Like a Kid, Think Like a Scientist: How FirstHand Engages Students in the Lab

READ POST

Program Support


This program is supported by NICE, a program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the U.S. Department of Commerce, under financial assistance award #70NANB25H156.

Support Firsthand while earning tax credits through EITC

Companies can support FirstHand through the Educational Income Tax Credit Program (EITC). The EITC program allows eligible businesses to turn up to 90% of charitable contributions into tax credits.

Learn more about the Pennsylvania EITC program

The Latest in FirstHand

FirstHand Impact

2500
Students Served
37,000
hours student engagement
348
STEM Mentors Involved
95
Mentor Companies
87
Schools
10
years!
View impact

Program FAQs

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Interested in being a FirstHand Mentor?

Inspire the next generation of STEM professionals by serving as a mentor to our FirstHand students. Our mentors are scientists, designers, entrepreneurs, and engineers, but we welcome mentors with all types of backgrounds and skill sets.

Find out how
Firsthand instructor helping students