Girl Scouts of North East Ohio (GSNEO) is excited to have officially broken ground on their transformational project, the STEM Center of Excellence on August 17, 2023.  The STEM Center is being built at the council’s Camp Ledgewood located in Peninsula within the boundaries of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.  The complex is expected to be ready by fall of 2024.

GSNEO is dedicated to providing the equipment, tools, and skills to build students’ science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) confidence and education.  Currently, only 28% of the employees in the fastest growing and highest paying STEM jobs are women.  The STEM Center of Excellence will not only inspire Girl Scouts to take on STEM careers but encourage collaboration with local educators to impact a larger group of youth, both boys and girls, to experience year-round STEM opportunities. 

The STEM Center will include an 8,000 square foot building and will be integrated with the outdoors in this beautiful 350-acre camp.  It will house a wet lab; workshop space, including tools needed for prototyping and invention; a tech space; podcast booth; observatory; weather station; and more.  Outside, the building will include other immersive experiences, including a meadow with honeybee exhibit, an outdoor pavilion with bat houses, rain garden, and an outdoor classroom.