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Join Our Community

While we build Kids Ahead, we need to find young people, parents, teachers, mentors and club leaders who will want to use the Kids Ahead website in the future. We will keep you updated on our progress. If you would like to help us build Kids Ahead through donations, partnerships, quality content, or have an idea you would like to share, please contact us.

We will never share or
distribute your information.

Program Overview

This video is part of the SMU outreach efforts to help gain the interest of young people.

The Kids Ahead website will be launched in the fall of 2010. Initially, kids, teachers, parents, mentors and club leaders will find projects, and activities related to three topics: Robotics, Forensics and Wind Energy and events in the Washington, DC area, Dallas/Fort Worth area, and the Seattle, Washington area. Eventually, we plan to have events identified throughout the entire country and across many more subjects. Kids Ahead is also working in support of organizations like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4H Club, and the Boys and Girls Clubs by providing resources they can incorporate into their activities.

Kids Ahead is a virtual environment where kids can go and learn about subjects like Robotics. They will be able to find out what robots do, how they are built, and learn about robot competitions in their area. They will be able to read, play games, and find projects for a class or a club.

  • We hope to capture kids' interest about how things work. To do that, we will give them experiences that are fun and inspire questions like this site on wind energy.
  • We want to provide kids with quality information, written for them, related to STEM topics. We hope that content like this will complement their school activities.
  • We know how much kids enjoy playing games like this that help kids learn.
  • We want to support adults in their efforts to create a bright future for our youth through resources like this.

Our Mission

The Kids Ahead program is an initiative to increase the number of kids with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competencies and interests. Our program is designed to inspire young people to learn about STEM through innovative interactions in the physical and virtual worlds.

The Kids Ahead program is part of a larger national initiative being led by Southern Methodist University to improve STEM skills in young people. By providing middle school children access to quality content, activities, projects, events and information, Kids Ahead will spark their interest and passion. Kids Ahead also seeks to provide parents, teachers, club leaders and STEM volunteers the resources they need to keep STEM activities a central part of young people’s lives.

Our Goals

Develop a virtual community in support of our mission. That community consists of people like you. We hope that you will join our community, tell others about us, and contribute what you know to this effort.

Create a virtual environment where kids will be inspired,
learn and have fun. Kids Ahead will provide high quality projects, activities and events for middle school children.

Support parents, teachers, club leaders and other adults all across America that are able to help inspire kids through STEM activities. By providing exciting, fun, challenging quality resources that adults can use as they engage with kids, we believe that STEM-related activities will increase.

Our Impact

By creating a unique virtual environment and supporting community that is focused on giving kids the experiences they need to see themselves as future scientists or engineers, we will ensure our nation has the necessary technical knowledge to maintain our status as a world leader. The Kids Ahead site is an exciting environment built to provide kids access to these fun, exciting, and challenging opportunities and activities.

The Kids Ahead project hopes to reach middle school children across the U.S. We believe that it is possible to provide interesting content, fun and creative activities, and access to events and projects in their local areas that will motivate kids to learn STEM skills. The Kids Ahead program will provide parents, teachers, club leaders and other adults the resources they need to be positively impact young people through parenting, teaching, mentoring and club activities associated with STEM subjects.

Our Team

Kids Ahead is sponsored by the Caruth Institute for Engineering Education at the Southern Methodist University. Through the Board of Advisors for the Caruth Institute, we have a far reaching and very influential group of people helping us achieve our goals.

  • Frank Cappuccio – Executive Vice President & General Manager of Advanced Development Programs and Strategic Planning, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company
  • David Chard – Leon Simmons Endowed Dean of the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development and Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Southern Methodist University
  • General John Dailey – Director, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, former Marine
  • Gano Ehlers – A leader in STEM education for over 25 years
  • Norman Fortenberry – Founding Director of the Center for the Advancement of Scholarship on Engineering Education at the National Academy of Engineering
  • Gene Frantz – Texas Instruments Incorporated, Principal Fellow
  • Sherwin Greenblatt – Former President, Bose Corporation and current Director of the MIT Venture Mentoring Service
  • Gary Payton – Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programs, former Astronaut
  • Sue Payton – Former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, and President – – SCI Aerospace Inc.
  • B. J. Penn – Former Secretary of the Navy, former Navy pilot
  • Loretta Penn – President of Sherion Staffing Services
  • Torrence Robinson – Director of Education and Workforce for Texas Instruments
  • Maxine Savitz – Retired General Manager of Technology Partnerships at Honeywell, Inc.
  • Karen Shuford – Charitable trust consultant, leader, and volunteer for civic agencies and organizations that support medical care, education, and the arts in Dallas, Texas
  • Carole Young – Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Medical City Dallas Hospital, member of the Executive Committee of the Chancellor’s Council of The University of Texas System, and member of The Presidents’ Circle of The National Academies
  • Jim Young – Former Executive Assistant to the Chairman of EDS. Currently serves or has served on the boards, advisory councils, and/or executive committees, including Kipp Schools

About Our Founders

  • Photo: Dolores Etter, Ph.D.

    Delores Etter, Ph.D.

    The founder of the Kids Ahead program is Dr. Delores M. Etter – an engineer, scientist and innovative leader and the director of SMU's new Caruth Institute for Engineering Education and the Texas Instruments Distinguished Chair in Engineering Education. As part of the new Caruth Hall at SMU, she is responsible for the Innovation Gymnasium where students will learn through hands-on activities how to be our future innovators. Her many initiatives are aimed at ensuring all young people are able to have fun, interesting, and challenging experiences in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. You can learn more about where she works by going to http://www.smu.edu/lyle.aspx – and about her other initiatives to inspire young people by going to http://www.smu.edu/Lyle/K-12.aspx.

    View Dr. Etter's Bio [pdf]