History

WE ARE A GROUP PASSIONATE ABOUT LEARNING AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY.

In 2019, Rise Up: Northeast Ohio was founded with a simple but ambitious goal: to transform science education for public high school students across Northeast Ohio. We are a nonprofit organization led by scientists, educators, innovators, and community members who believe that every student deserves access to meaningful, hands-on science experiences and the opportunity to see themselves as part of the future of science.

Science careers are often shaped by access long before a student reaches college. Many young people from under-resourced communities have fewer opportunities to work in laboratories, use advanced scientific equipment, meet professional scientists, or participate in authentic research. This creates a barrier sometimes described as a “glass floor,” where early inequities in education and opportunity make it harder for talented students to enter and persist in science.

Rise Up works to break down that barrier by bringing the experience of professional science directly into public high school classrooms. Through our Life as a Scientist program, students are paired with working scientists who dedicate more than 1100 volunteer hours a year to visit classes weekly and guide them through the full research process. Students develop their own research questions, write grant proposals, receive funding and supplies, conduct experiments, analyze data, present their findings, and publish their work in the Journal of Young Scientists.

Our programs are designed to match the excitement, rigor, and creativity of science happening in professional laboratories while making those experiences accessible to students who have historically had fewer opportunities in STEM. In addition to classroom-based research, we provide paid summer internships through the Rise Up Scholars program, placing students in Cleveland-based research laboratories where they work alongside professional scientists and mentors.

At Rise Up, students do not just learn about science. They practice science. They ask questions, solve problems, collaborate, communicate, and contribute original ideas. By bringing students and scientists together, we build bridges between classrooms and laboratories, expand access to opportunity, and help students recognize that science belongs to them too.

Our mission is to provide students with access to scientists, authentic research experiences, and the resources they need to imagine new possibilities for themselves, regardless of their background or career path.