Every Action Makes a Difference: A Donor’s Vision for Girls in STEM and a Sustainable Future
The first thing Cybele Chang, Executive Director of KSI Foundation, did when she arrived was take in the view.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, looking out over the wide green meadow at Sierra Nevada Journeys Outdoor Education Camp. “I am a huge outdoor person. I mean, what is there not to love up here? It’s gorgeous.” The valley, she added with a laugh, felt like “something out of the movies.”
It was a fitting place for reflection, on science, on the future, and on the girls running through camp who might one day shape both.
Today, KSI has a clear purpose. “Our mission is to give to organizations that help educate low-income girls in the areas of STEM and entrepreneurship,” said Cybele.
Finding Sierra Nevada Journeys and its Girls in STEM Camp came from intention. “A lot of research, actually,” she explained. “We have an idea of what we want to give to and after doing some research, I found Sierra Nevada Journeys. It was good timing and a good fit.”
The fit became obvious. “The STEM, Girls in STEM Camp is specifically for Title I, low-income girls in the field of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).” Just as important was timing. “We believe that you need to capture their attention when they’re young, but not too young.” For her foundation, that meant focusing on girls ages 9 through 14.
She leaned forward, emphasizing the point. “By the time you’re in high school, most teenagers have already made up their minds, so we’re really focusing on that age. That’s important to us.”
Out on the trails and in the open air, those girls were learning more than facts and formulas. They were forming relationships with science, with each other, and with the earth beneath their feet.
“I think it would be great if they went and became a scientist in some way,” Cybele said. Then she paused, softening the expectation. “But that isn’t necessarily practical.” What mattered more was something more meaningful: “that the girls come away with a deeper connection with the earth and to understand that we are all stewards of the earth.”
Her words carried both hope and urgency. “Every action that they make — recycling, walking instead of driving, putting solar on their house — those steps are important for the existence of the human race on this planet.”
That conviction wasn’t abstract. It was personal.
“My father was actually a computer science professor in electrical engineering,” she explained. “He had two daughters He didn’t advocate for us to go into the sciences, but both my sister and I exceled in the sciences.” She chuckled. “So we’re poster children for girls in STEM.”
Cybele herself studied environmental science at UC Berkeley. Her sister, she added with admiration, “got a master’s in math, which to me is astounding; that’s a lot of math.”
Those life experiences shaped not only what she believes, but what she wants others to understand.
“I just hope that the future generation really does take to heart that we play a role in the future,” she said, her voice growing steadier and more insistent. She illustrated that idea with a vivid example where a plastic bag drifting into the ocean, mistaken for a jellyfish and eaten by a turtle. She added, “We are part of all of that ecosystem, and every action we take can make a difference.”
The message she hopes the girls carry home is simple, but immense. “We are not here to just consume and do whatever we want. If you want the human race to continue in perpetuity, then you need to take action and live a more sustainable life.”
Back outside, the meadow stretched on under the summer sun, quiet and alive at the same time. Somewhere nearby, a group of girls was laughing, discovering something new about the world, or maybe about themselves.
Cybele watched the landscape for a moment, then smiled in the direction of the campers, “They’re what’s really important to me — the girls.”