The world did not arrive in 2026 gently.
We begin this year amid deep uncertainty—political, economic, and cultural. Institutions are being tested. Truth and democracy feels fragile. And the question many leaders are quietly asking is not what will happen next, but who will be willing to lead through it.
At Project Scientist, we have already chosen our answer. Lead Boldly.
In 2025, we served more girls than at any point in our organization’s history. What once felt ambitious became our foundation. And now, as we step into 2026, the scale of demand before us is unmistakable.
This spring alone, Project Scientist is positioned to serve nearly 75% of the total number of girls we reached in all of last year. Schools across the country are raising their hands—not because this work is convenient, but because it is necessary.
This fall, we received more than 200 applications from school communities eager to bring Project Scientist into their classrooms. Today, we have the capacity to serve 110.
The remaining schools are waiting.
That waitlist is not an abstract challenge. It is a measure of urgency. It tells us something profound: even as the ground beneath us shifts, girls are still asking to learn. Still asking to build. Still asking to imagine a future where they belong.
I want to be honest about something we don’t always say out loud.
There is fear in this moment.
There is fear in leading an equity-centered organization when political winds are hostile and some funders are signaling retreat. There is fear in choosing girls—explicitly, unapologetically—when doing so is increasingly framed as controversial rather than essential.
That fear is real.
But what matters most is not whether leaders feel fear. It is what we choose to do in its presence.
At Project Scientist, we are choosing our mission anyway.
We are choosing to anchor equity not in rhetoric, but in strategy. To remain clear about who we serve and why, even as the funding landscape shifts. To make disciplined decisions about growth, risk, and sustainability—without diluting the purpose that brought us here.
This is what it means to lead with inclusion and courage when the ground keeps shifting. It means holding belonging and difference at the same time. It means understanding that local classrooms are shaped by global forces—and responding with clarity rather than retreat. And it means recognizing that neutrality is not the absence of choice; it is a choice with consequences.
Project Scientist has never been only about science.
We are in the business of expanding possibility. Of ensuring girls—especially girls of color—understand that their curiosity is valid, their intelligence is needed, and their leadership is inevitable.
We are preparing girls not just to succeed in STEM, but to engage the larger questions of our time: economic justice, technological responsibility, and what it means to build a society where opportunity is not rationed.
This is what it means to lead boldly in 2026.
It means choosing expansion when contraction feels safer.
It means investing in young people when cynicism feels easier.
It means refusing to allow fear—political, financial, or cultural—to dictate the future we offer our girls.
To meet this moment, we need partners who understand what is at stake.
We need donors who recognize that funding girls is not charity—it is infrastructure. We need volunteers who will step into classrooms as living proof that brilliance has many faces. We need advocates who see this work for what it is: an active revolution of joy, wisdom, and justice.
At Project Scientist, we are not waiting for stability to return before we act. We are leading through uncertainty—with courage, with rigor, and with deep belief in what girls can do when given access and trust.
As this new year begins, I invite you to stand with us.
Support this work.
Share this vision.
Choose this future.
Because the ground may be shifting—but the future is still being built.
And our girls are ready.
With gratitude,
Dr. Patrice S. Johnson
Chief Executive Officer
Project Scientist
