Opening the Horizons proposals a significant enhancement in the science education of middle school girls in rural southwest Missouri. This is a geographic region where the education of women in the sciences is greatly undervalued. Opening the Horizon seeks to engage up to 200 middle school girls and their science teachers from 26 Ozarks counties as well as the girls' parents, school administrators, and local and regional communities in an active, positive and self-sustaining program of scientific literacy, curiosity, and opportunity. The main components of the program are (1) kick-off and closing conferences each year at Southwest Missouri State University (SMSU) and Drury University (both located in Springfield, Missouri) to include girls, their parents, and teachers; (2) three Saturday workshops over the course of the year to be run simultaneously at five college or university regional sites closer to the girls' homes (3) on-going contact for the girls with a college student mentor; (4) on-going contact for the teachers with other science teachers in the region as well as faculty women in the sciences at the regional higher educational institutions; and (5) a distance learning course for middle school teachers available at nine sites. The program will be run by a leadership team of SMSU and Drury women faculty as well as site directors at each of the five other college and university sites.
