Get To Know Us



SELF International, Inc. is a non-profit educational organization, based in South Minneapolis, bringing exciting opportunities in STEAM to underserved communities.  We offer fun, “hands on”, creative, cutting edge exploration into science and engineering for youths, ages 5 – 18.  Based on a mobile science concept, we bring science expertise to schools, community centers, and organizations which have little or no scientific resources.  Our goal is to reach students as young as possible to stimulate their natural curiosity and help them explore channels of scientific and technological study to prepare them to enter high school and college level academic paths which will lead them to the jobs of the 21st century.
SELF is working to bring resources, informal education best practices, inquiry based learning, and hands-on FUN to communities where resources are scarce. For several years we partnered with Sabathani Community Center’s Horizon Youth Program offering summer camp, afterschool programs, and family science.

NanoDays Celebration is offered in conjunction with NISE Net (National Informal Stem Education Network), a national celebration funded by the National Science Foundation.  Our Nano programs are offered in Spanish in our attempt to reach a broader Twin City underserved community.  We have offered NanoDays events at a number of locations.
Girls explore the nano structure of the Blue Morpho Butterfly.
Girls engaged in a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) inspired experiment in our SciKids program at Folwell School



We operate in coordination with the University of Minnesota and the Science Museum of Minnesota.  SELF is also a partner with SciGIrls (a national program of tpt tv).  SELF has just received a two year grant from SciGirls CONNECT2: "Investigating the use of gender equitable teaching strategies to support positive STEM identity development in youth."  This project will support research on SciGirls all-girl and mixed-youth programs at sixteen sites over two years.

SELF has offered programs at several Twin City locations and is currently providing an afterschool and summer program at Southside Boys and Girls Club.  Our goal is to have a state of the art mobile discovery system on wheels, offering a science lab with scientific equipment currently unavailable in the communities we serve.  Your contributions toward this goal are very much appreciated.