SME Education Foundation
A Nonprofit Spreads Its Wings
The SME Education Foundation works to prepare and support the next generation of engineers by supporting interest in STEM-based education. They’ve awarded more than $33 million in grants, scholarships and awards since 1980.
When they received their largest scholarship grant to date–$1 million dollars from the Gene Haas Foundation–they knew they had to get the word out quickly. The grant came with a pretty tough requirement: all the funds needed to be distributed within 1 to 2 years.
I was brought on board to develop the content for a 12-page press kit which included:
- two sample articles
- a backgrounder
- a fact sheet
- several executive bios
- an introductory letter
The press kit was distributed at a well attended media event hosted in Oxnard, California.

Article Excerpt
Never Get Between a Girl and Her Robot
Making your own robot is easy. Just ask 18-year-old Hispanic student, Morgan Montalvo. She’s been learning how to design and build robots since the summer before she began sixth grade.
Morgan is starting college this fall, having won a 4-year, $70,000 family scholarship from the SME Education Foundation to study mechanical engineering at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, California.
While her college career is just about to start, she’s already logged more than 600 hours with the Eagle Engineering Robotics Team, where she’s qualified for the VEX World Championship every year since 2008. Morgan explained that her fascination with robotics started when she enrolled in a robotics program the summer before she began middle school. “I became addicted to the thrill of working with others to create a solution to a complex problem, which explains why I continue with robotics.”
