Episode 245: Inspiring kids to love STEM — with Ava N. Simmons of Team Genius Squad

The episode transcript is below.

Carolyn Kiel: Welcome to Beyond 6 Seconds, the podcast that goes beyond the six second first impression to share the extraordinary stories of neurodivergent people. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel.

Carolyn Kiel: On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Ava N. Simmons, also known as Ava The S.T.E.M. Princess. Ava is a 12-year-old STEM ambassador, entrepreneur, toy designer, author, and the creator of educational toy brand Team Genius Squad.

Diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia in 2021, Ava used S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) and entrepreneurial activities to help overcome her academic challenges and build her confidence. To share her learning journey and encourage others, Ava creates engaging STEM-based educational videos, authors STEM books, conducts peer-to-peer STEM activities in the community, and develop STEM toys for children ages five through 13, including children who are neurodivergent or in underserved areas.

She’s conducted thousands of peer-to-peer STEM experiments with children in the community. Over 700,000 households have viewed her educational videos. She’s authored three books and developed 15 branded STEM educational toys. Additionally, she is the Host of the PBS Kids Channel Show from PBS North Carolina called Mini Fab Science Lab, and her STEM-STEAM kits are featured in the Scholastic Catalog.

Ava, welcome to the podcast.

Ava Simmons: Hi. I am so excited to be here.

Carolyn Kiel: I’m really excited to talk with you. You have done such amazing work in STEM and STEAM in a relatively short amount of time, and I’m just so excited to learn more about your story and how you came to be Ava The STEM Princess.

So, to start out, maybe to go a little bit back to the beginning before you were Ava The STEM Princess, like what has school been like for you as a student with dyslexia and dysgraphia?

Ava Simmons: Well, I feel like, I don’t really see my dyslexia and dysgraphia as a challenge. I see it more as a gift because I see things differently than everybody else, and it helps me come up with amazing things that I can use to help other people.

And before I went to public school, now I go to a school for especially kids that are neurodivergent or have dyslexia or dysgraphia. And they really helped me because they taught me ways I can use, so I can find out how to decode the words instead of having to struggle with them. So I feel like as a student having dyslexia and dysgraphia, it’s really been good for me. It hasn’t been that hard.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s great, and it sounds like it’s really important to have teachers and methods that work with the way that you learn so that you can really succeed and thrive in school.

Ava Simmons: Yes.

Carolyn Kiel: Very cool. And so how did you initially become interested in STEM subjects? And just to let people know, STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

Ava Simmons: I really became interested when I was two years old, when I had got my first ever Dr. McStuffins. You know, the little show Dr. McStuffins? I got my very first role playing kit and I started doing a lot of things. I pretended to be like a surgeon, and I checked my dad’s blood pressure. Trust me, he was okay. I did like little surgeries on my baby dolls. And before I knew fully, I was more into like being a doctor and wanting to be a surgeon to help other people. And then as I got older, like when I was 10 and eight, I really started learning what science, technology, engineering, art, and math really meant, like STEM and STEAM. So now I do not just only like helping people medically and trying to be a doctor and surgeon, I wanna do all of it. Like all fields of STEM.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow. So you really had an interest very early on in life. That’s really cool.

You’ve done like a lot of household experiments and things like that. Was that something that you started doing more of during the pandemic, videos and stuff?

Ava Simmons: Yes. The first ever video I did when I first started, because we first started on YouTube, it was a video where I made hand sanitizer for my grandma and she loved it. I made two bottles of it, and because it was the pandemic, that was my first ever video I ever did.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. Well that makes a lot of sense. Oh, that’s really cool.

I’d love to learn more about Team Genius Squad. How does it help encourage kids to learn more about STEM?

Ava Simmons: Well, Team Genius Squad is the educational STEAM toy brand, and basically we use our STEAM-STEM toy kits and we use those in the community to help kids understand more what STEM and STEAM means and how it’s used in our day-to-day lives. Because you could be just baking in your kitchen, making the most delicious thing ever, like some cookies. Oh, that sounds good right now. And you could actually be doing science, mixing things together, making new things.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, it’s amazing. Science is really in everything. Like we don’t even think about it, but it’s in things like cooking and you know, basically anything that we do.

Ava Simmons: Yes. Anything.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. Wow. And so you also have a lot of STEM and STEAM related products and toys and other educational things that you sell through the Team Genius Squad store. Like how do you get the ideas for what to sell?

Ava Simmons: Well, really how I get my ideas is from the toy store. So I’ll walk into a store and I’ll see a kit and I’ll be like, why not make this fun and easier, making sure it takes less time and it’s more fun and you get a reward at the end. So my kits, like I have this one kit where you can make your own solar fan and then you can put it in the sun. And because solar energy’s really good now you can do that, and take a little kit and it takes only five minutes to do, and then you get a reward. You get a little badge, a certified genus badge, and you get a bracelet.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s awesome! That is nice. ’cause you know, it’s, it’s a learning experience, but at the same time you get the reward, one of building something that works and is cool and two of the bracelet and the badging. That’s really awesome.

Ava Simmons: Thank you.

Carolyn Kiel: Very cool. And you also started recently hosting your own PBS Kids Channel show called Mini Fab Science Lab. I got to watch a couple episodes of that and it’s really, really cool and really fun. How did you get the idea for it? Where did that come from?

Ava Simmons: Well, the show is called the Mini Fab Science Lab, so it’s like, it shows us that things we do in our daily life is STEM and science, so it’s like it’s STEM and STEAM. And what the show basically is, is me and five of my best friends, we do different STEM experiments, and we show how STEM and STEAM is used in our day-to-day lives.

And the whole meaning of the show is that even though we’re little, we can ask big questions and we can figure them out! So that’s the main thing we always say. We can ask big questions, we can figure them out. And we get people from the real world, like people who work in engineering or real scientists to tell us more about it. Like we did one episode where me and my friend Cathal, we made slime. And we got a real life scientist to tell us all about polymers and how polymers is used in anything, like our shoes and making new fabrics and materials.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s really awesome. Yeah, I think a lot of kids really love making slime, so that additional understanding of here’s how you make it and here’s the science behind it and calling in experts. That’s really, really fun.

It’s on the PBS Kids channel. How did PBS North Carolina get involved with the idea for your show?

Ava Simmons: Well, what happened was actually they reached out to us because one year, they were doing like a STEM-STEAM theme for their tour, and they reached out to us. And when I first came, they welcomed me with open arms and Miss Joelle, she felt like an auntie to me and it was so nice to meet people that I, it was just something new for me.

So I started going on tour with them every year. And then finally I got a show and we decided to call it the Mini Fab Science Lab. And it was so much fun to do! I had so much fun. And I, the background scenes, I got so many pictures. I had so much fun. I even got a picture with Big Bird. Now that was fun. Not the huge big bird, but like the little plushy. I got a picture. That was so much fun. Yeah.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s really cool. And you mentioned that one of your episodes was making slime. How do you choose your experiments that you do on the episodes?

Ava Simmons: Well, these are experiments that I do on a regular basis. Like when I have events, the only experiment, like I do events at the Boys and Girls Club, the only experiments the kids ever asked for is slime. Like one time I came with a new experiment called, it was called, I think “giggle worms” or something like that, where you would take a lemon and you would put baking soda on it. And it would make the same reaction as an acid base using vinegar, baking soda and dish soap. But instead, we could use a lemon and just baking soda and dish soap. And they were like, nah, this is not as fun as slime. Let’s do slime.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, slime is really popular. That’s very cool.

What’s your favorite part about making the show?

Ava Simmons: My favorite part was definitely doing the experiments. I had so much fun. And one of the episodes it was all about pickles and like the acid in pickles, and I got to eat a pickle. Delicious.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s cool. Yeah, it sounds like a lot of these experiments involve common household items, so it really is something accessible for kids that is not hard for them to get the different ingredients or things to do, to put together and do an experiment and, and learn at the same time. Very awesome.

You’ve already accomplished so much in your life. Like what other big goals do you wanna accomplish in the near future?

Ava Simmons: Well, I wanna reach all underserved areas in the world. That’s what my main goal is. I wanna reach all kids who can’t just walk into a store and buy everything on the shelf. I really wanna focus on being in all school systems. That’s what I really wanna focus on.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. Just making science accessible and fun for kids everywhere. That’s really important for learning. Awesome.

Where can people watch episodes of Mini Fab Science Lab?

Ava Simmons: So it’s on PBS Kids Channel and it’s also on the PBS Kids Channel for YouTube. So it’s called Rootle PBS Kids Channel where you can find it, and then PBS Kids on their website, it’s also where you can find it.

Carolyn Kiel: Okay, cool. Yeah, we’ll put links to that in the show notes so people can find that really easily from there.

And, you know, when it comes to Team Genius Squad, where can people learn more about that and the types of STEM related and STEAM related products that you offer there?

Ava Simmons: TeamGeniusSquad.com and if you wanna see any of my products it’s shop.TeamGeniusSquad.com. Always gotta remember those two. Always gotta remember them.

Carolyn Kiel: And we’ll put those in the show notes too.

And I assume you’re on social media as well. Where would you like people to follow you? On which platforms and where can they find you?

Ava Simmons: They can find me on Instagram, which is @teamgeniussquad, YouTube, which is Team Genius Squad. And I changed the name. Instead of Ava The S.T.E.M. Princess, it’s now Ava The S.T.E.M. Ambassador. I wanna do something different. And then also LinkedIn, which is Team Genius Squad and Facebook, which is Team Genius Squad. And TikTok, which is Team Genius Squad. Every platform at this point, every platform.

Carolyn Kiel: You’re pretty much everywhere. That’s really awesome. Cool.

So yeah, Ava, thank you for sharing about all of the great things that you’re doing. What kind of words of encouragement would you have for kids who might be struggling in school, like how would you encourage them if they’re struggling?

Ava Simmons: Never let your challenges define your success or future. Always chase your dreams and believe in yourself, and never stop pushing.

Carolyn Kiel: Awesome. Well, thank you Ava. It’s been really great talking with you and I’m really excited to see what you do in the future because you’ve already done so much amazing work up to this point. And yeah, best of luck with the Mini Fab Science Lab and with everything else that you work on.

Ava Simmons: Thank you.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help me spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend, give it a shout out on your social media, or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of my episodes and sign up for my free newsletter at Beyond6seconds.net. Until next time.