Unleash your potential
We’re a nonprofit built from Engineering studies at Stanford. We teach collaborative project courses surveying ML+AI and Data Science fundamentals.
Programming, math, and their resourceful combination
aren’t well covered before college, but it’s most of what STEM university students and graduates do every day. We offer virtual, live courses to provide powerful foundations for students with STEM dreams.
“The background to thrive STEM is missing from most grade school curricula. With all the AP math and multiple Dual Enrollment courses at my local college, I was still unprepared for my Electrical Engineering coursework and research at Stanford. This made for a tough awakening” – David, our founder & instructor
“I’ve taught these materials through Stanford SHTEM for years. I want to impact many more students now. “
Data Science & AI:
An introduction to optimization in Python and applied math within. Fit for those comfortable with Introductory Statistics and Algebra. This quantitative immersion course provides programming background, an intro to Machine Learning, and exposure to exploratory data science methods. We will scrape websites, leverage datasets and build a complete project through the course.
Class Details
Sessions start July 8th and run for 5 weeks, observing major US holidays. Classes meet twice a week, virtually.
Schedule
- Tuesdays & Thursdays OR Mondays & Wednesdays
- One of 3:00 PM, 4:30 PM PDT for an hour.
- Classes are recorded and made available to students.
- There are weekly sessions for project feedback.
Tuition
- Tuition is $399 and due at the end of the first week.
- Students may drop the course with no cost before tuition is due.
- Scholarships available.
Eligibility
- Ages 13-17 for the duration of the course
- Drive to learn
Scholarships
We understand that not all families can cover tuition. We offer need-based scholarships to our courses for ambitious students. The scholarship application is available within the class application. We also offer limited, free tutoring for motivated students with financial need.
Student and parent reviews
Our alumni
We take pride in our students’ victories. Our unique curriculum and devotion to fostering individual growth empowers students’ future endeavors. We have alumni in the following Universities:
About us
Our Mission
· We create coding & math curriculum to exponentiate STEM students’ future university success.
· We expose students to diverse technical methods and nurture agency in problem-solving.
· In the long run, we want to work with public schools to empower standard curriculum.
If you believe your organization and ours could collaborate to uplift driven students, reach out to contact@papayainstitute.org.
Education...
David, our founder, gets a kick out of good classes and teaching.
Transitioning to Stanford from a top Florida high school, the change in difficulty and approach to material was still immense.
... is powerful
Stanford's challenges eventually resulted in skills leading to internships with national labs, fellowships with international organizations and published research.
A strong education enabled millions of opportunities.
Everyone should have access to an education like this.
Papaya?
“The organization’s name stems from my childhood in Colombia. ‘Papaya’ became my childhood nickname per my fascination with my aunt’s papaya tree and the curiously shaped fruit that refused to roll”. – David, our founder
Feedback
We welcome your feedback! If you have any thoughts about the website, our courses, or anything else on the way to our mission, please let us know through the anonymous feedback form.
If you want our courses to grow and continue to empower students, you can make a tax-deductible donation here:
Free Education Resources
edX: A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) leader. EdX has courses, certificates, specializations, Bachelor’s, Master’s, AND EVEN Doctorate programs. Some are free! All classes on the platform can also be audited for free. This includes courses on programming, AP courses, business, languages and so much more. Check it out!
Coursera: A similar site to edX, this is another fantastic place for classes, certificates, or degrees. Some of them at no cost. Check it out!
Khan Academy: Nearly any topic covered in grade school is well covered in Sal Khan’s masterpiece of a platform. If you’re in high school and want some extra support, or would like to learn what’s beyond the horizon of the next school year, check it out!
Udacity: A coding platform with sufficient free courses to get anyone to an intermediate level in various programming skills. Check it out!
Code Academy: Another platform with ample beginner and intermediate courses to grow as a programmer. Could be a fantastic entry for you into the computer science world. Check it out!
Free Online Schools in US (list) : Many states have virtual school options that are free for public school students. This can be a fabulous path to get ahead or recover from a missed credit. David, our founder, was fortunate to find FLVS early in high school and skipped ahead in math and other subjects. Check it out!
Note that Papaya Institute is not affiliated with these organizations.
AND don’t forget that we have full need-based scholarships available for our classes.