Promoting stem education through mathematics weekend retreats

There is a strong sentiment among the academic community that higher academic achievement in mathematics leads to individuals being better prepared to pursue a STEM education, as higher mathematics scores on the SAT, ACT, or AP tests correlate with entry into STEM education. With this in mind, the STEM Recruitment, Retention, and Graduation (STEM-RRG) program funded by the US Department of Education at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), Laredo, Texas organized Mathematics Weekend Retreats (MWR) for the second time in spring 2011. Past MWR consisted of 20 Saturday-Sunday weekend sessions from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. With the lessons learned from this experience, we planned and implemented another series of 10 weekend sessions, and were able to offer enrichment sessions in mathematics for high school students, including some middle school students, to obtain higher scores in these tests. This paper documents the planning, delivery, and preliminary results of this endeavor for the benefit of schools and authorities in higher education.