Frequently Asked Questions

With the new Dashboard release in 2021, members will be able to update their personal information, contact info, GPA, STEM classes, and enrichment activities for Advisor approval.

• NSTEM™ provides Chapters, members and their families with thousands of resources:
  • Thousands of curated resources in the Resource Library, searchable by state, grade level and these categories: awards, competitions, curricula, events, workshops, grants, groups, organizations, internships, professional development (PD), and scholarships 
  • Interactive calendars of important STEM dates
  • NSTEM STEM Champions of Excellence for excellent Chapters and advisors
  • NSTEM Scholarship Program for college tuition and enrichment activities
  • Advisor Dashboard that helps the Advisor navigate and manage their Chapter including forms, sample documents, and checklists 

• Your school must have an NSTEM™ Chapter:
  • Any student that attends your school from grades K-12 or college/university
  • Meets the minimum eligibility requirements in the past 12 months or latest grading period
  • If your school has not established an NSTEM™ Chapter yet, please visit How to Start a Chapter.

Membership benefits are plentiful; please review Why Join!

NSTEM™ has established Minimum Eligibility Requirements for students to become and remain members of their NSTEM™ Chapter.

• A Chapter may increase or add to NSTEM™ minimum requirements in its bylaws but may not go below the following:
  • GPA of a B or 3.0/4.0 equivalent in STEM courses only 
  • Curricular hours in STEM courses only 
  • STEM enrichment hours

Students that do not have the minimum GPA, have not completed the required hours of STEM academic curriculum and/or enrichment activities in the last 12 months may be admitted as provisional members while completing their required classroom and enrichment hours, and GPA going forward.

Each year students must continue to satisfy their Chapter’s member eligibility requirements in order to remain an active member of their Chapter. Students should check with their Advisor to ensure they are in compliance with the requirements, including meeting the minimum GPA, curricular hours in STEM courses, and enrichment hours.  The Advisor determines if the student has met all of the requirements.

Once a student is inducted, they remain an active member of your Chapter as long as they maintain the three minimum member criterion.

Which STEM courses you include is up to your Chapter. To fulfill NSTEM’s minimum requirements for STEM curricular hours, NSTEM does not prescribe which courses to include from individual courses of studies. STEM courses and curricula evolve and adapt so rapidly at all levels of education in response to global industry demands, it would be a practical impossibility to keep up!  NSTEM encourages each Chapter to decide which courses they propose for their members to meet NSTEM’s minimum requirements. NSTEM requires that the courses are in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. Interdisciplinary courses that include STEM disciplines are encouraged.

NSTEM™ does not require student membership fees yet the Chapter may impose a fee for membership. Each Chapter will decide how much, if any, to charge student members but fees must not exceed $20 per student per year per the NSTEM Constitution.

If the online school has been approved by your State, then it can have a Chapter. If you’re homeschooled, you are affiliated with a local State approved school. If so, then that school can create an NSTEM Chapter.  Once it creates an NSTEM™ Chapter, then you may become a member of that Chapter.

Yes, however, you will be a provisional member until you complete satisfy all of the requirements at your new school.  At that time, you will once again become a regular member.

STEM enrichment activities are extracurricular activities designed to increase a student’s knowledge of and engagement in STEM related topics that may include: science fairs and competitions, math contests, STEM-related clubs (e.g. science, math, cyber, Lego, robotics), tutoring other students in STEM disciplines, coding, individual or group STEM projects, attending a lecture or film on STEM topics, working at a STEM-related internship/job, etc. The Chapter Advisor determines which enrichment activities qualify to meet the requirements.

STEM enrichment activities are pre-approved by the Chapter Advisor and can be either sponsored by your school or by outside organizations. Please visit the Constitution and the Minimum Eligibility Requirements for more information

NSTEM™ encourages family and community member involvement in advocating for students. Have them speak with your school’s administration and staff to get involved and to start a Chapter. If the school already has a Chapter, have them speak to your Chapter’s Advisor.

• To increase student engagement, your NSTEM™  Chapter should:
  • seek to have visibility at various school wide events
  • offer recognition and awards throughout the school year, at graduation, and other school-wide ceremonies
  • sponsor or approve STEM projects that are interesting and engaging that impact your students and the community
  • involve the community in programs, projects, member opportunities, and events
  • promote your Chapter successes and Chapter in your school newsletter, teacher and principal blogs, and town and city news outlets, and social media platforms (tag the National STEM Honor Society!)
  • order items through the NSTEM™ Store to give your members visibility and recognition

Any public or private/independent educational school that is approved by its Department of Education and consists of one or more grades from kindergarten through the fourth year of college/university is eligible to register a local NSTEM™ Chapter. Visit How to Start a Chapter for more information.

The first step would be to find an individual or organization that is excited to serve as the Chapter Advisor. Each school must have its own Chapter with a unique Director (i.e., principal, director, dean, headmaster or president) and be managed by the Chapter Advisor. You then can work with the proposed Chapter Advisor and Director to submit a chapter registration and its annual fee. Visit How to Start a Chapter for more information. 

Managing your Chapter is paramount to the success of your students and creating an amazing Chapter. Here are some Suggested Chapter Officer Roles to get you started!

The cost for a Chapter annual membership is $295 and is independent of size of the school, Chapter size, or number of members. The fee must be paid to have your Chapter registration processed. Visit How to Start a Chapter for more information.

NSTEM™  accepts credit cards, checks, and Purchase Orders (PO’S) as forms of payment for annual Chapter fees. Paying by credit card activates your Chapter membership immediately, while paying by check or PO can take up to 72 hours to activate your Chapter. Visit Payment Instructions for more information.

If your school requires a purchase order, you will automatically receive an invoice and confirmation email after submitting a completed Chapter registration online (visit How to Start a Chapter). Please use this invoice to complete your internal processing (purchase order, etc.) and then send a check with a copy of the invoice to NSTEM™.  Visit Payment Instructions for more information.

Chapters can be started anytime and registrations are processed throughout the year and renew annually September 1. The annual fee for each Chapter is $295 and NSTEM does not require student member membership fees. Visit How to Start a Chapter for more information.

No, each school must have its own Chapter with a unique Director (principal, head of school, etc.) and Chapter Advisor. If your school shares the same building facility but has separate principals/heads of school, it must be considered as separate schools for purposes of establishing a Chapter. Visit How to Start a Chapter for more information.

Chapters are responsible for raising funds through fundraising, school budget, grants, donations, membership fees, etc. to cover the Chapter activities, stipends and projects. 

Chapters can determine how often they meet, but we would suggest monthly at a minimum in order to plan programs, enrichment activities, projects, fundraisers, and more. Visit the Helpful Tips for a Successful Chapter page for ideas.

Chapter meetings are held at times that are convenient for Chapter members and staff involved, but we encourage you to invite other students and community members who have a vested interest in STEM, the school, and the Chapter’s growth.

Chapter meetings should engage members in planning and executing exciting, engaging, and educationally relevant Chapter projects, programs, events, enrichment activities, and community involvement.

The head of school or principal of a school (Chapter Director) must agree to sponsor the Chapter and pay the annual dues, as well as approve and assign a Chapter advisor. 

They must be an individual or organization approved by the Chapter Director to serve but do not need to be a faculty member. They can be a school counselor, parent, or any other individual, and it is possible and advised to permit co-Advisors. Since Advisors have access to student records and private information, NSTEM™ strongly encourages care in choosing an Advisor.

Although not required by NSTEM™, some Chapters will develop an Advisory Council to help with managing the Chapter and its activities.  This Advisory Council Sample Chapter Bylaws template will assist you in drafting bylaws for your Chapter. 

• The NSTEM™ Chapter Advisor, with help from parents and their Chapter Advisory Council, is responsible for the day-to-day organization of the Chapter and:
  • acts as a liaison between and engages with faculty, administration, students, families and community
  • invites students to join the Chapter, reviews applications for membership, and recruits student members
  • works with students and others to plan and execute projects, enrichment activities, events, programs, speakers, etc.
  • approves STEM enrichment activities
  • organizes and supervises meetings
  • manages the officer election process
  • determines which students have achieved the required GPA, STEM classroom hours and STEM project-based enrichment hours

• To assist in the drafting of the chapter bylaws, NSTEM™ provides a Sample Chapter Bylaws in the NSTEM™ Advisor Dashboard that chapters can modify to fit their circumstances. 
• Each chapter must create its own bylaws that are consistent with the Constitution but can increase minimum student eligibility requirements, and set forth specific operating standards and procedures for their Chapter.
• Depending on the age of the student members, the Chapter Advisor may choose to involve the Chapter’s Advisory Council (if developed) student members or officers in the drafting of the bylaws, visit Suggested Chapter Officer Roles.

The National STEM Honor Society™ has made a Commitment to IDEA which we incorporate as a guiding principle at NSTEM.

The National STEM Honor Society™ has created a Commitment to Community and Connectivity which we incorporate in a variety of ways, including our messaging, tools, and business practices.

The team at the National STEM Honor Society™ has made a Commitment to Sustainability as a founding principle.

The NSTEM™ structure is described in the NSTEM™ Constitution.  

NSTEM™ is led by a dedicated team of Executives, Advisory Council Members, and Directors, see the Leadership page. 

Yes they should, although that is up to the Chapter Advisor.

The student / member account allows Chapter members access to the member Dashboard, Chapter member protected content, and the store.

• NSTEM™ differs in several unique ways:
  • Can start chapters at the elementary, middle, high school, and college/university levels, so students can be part of NSTEM™ from K to Career™
  • Membership can be achieved literally every year from kindergarten through college
  • Recognizes and awards academic achievement and projects specifically in STEM disciplines
  • Only admits students with a focus of excellence and engagement in STEM coursework/enrichment activities, making membership a prestigious honor

The Advisor of your Chapter must be a faculty member of your school or a qualified individual of an organization that supports your STEM-focused activities.

• Everything you need to manage the administration of your Chapter is in your Membership Account. If you have any questions or need assistance, please email membercare@nstem.org or call our main number 978.381.9305.
• Your Member Account page provides billing details for your account as well as the link for your students to use to set up their sub memberships

Members can purchase t-shirts, hats, hoodies, polos and other merchandise. Schools can purchase t-shirts, caps, event banners, induction certificates, award and graduation certificates, membership cards, pins, graduation cords. See the Store for more.

Yes, nstem.org is protected with an SSL certificate to encrypt information that you send between your browser and our web server. This protects any information you send us from “man-in-the-middle” attacks, where someone steals the information being sent, like personal information, credit card information or logins. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy.

Yes, we use cookies to help us improve the functionality of our website.  For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

Learn more about our logo and other trademarks, as well as rules for how our chapters can use them, at our Trademark Usage Guidelines.

Yes, you can use it on letterhead, event announcements, and other supplies provided you do so in accordance with the Trademark Usage Guidelines. You may not apply it on clothing, student membership cards, induction and graduation certificates, or other items that are available for purchase on the NSTEM™ Store.

Please visit Contact Us.