TAME Clubs

“I’m new to TAME and want to join an existing TAME Club or ask an adult to start a TAME Club in my area.”

You can look on our Chapter page to see a list of schools and groups already registered as TAME Clubs in your part of Texas. If you see a club you want to join, send us an email with your name and phone/email, and we will pass it along to the Club Sponsor.

Don’t see a club yet in your area? TAME Clubs are free! You don’t need to be a teacher, librarian, or STEM professional to register a TAME Club. You need an adult, 6 students in grades 6-12, and to meet regularly in person or virtually to do something (anything!) STEM-related. You can register scout troops, homeschool groups, NSBE Jr. clubs, and others with TAME, too! See more info about eligibility on our Registration page, or look through the FAQ below.

Once you have asked an adult to be your TAME Club Sponsor, you can see your next steps below under “Returning Students.”

Your new Club Sponsor can look in the section below called “New TAME Club Sponsors.”

“I was part of a TAME Club last year and want to join again.”

Student Registration is usually open from August to November. Your TAME Club Sponsor (an adult who runs club meetings, like a teacher, librarian, or parent volunteer) needs to register the TAME Club online each year. As soon as that happens, you can register online with your parent/guardian.

Here are the basic steps to get started, with more detail below.

1. Go to the Student Registration page and find your club in the drop-down menu
2. Select the name of your School/Organization
3. Select the name of the Club Sponsor
4. Complete the rest of the form and hit submit

Step one: Go to the Student Registration page and find your club in the drop-down menu. You will look up your club by the city where the club meets. For example, you might live in Houston, but if your TAME Club meets in a suburb of Houston like Pasadena, TX, you should look under Pasadena.

Step two: Next select the name of your School/Organization, such as “Gonzalez High School” or “Pasadena City Recycling Club.”

Step three: Select the name of the Club Sponsor who runs your club meetings. Sometimes big schools have multiple TAME Clubs, so we organize them by the names of the Club Sponsor, and ask them to have different names to help students tell them apart, such as “Gonzalez HS Chemistry Club” and “Gonzalez HS Robotics Team.”

Step four: Complete the rest of the form and make sure you hit submit!

Congrats! You’re registered with TAME and can take part in regular TAME Club meetings and other activities. We will ask your TAME Club Sponsor later this fall if you plan to participate in our Divisional STEM Competitions so the TAME State Office can buy enough food and engineering supplies for each event. Seniors will also be eligible for Scholarships in the spring.

Remember: because a lot can happen in a year, we ask students to register annually to help us know who’s part of TAME.

“I’m new to TAME and want to sponsor a TAME Club for students in my area.”

TAME Clubs are free! You don’t need to be a teacher, librarian, or STEM professional to register a TAME Club. You need an adult, 6 students in grades K-12, and to meet regularly in person or virtually to do something (anything!) STEM-related. You can register scout troops, homeschool groups, NSBE Jr. clubs, and others with TAME, too! See more info about eligibility on our Registration page, or look through the FAQ below.

Here are the basic steps to get started, with more detail below.

1. Register your TAME Club online
2. Register any Co-Sponsors (optional)
3. Log in and reset your password
4. Register at least 6 students

Step one: register your club online. Since you don’t have a personal login yet, you’ll go to “create a new club.” The mailing address is where we will ship TAME Toolkits to eligible clubs later this year (here’s what the toolkits looked like last year, with shirts for Club Sponsors and masks for everyone, plus funding and supplies—we’re still planning what this year’s toolkits will look like).

Step two is optional: from your My TAME Clubs Dashboard you can register any Co-Sponsor who might be helping you, like another teacher, admin, librarian, or parent volunteer. If your club is eligible to receive a TAME Toolkit, they will receive a t-shirt and face mask like you will.

Step three: log in and reset your password. Check your email (and spam filters) for the auto-response email that will have your username and temporary password. Go to tame.org and look for the login button in the upper left corner. Log in and reset your password. This will give you access to a real-time roster of every student who registers for your TAME Club, plus more info and resources like our TAME Ecosystem Slack channel where you can contact TAME staff instantly and connect with other local clubs and leadership in your area to collaborate, troubleshoot, and share ideas across Texas.

Step four: register at least 6 students by sending them to tame.org/student2022. TAME Clubs are open to grades K-12 and you’re welcome to pick any STEM subjects or activities to explore. You can also team up with any established group like a robotics team or MathCounts! To be eligible for a Toolkit and to participate in STEM Competitions, a TAME Club must have at least 6 students in grades 6 – 12 and: 60% of student members must be from TAME Focus Student groups that are underrepresented in STEM (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, or girls) OR be at a Title I school. Toolkit funds and supplies will be determined by the number of students you have by 10/31, and the final deadline to register is 11/30.

Once you’re started, you’ll be able to connect with other TAME Club Sponsors in our TAME Ecosystem Slack channel. You can look on our Chapter Pages to see a list of schools and groups already registered in your area. If you see a club you want to connect with for activities or advice, send us an email with your name and phone/email, and we will pass it along to the Club Sponsor.

“I sponsored a TAME Club last year for students in my area and want to register again.” 

Welcome back! To make things easier for you, our website form will allow you to log in and see a Club Registration form that auto-fills with a lot of the data from last year. (If it doesn’t work for any reason, it is okay for you to register as if it was a new club. Follow steps for “New TAME Club Sponsors” above.)

Here are the basic steps to renew your club, with more detail below.

1. Log in
2. Add a club from your My Clubs page
3. Register any Co-Sponsors (optional)
4. Register at least 6 students

Step one: Log in. Since you already have a username and password from last year, go to tame.org and look for the login button in the upper left corner. Use that information to log in. If you ask to reset your password but have not received your email (it’s common for school firewalls to flag these as spam) then contact us at registration@tame.org and we can send you a temporary password.

Step two: add a club from your My Clubs page. As soon as you log in, you should see a page that says “My TAME Clubs.” From here you can click the red button that says “Add New Club.” This will take you through the registration process and load information from last year. Please check the info carefully!

The mailing address is where we will ship TAME Toolkits to eligible clubs later this year (here’s what the toolkits looked like last year, with shirts for Club Sponsors and masks for everyone, plus funding and supplies—we’re still planning what this year’s toolkits will look like).

Step three is optional: from your My TAME Clubs Dashboard you can register any Co-Sponsor who might be helping you, like another teacher, admin, librarian, or parent volunteer. If your club is eligible to receive a TAME Toolkit, they will receive a t-shirt and face mask like you will.

Step four: register at least 6 students by sending them to tame.org/student2022.

New this year: to be eligible for a Toolkit and to participate in STEM Competitions, a TAME Club must have at least 6 students in grades 6 – 12 and: 60% of student members must be from TAME Focus Student groups that are underrepresented in STEM (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, or girls) OR be at a Title I school. Toolkit funds and supplies will be determined by the number of students you have by 10/31 and the final deadline to register is 11/30.

See who’s registered for your club on the My Clubs page. To return there anytime, look in the upper left corner where it says “howdy” and click on your name. This page will give you access to a real-time roster of every student who registers for your TAME Club, plus more info and resources like our TAME Ecosystem Slack channel where you can contact TAME staff instantly and connect with other local clubs and leadership in your area to collaborate, troubleshoot, and share ideas across Texas.

Who else is in your area? You can look on our Chapter Pages to see a list of schools and groups already registered in your area. If you see a club you want to connect with for activities or advice, send us an email with your name and phone/email, and we will pass it along to the Club Sponsor.

A TAME Club is an enrichment program that offers activities and curriculum to support students interested in exploring STEM under the guidance of adult sponsors and student leaders.

TAME Clubs are typically sponsored by teachers, librarians, administrators, parents, or community partners and are often hosted on a school campus. Clubs meet regularly and program activities are designed to increase student skills, awareness of STEM careers and access to role models. TAME volunteers from local universities and corporations support the clubs and serve as role models. Participants compete in the TAME’s exclusive Divisional and State STEM Competitions (students must be active members of a registered TAME Club to compete) and are eligible to apply for TAME Scholarships.

Once registered, teachers and student members have access to:

• Invitations to TAME STEM Competitions
• Thousands of hands-on STEM activities and teaching resources
• Exclusive TAME Scholarships
• TAME’s Alumni Network to help students find jobs after graduation

TAME Clubs must:

• Have an adult sponsor (student leaders are optional)
• Have at least six registered students
• Include students in grades 6-12
• Have regularly scheduled meetings related to STEM subjects
• Register annually to renew membership

To be eligible for a Toolkit and to participate in STEM Competitions, a TAME Club must have at least 6 students in grades 6 – 12 and:

• 60% of student members must be from TAME Focus Student groups that are underrepresented in STEM (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, or girls)
• OR be at a Title I school

The TAME Club program is flexible. We understand that there is no “one-size-fits-all” format that will work for students in different communities around Texas. See our TAME Club Sponsor Guide: Best Practices & Recipes for a Great TAME Club Meeting for ideas.

TAME does not require clubs to meet a certain number of times or use a particular format. Some TAME Clubs meet several times a week, some meet a few times a semester. Because many students ride the bus and aren’t able to stay after school, some clubs meet during lunch or homeroom, or even count class time toward the club meetings.

Club Sponsors do not need to report back to TAME about their meetings, although we love to hear about fun and interesting STEM projects and often feature photos on TAME’s Facebook and Twitter to inspire other clubs.

Here are some of the many activities TAME Clubs have taken on in recent years:

• Divide the club into teams to practice Engineering Design Challenges from past STEM Competitions
• Invite local STEM professionals and college students to the club as guest speakers
• Host a Family STEM Event anchored by a visit from the Trailblazer, TAME’s mobile STEM museum
• Gamify your prep for STEM Competitions with TAME’s Kahoot quizzes, official practice tests, and design challenges
• Build a Little Free Library based off a famous science fiction character
• Design, build, and race solar cars, then mentor other local schools to start their own programs
• Design, build, and compete with rockets, then visit science fairs to share your work
• Partner with a local library, museum, or university to learn coding, 3D printing, and more
• Challenge students to mentor elementary-age students by running an informal STEM Competition
• Host an engineering challenge in an unusual setting, like designing rafts to float on a swimming pool
• Organize a STEAM art project day to help students submit artwork for the annual T-Shirt Design Contest
• Help your local theatre with projects like designing a replica steam engine prop with working lights and steam
• Volunteer with eco-cleanup days for local parks or run a recycling club
• Learn how to do water quality monitoring or run environmental safety tests on local rivers
• Take the whole club on a field trip to a local university to tour the campus
• Connect with a local STEM employer to bring students on a tour
• Offer extra credit, snacks, and help students with homework and tutoring
• Help graduating seniors apply for TAME Scholarships
• Anything and everything STEM-related that students want to explore!

Many clubs draw ideas from TAME’s curated content on Pinterest. Browse through our most popular board here, and see our STEM Resources page for more.

TAME Clubs are inclusive to all students who want to join. Because part of TAME’s mission is to promote diversity in STEM careers, we encourage recruitment of TAME Focus Student groups that are underrepresented in STEM (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, or girls). However, we welcome any student who wants to pursue their interest in STEM. Also, our Club membership is not limited to students in public school; we welcome home-schooling networks, community groups, and more.

Each TAME Club must meet the following requirements:

• Have at least 6 student participants in grades 6 – 12
• Have regular meetings where students can strengthen skills and explore STEM with hands-on activities

To be eligible for a Toolkit and to participate in STEM Competitions, a TAME Club must have at least 6 students in grades 6 – 12 and:

• 60% of student members must be from TAME Focus Student groups that are underrepresented in STEM (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, or girls)
• OR be at a Title I school

See our tips on recruiting from other successful TAME Club Sponsors: 21 Ideas for Recruiting Diverse Students into STEM Clubs. This outreach gets to the heart of TAME’s mission, and your help in identifying and implementing these strategies is essential.

As we continue TAME’s big experiment to bring more under-represented students into STEM, we remain committed to making sure TAME’s resources go first to the students who need them the most. We appreciate the efforts of TAME Club Sponsors across Texas in achieving these recruitment goals.

We encourage recruitment from all backgrounds. Seek out creative students and show them how they can be creative as young engineers. Look for students who want to make a difference and show them how they can help people with a career in STEM. Look for students who might not otherwise end up in a STEM club.

See our tips on recruiting from other successful TAME Club Sponsors: 21 Ideas for Recruiting Diverse Students into STEM Clubs:

TAME also offers posters that you can download and customize. They are designed to print well in both color and black and white so you can copy them easily and post around schools, libraries, and community centers.

See posters and more in our Digital Club Kit on our Club Resources & Activities Page.

Absolutely! As long as your group meets our requirements, your adult sponsor will be able to register your group as a TAME Club. To receive an invitation to participate in STEM Competitions, your club will need to meet our criteria.

Here are some of the organizations whose leaders have also registered their groups as TAME Clubs (so far):

4-H
Austin Youth River Watch
BEST Robotics
Code Wars
FIRST Robotics
Future City Competition
Generation Hope
Girl Scouts
Homeschoolers Unlimited Texas (HUT)
Junior Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE, Jr.)
Latinos in Science and Engineering (MAES)
Lunar Cave Analog Test Sites (LCATS)
Science Olympiad
Solar Car Challenge
Team Rocketry America Challenge (TARC)
Texas Prefreshman Engineering Program
Vex Robotics

Since 1976, TAME has built partnerships like these to bring as many opportunities as possible to the students of Texas. Who else do you know who would have fun at a STEM Competition? What groups in your community already have everything they need to register as a TAME Club? Encourage them to sign up today!

TAME Clubs are free to students, parents, and teachers. Learn more about what you can do to ensure our programs remain free for generations to come.

TAME Club & Student Registration typically opens in August.

The last day for TAME to Receive Student Registration is November 30. Please see the Registration page for deadlines.

TAME Club Sponsors have the ability to log in online to see a real-time roster for the students who have registered in their club.

TAME Club Rosters

Due to privacy regulations, this information is only available to the TAME Club Sponsor and Co-Sponsors.