The words she speaks reveal her high intelligence, but there’s also something in Rachel Harsley’s polished voice that points to a strong will and a rock solid determination. Even talking with her over the phone, you sense you’re dealing with a winner — not the kind of person you’d want to cover one on one in basketball, a sport she played, by the way, as a scholar-athlete in high school.

Kaylin Jones is a 5th grader at Greenbelt Elementary in Maryland. She loves school, earns straight A’s and calls math and science her favorite subjects. So last year, when Kaylin’s mother found a summer program geared toward kids and focused on science, technology, engineering and math, she thought her 10-year-old would be excited about attending.