At the University, General College donates the materials and facilities at Appleby Hall to the program. The students, mostly suffering from physical disabilities, are chosen with the help of the Minneapolis and St. Paul School Districts as well as the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights Center. Project Gold Director Rozanne Severance said the program attracts students from as far away as Moorhead and International Falls. During the school year, program organizers invite approximately 40 girls to workshops once a month. The workshops are broken into sessions for math and science demonstrations.
Participants learn about everything from geometry to gravity to the Internet.
Project Gold enlists the aid of women in science and math fields to give talks and be mentors to the group. While the students are involved in learning, their parents attend informational sessions about computers and resources available to help their daughters. Living day to day with her daughter's disability, Mary Jean Stanton said she and her daughter sometimes lose sight of the big picture, like the fact that she is the only disabled student at her Minneapolis school. Wilcox said the opportunity to meet other disabled girls is a crucial part of the program. Many of the program's students are the only children in their schools with a disability.