NSBE Magazine - Fall 2011 - (Page 36)

St. Lucian Students Thrive at IIT st. Lucian students at the illinois institute of technology were recognized onstage last march, during nsBe’s 2011 annual Convention in st. Louis. By Eric Addison L ydia Pettis Patton, Ph.D. has a clear memory of the call she got from Carl B. Mack last July. Mack, NSBE’s executive director, had just returned from a one-week stay in St. Lucia, hosted by a community empowerment organization named RISE. seven weeks to realize the students’ dream of higher education. NSBE National Chair Calvin Phelps had embraced the scholarship effort and presented it to NSBE’s National Executive Board for approval. Phelps and NSBE National Parliamentarian Tasha Zepherin had visited St. Lucia with Mack to meet the students and their local supporters in person. Mack had enlisted the help of Steve Scopellite, co-CIO of Goldman Sachs & Co., to secure $275,000 from Goldman Sachs Gives, the company’s donor-advised fund. This gift supplemented the scholarship funds from IIT. Mack also led negotiations with the St. Lucian government, which agreed shortly before the beginning of the fall semester to provide loan guarantees to the students. Then there were visas to be obtained and travel arrangements to www.nsbe.org “He said, ‘Dr. Patton, I’ve just met some of the smartest kids I’ve ever met in my life. But they don’t have the money to go to college. Clarkson (University) gave me 10 scholarships. What can you do?’ ” Dr. Patton recalls. “I said, ‘I’ll give you 50 scholarships, and I’ve actually been told the number is unlimited.’ ” The offer came from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), a Chicago university where Dr. Patton worked as an advisor in the Office of Admission. Gerald Doyle, IIT vice provost, soon increased the number of scholarships on the table to 75. On Aug. 22, less than two months after the call from Mack, 28 St. Lucian students deplaned at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to start classes at IIT the next day. A huge amount of work had been done in 36 • nsbe magazine • fall 2011 http://www.nsbe.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NSBE Magazine - Fall 2011

NSBE Magazine - Fall 2011
Contents
The Next Level
Achievement Finds an Ally
Leadership, Your Way
The Programs Zone
Dr. Philicity Williams of the National Security Agency
Chapter News
Membership News
International News
NSBE Advisor Makes History
Pack Out Pittsburgh!
Empowered by Vision
Top Officers
St. Lucian Students Thrive at IIT
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
SEEKing Excitement for STEM
What’s New?
NSBE Calendar
The Professional’s Perspective
Shifting to Renewables for Electric Power
Alumni Officers
The Japan Effect
AE Members on the Move
Golden Torch Honoree
‘Brother Founder’ Donates $100K to NSBE
XL’ent!
Building Successful AE Chapters
Advertisers Index

NSBE Magazine - Fall 2011