NSBE - Fall 2012 - (Page 16)

A Catalyst for Change By Kenjie davis, NsBe membership Coordinator before the fourth grade. Founded in 2007, the Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) Academy has been NSBE’s answer to U.S. students’ poor performance and lack of interest in STEM. SEEK fights this trend by providing 3rd through 8th grade students with an exhilarating experience in the sciences, math and engineering during the summer. The program exposes the students to positive role models: black college students in engineering and other fields. Over the past five years, SEEK has become NSBE’s most successful and publicized program, bringing in more than $5 million during that time — more than any other program in the history of the organization. However, SEEK, alone, is not strong enough to ensure a positive mental shift toward engineering, math and science in our children. SEEK, a three-week summer program, is a “haymaker” that lands once a year. We need a greater boxing strategy if we are going to win our kids over and score the knockout. Three weeks in the summer is enough time to make a strong impression on our students, but not an everlasting impression. We must provide our youth with continuous exposure to STEM concepts and experiences, yearround. As the title of this article states, SEEK is “a catalyst for change.” SEEK has changed the narrative from, “One day you might become an engineer” to, “This is what it means to be an engineer.” NSBE needs to complete the narrative by delivering a final message: “You are an engineer, now!” Each NSBE member has a personal responsibility to be that message bearer, by reaching out to children as early as possible in their education and showing them the pipeline to engineering careers. By doing so, you will move NSBE another step forward toward the fulfillment of its mission, “to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers…”. ■ www.nsbe.org T he path to prosperity, for individuals as well as nations, increasingly goes through STEM – science, technology , engineering and math. STEM innovation, on almost everyone’s map, is at the center of economic and 32 percent of 8th graders were proficient, as measured by the NAEP. For African Americans, the numbers are even more troubling. Black students, as a group, had the lowest average scores in math and science for the year, continu- “We must provide our youth with continuous exposure to STEM concepts and experiences, year-round.” social development around the world, and it will remain at that center for the foreseeable future. This fact makes the poor performance of many U.S. students in STEM all the more worrisome. In 2011, only 40 percent of U.S. 4th graders and 35 percent of U.S. 8th graders were proficient in math, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as “The Nation’s Report Card.” In science, only 16 • nsbe magazine • fall 2012 ing a longstanding “achievement gap.” President Obama, among many others, has made increasing the science and math proficiency of precollege students a main focus, saying that efforts to improve STEM education are “going to make more of a difference in determining how well we do as a country than just about anything else that we do here.” Clearly, making that difference means starting early with our students, http://www.nsbe.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NSBE - Fall 2012

NSBE - Fall 2012
Contents
Lead by Example
Come Correct!
Kola Fagbayi of Shell
The Programs Zone
Veronica Davis Honored as White House ‘Champion’
A Catalyst for Change
NSBE and ExxonMobil Reward Retention ‘Impact’
Dr. Baratunde Cola Earns Presidential Research Award
Regional News
In the Lead
At the Vanguard
Staying Connected in Today’s Business World
Back to Indiana
NSBE Calendar
Seek 2012: An Experience Worth the Ride
The PDC Is Coming Soon, to Dallas!
The Professional’s Perspective
The Space SIG Lifts Off
CE Cover: Status:FALSE
Alumni Officers
Biggest and Best
What’s in a Name?
AE National and Regional Websites
Advertisers Index

NSBE - Fall 2012