NSBE - Convention 2018 - 11

More than 20,000 students have
participated in NSBE's Summer Engineering Experience for Kids since
the program's launch in 2007.

SEEKing Future Black Engineers
By Kevin M. Briscoe

t began as an idea: a three-week
engineering immersion program to
expose underrepresented students to
STEM education. Today, the National
Society of Black Engineers' (NSBE's)
Summer Engineering Experience for
Kids program - known as SEEK -has
evolved into a juggernaut that is bringing the science and math subjects at the
foundation of engineering to more and
more third through fifth graders around
the country.
Since the program's launch in 2007,
more than 20,000 students have participated in the nationwide camps, along
with 3,000-plus mentor-instructors and
more than 25,000 parents. In 2017
alone, SEEK enrolled more than 1,700
students at 16 sites in 15 cities. The result
has been higher test scores in science,
math and engineering, increased interest
in STEM, and higher educational aspirations among the student participants.
NSBE is now in the second year of
a National Science Foundation (NSF)funded research study, in partnership with Virginia Tech and Purdue
University, to evaluate the outcomes of
SEEK. The NSF ITEST grant will enable
NSBE to learn how best to scale-up SEEK
to reach more students, while improving
program efficiency.

But even as the program continues to
grow with new curricula and new locations for 2018 and beyond, its mission
remains basically unchanged.
"We're exposing children of color
to something that they might not have
the opportunity to participate in, in the
engineering field," says Donyel Stewart,
SEEK operations coordinator. "And we're
enabling them to learn about STEM and
especially engineering, so that when they
leave the program, they can see themselves as engineers. This begins NSBE's
pipeline."
This "pipeline" is accomplishing "NSBE
2025," the Society's 10-year goal, announced in 2015, which is to lead the
U.S. to graduate 10,000 Black Engineers
annually, with bachelor's degrees, by
2025. Since that time, the nation's
number of black engineering bachelor's
degree recipients has risen from 3,501
in 2014 to 4,366 in 2017, a 25 percent
increase.
The essence of the SEEK programs is
a potent combination of always-evolving
curricula - which will include coding,
cybersecurity and drones in 2018 - and
robust guidance from its mentor-instructors, most of whom are collegiate members of NSBE. The curricula are the result
of collaboration among researchers from

such institutions as Virginia Tech, Purdue
University and Howard University, along
with training vendors and independent
engineering experts. But the backbone of
the program, says Stewart, is the mentors.
"The mentors are positive role models
who enable students to envision themselves as engineers," he says. "Students
enter the program not knowing what an
engineer does but leave with an entirely
new enthusiasm and outlook because of
the program."
Registration for SEEK students began
in mid-January, with more than 1,000
students signing up in the first week, and
will continue until all slots are filled, adds
Stewart. SEEK staff application began last
November and will close on March 30,
to give attendees of NSBE's 44th Annual
Convention an opportunity to register.
The convention will be held in Pittsburgh,
Pa., March 21-25.
SEEK camp locations and dates for this
year were still being finalized at press
time. A tentative list of SEEK sites for
2018 follows. ■
Kevin M. Briscoe is a writer based in
Atlanta, Ga., and a former editor of NSBE
Magazine.

SEEK SITES FOR 2018
Atlanta, Ga. (all-girls)
Birmingham, Ala.
Chicago, Ill.
Detroit, Mich.
Houston, Texas
Los Angeles, Calif.
Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.
New Orleans, La.
Oakland, Calif.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Sacramento, Calif.
Saginaw, Mich.
San Diego, Calif.
Washington, D.C. (all-girls)
Washington, D.C. (coed)

www.nsbe.org

NSBE MAGAZINE * CONVENTION 2018

* 11

http://www.nsbe.org

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