The importance of reaching students while they are still young came up repeatedly throughout the ALASS workshop.
At a panel discussion titled “Using Strategies for Latino Success in STEM,” Dr. John Fernandez, executive associate director of the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi, lamented the paucity of Latinos in the STEM workforce. Specifically, he said that, while Hispanics make up close to 20 percent of the U.S. population and are rapidly growing, they make up only 4 percent of the STEM workforce, meaning their current numbers would have to be increased 400 percent to achieve parity in the field, which he said will bring in a better income and thus in term enable them to lead a more enjoyable life.
Fernandez recommended doing more at the K-12 level to get Latino students interested in STEM careers.
Workshop attendee Carlomagno Ontaneda, assistant director of recruitment at the Educational Opportunity Program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, echoed those concerns.
Taking the floor during a Q&A session, Ontaneda noted how his institution works to expose students to STEM careers starting in the fourth grade. By the time students reach high school, Ontaneda said, “it’s too late” to introduce them to STEM careers.
“We have to do it earlier than that,” he said.
