WASHINGTON – Pictures of students flashed on a screen as their voices carried through the room at a session held on Friday at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) 2020 annual meeting.
“The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to be a civil engineer,” said one student on screen.
“I thought, ‘I’m not good enough for college,’” said another.
“NASA is one of my ultimate goals but I don’t think I want to stop there – NASA and beyond,” said yet another student.
These video clips of students talking about their aspirations and struggles in science, technology, engineering and math fields were part of capstone projects run by the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. The alliance is a multi-college program in Central Florida, and is working toward enhancing and supporting the participation of community college students in STEM fields.
“We ask them to tell their STEM story,” said Kassy Holmes, the alliance’s project director. “Part of the barrier that they have to overcome is realizing they even have a story worth sharing.”
Holmes and others shared strategies – through interactive sessions for faculty and administrators – to help underrepresented students persist and thrive in STEM disciplines.
