A recent Georgetown study found
that although African American students had greater access to college than
ever, fewer were choosing and graduating with STEM degrees. This study makes exposing minority children to STEM at earlier ages imperative to prepare them for
the technologically driven workforce.
The founder of S.T.E.M. Empowers Futures, Dr. Ganelle Moultry-Leach understands children will more likely develop an
interest and appreciation for STEM if they are introduced to it at an early
age. She says, “The STEM seed has to be watered through constant nurturing and
exposure for it to grow and develop into
a desire that makes STEM an education path and career choice.”
“Underrepresented minorities
(URMs) — African Americans, American Indians/Alaska Natives, and Latinos— who
have historically comprised a minority of the U.S. population are growing in
size and influence. Currently, they
constitute 30 percent of the U.S. population, but by 2050, these groups will
account for greater than 40 percent of the U.S. population. Underrepresented
minorities are particularity underrepresented in the fields of science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Contrast these metrics with
the number of URMs earning bachelor’s degrees in engineering; they earned only
12.5 percent of all such degrees in 2011. Higher education experts say this gap
poses an alarming problem not only to universities but also to the nation as a
whole.” National Action Committee for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), 2013.
“According to a 2013 U.S. Census
Bureau report, blacks made up 11% of the total workforce in 2011, yet they only
occupied 6% of STEM jobs. A similar pattern is seen with Hispanics, who make up
15% of the overall labor force, but held 7% of jobs related to STEM fields. The
census report also found that whites and Asians are overrepresented in the STEM
workforce when compared with their total workforce populations. About
two-thirds (67%) of the total workforce was white in 2011, but whites made up a
higher share of STEM employees, at 71%. For Asians, the difference is larger:
15% of STEM workers were Asian, compared with 6% of the overall workforce.” Pew
Research Center, Sept. 15, 2015.
These statistics display the
importance of STEM education for the minority children community. SEF’s program opens the door to the future
for the next generation to imagine becoming mathematicians, scientists,
technologists, engineers, inventors, computer programmers, astrologists, physicists,
astronauts, and knowing there is no limit to their dreams.
Copyright©2018 Ganelle Moultry-Leach, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved
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