NEW ORLEANS — The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), with support from Chevron, is hosting its free 2017 Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) in New Orleans. The program, which is now in its 11th year, is taking place Mondays through Fridays, from June 12 – 30, from 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., at Delores T. Aaron Academy. It will offer an opportunity for students in and around the greater New Orleans area to be immersed in a STEM environment for three weeks, which equates to more than 100 contact hours of STEM experiences per child, reps said.
At SEEK, students in grades 3 through 6 engage in team-based, competitive engineering design activities and learn science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts under the guidance of NSBE collegiate members from across the U.S. The ultimate goal of the program is to increase the number of college engineering students and engineering professionals among African Americans, a community that is greatly underrepresented in this field.
Leah Brown, public affairs manager of Chevron’s Gulf of Mexico Business Unit said, “Supporting SEEK is part of Chevron’s on-going commitment to promoting science, technology, engineering, and math education in the Greater New Orleans area. We must continue to provide students early exposure to STEM in order to foster a passion for learning and provide for their future success. We’re proud to support this program.”
NSBE is leading a concerted effort to graduate 10,000 African-American engineers with bachelor’s degrees annually by 2025, a nearly threefold increase over the 2014 total. NSBE National Chair Matthew C. Nelson said, “Thanks to our dedicated partners, we can expose many more black children to STEM careers, providing the U.S. more of the engineering talent it sorely needs while simultaneously strengthening African-American communities across the country.”
Founded in 2007, SEEK is the nation’s largest summer engineering program geared toward African-American pre-college students.
