Generating a Space to Target and Inspire Black and Brown GenZers in STEM

• In Event: For Us, by Us: The Power of Black STEM Counter-Spaces to Foster Holistic Well-Being and Learning

Abstract

The STEM Success Summit was instituted in efforts to transform the ways in which Black and Brown students can virtually engage with STEM. This flagship event, co-sponsored by leaders of STEMedia and Fascinate Inc., provides a series of expert presenters from various fields, educational workshops and interactive gatherings for practical insight, resources, and opportunities necessary to build a successful career in STEM. Implemented by a distributed planning team, affectionally known as the “STEM Avengers,” a group of Black and Brown STEM professionals who leverage social media to race the racialized STEM literacies through science communication. The STEM Success Summit seeks to solve issues faced by Black and Brown students in STEM (i.e., isolation, lack of access to like-self mentors; McGee, 2020) by serving as a counterspace (Solórzano et al., 2000) for Black and Brown students through various social media platforms

Evidence of its impact is found among reports shared by participants. For example, one Black Female College student noted:
I just wanted to reach out and say thank you for all your hard work with the STEM [Success] summit. I was actually honored enough to have my best friend, who is a black [male] engineer, join me for the summit. It moved me because it was the first time that I was able to see him so hyped about being an engineer and his major. I feel like a huge part of that was due to the lack of [us] being able to see that community of blacks in STEM. I was on FaceTime with him the entire time and I saw his energy to the music being played... He’s a part of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and actually holds a president role for his chapter. This summit helped motivate him to try something new with his chapter and focus more on career by building... I just wanted to share because I know how much it means to know that all that hard work goes and makes an impact in someone’s life.”

This reflection reveals the achievement of conceptualizing and engaging a whole range of human experiences; with touchstones ranging from culture to career. In light of this, it is believed that future STEM learning spaces would do well with their design primarily influenced by the population for which they are created. The “for us, by us” approach to programming has allowed for creative infusion unlike that which is seen in traditional conferences and conventions. Counterspaces and experiences such as this will continue to allow for ease of access to knowledge and resources to further equitable academic and economic advancement of Black and Brown communities.

Authors

• Nehemiah Mabry

• Justin Shaifer