NEW ORLEANS - Dr. Calvin Mackie, host of the Let’s Talk STEM podcast, talks with Kate Ayers, director of STEMM education and outreach at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, about the challenges advancing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for Black and Hispanic students in Memphis.

“We take a variety of approaches to addressing issues of equity and access to STEM learning experiences,” Ayres says. “A lot of our work focuses on developing school partnerships to offer afterschool programs within the school or hosting curriculum collaboratives to really work with the educators to co-create and integrate more science into the learning day. And that's especially true at the elementary school grade levels.”

Ayres leads the Cancer Education and Outreach Program at St. Jude, a community outreach program that increases diversity of the biomedical workforce by addressing inequities in K-12 STEM education. Ayers works with educators to co-create science learning modules that integrate cancer concepts into the classroom curriculum. In addition, Ayers established the St. Jude Science Ambassadors Program, which connects Memphis youth to diverse scientists to dispel misconceptions related to who scientists are and who can be a scientist. She is also a founding member and chair of the Memphis STEM in Medicine Ecosystem, a city-wide initiative aimed at addressing inequities in STEM education specific to the Memphis area.

Ayres is frank in acknowledging that the education system in Memphis and many other urban areas do a disservice to children of color.

Calling the inequities “an education debt,” Ayres says, “Let's be honest. There are Black and Brown children who have not been served by our education system. And that becomes generational, a generational debt has been accumulated.” She is not comfortable calling the disproportionate education levels between Blacks and Whites a gap. “It's not a gap,” she insists.

“It's a debt that's owed. We have to work as communities to make sure that we are paying tribute to that debt that is owed to these communities that have not been served.”

– On the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, guest Louie Lopez, director of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education and Outreach office at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD STEM), outlines their cradle-to-career approach that engages nearly a million students a year in STEM learning.

Noting that DoDSTEM partners with STEM NOLA, the leading affiliate in Dr. Mackie’s STEM Global Action movement, Lopez says the DoD collaborates and funds organizations nationwide to provide STEM learning opportunities and offers scholarships and internships to thousands of students each year. Further, Lopez talks about the important role that parents play in the career paths of their children and the need for them to be informed.

“Parents have a lot of influence, especially in many of the cultures that we work with in underserved communities,” Lopez says. “It's really important that parents are educated with these opportunities so they can pass on that information to their (children). The last thing that we would want to see is for the parents to not be informed about these opportunities and continue a cycle of belief that (their children) don't belong in a (STEM) profession.”

Moreover, Lopez says they help parents recognize that “their kids do belong.”  In fact, the mission of DoD STEM is to attract, inspire, and develop exceptional STEM talent across the education continuum to enrich the current and future DoD workforce to meet defense technological challenges. 

Dr. Mackie calls it “critical” for parents, educators, and advocates for young people to know about the array of DoD programs and how children can benefit. “I have spoken often about the economic benefits of STEM careers,” he says. “There are jobs that pay well, have upward mobility and are sustainable. Unfortunately, many students from traditionally underserved backgrounds and communities have been underrepresented in STEM education and careers in STEM fields... DOD has career opportunities that our young people deserve and our young people need.”   

Lopez notes that DoD sponsored programs allow students to engage in a wide range of technology projects. For instance, he says, many technologies used by the general public started with research first conducted by DoD, such as the internet and voice recognitions.  He adds that “it is important to have diversity in the workforce.” As an organization that develops technologies for our men and women in the military, those who defend our nation, he says, “we believe that innovative technologies are driven by diversity, by the diversity of the workforce, the diversity of thought, lateral diversity, academic diversity.”

Dr. Mackie adds: “DoD depends on a strong workforce that is comprised of STEM professionals. These are STEM based careers where they can use their talent to solve real world problems and make a real and lasting impact on our community and in our nation.”

ABOUT STEM GLOBAL ACTION 

Dr. Calvin Mackie founded STEM NOLA in 2013. The New Orleans non-profit is committed to expanding STEM education, especially in communities of color.  In July 2021, Dr. Mackie launched STEM Global Action, a campaign and network pursuing STEM education for children, parents, and communities. His initiatives have impacted more than 100,000 students, 20,000 families and 5,100 schools across the U.S., and in five countries. 

LET’S TALK STEM WITH DR. CALVIN MACKIE EXTOLS THE EXTRAORDINARY SEVETRI WILSON, A BLACK WOMAN WITH A FLOURISHING TECH COMPANY AND DREAMS THAT CAME TRUE NEW ORLEANS – The new episode of Let’s Talk STEM With Dr. Calvin Mackie spotlights the amazing journey of Sevetri Wilson, a Louisiana native who pursued her dreams. Wilson turned a desire to help non-profits succeed into a tech company that raised an astounding $50 million in venture capital, including $35 million in a Series B venture funding round. One of the single highest amounts ever raised by a Black female-operated technology company. What’s more, as Wilson, 35, explains in this exhilarating conversation with Dr. Mackie, she began as a non-techie, someone without any coding experience.  On the podcast, she details the major steps that lead to her success. And the grit and determination it required. Her company, Resilia, was launched in 2016 to revolutionize how socially conscious leaders develop, sustain, and grow nonprofits, corporations, cities, and other enterprises.  It's extraordinary listening as Wilson explains the magic carpet ride from idea, to building a team, to gaining the confidence of investors. She provides a blueprint for young entrepreneurs wanting to follow a path to success.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused “tragic” damage to the education of America’s children on par with the devastating impact of World War II, declares Ron Ottinger, a national leader and expert in STEM learning.  Ottinger, Executive Director of the STEM Next Opportunity Fund, is a special guest on the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast. Ottinger maintains that organizations on the ground, such as Boys and Girls Clubs and others that provide afterschool programs, are essential in getting kids back in those programs and engaged with learning.  He noted, however, that the pandemic and rising prices has left many parents struggling to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

ACCOMPLISHED STEM LEADER SHAWNA YOUNG declares that the nation must improve STEM access for Black & Brown children during her appearance on the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie Podcast. Young, former executive director of the Scratch Foundation, says it’s critical for Black & Brown students to have access to STEM education. In a lively conversation with Dr. Mackie, she talked about the importance of Black and Brown children having role models in STEM, the scientists, technicians, and engineers who they can look up to and hope to emulate. “Representation matters,” Young says. “People seeing themselves in leadership, in organizations and career fields makes a difference in particular for this generation.”

On the fall 2022 debut of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, Dr. Mackie discusses the importance of greater equity in STEM education with Frank L. Gettridge, president, and CEO of the National Public Education Support Fund (NPESF). In the wide-ranging conversation, Dr. Mackie states that there is still much to be learned and work to be done across all sectors to achieve racial equity in STEM education. Meanwhile, Dr. Gettridge says he is working on improving the understanding and sees significant progress.

On the new episode of Let’s talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie, James Burroughs, a top executive at the Children’s Minnesotahealthcare system, asserts that Black & Brown children must have role models in STEM professions to build the confidence that they can also succeed in those careers. But, too often, they don’t exist. Burroughs, a senior vice president at one of the nation’s largest freestanding pediatric health systems, cites the major STEM professions at their facilities - doctor, nurse, medical assistant, certified surgical assistant, radiologist, technician, laboratory technician. “I see nobody looks like me,” he maintains, adding that the lack of people of color can send the wrong message to young minorities, that these jobs are not for them.

Young people, he says, may think “maybe this is not for me, but I see everybody in the basketball court, they look like me, okay. I need to go play basketball. All my boys are playing football. Let me go play football. And not saying either of those things are wrong. But if that's the only thing I think I can be that determines sometimes my trajectory of what I think I can be.”

Further, Burroughs talks about the positive images that can be portrayed with the right scenarios and narratives. He extols Dr. Mackie, his classmate at Morehouse College, for creating STEM NOLA, the rapidly growing program that excels at giving K-12 children from under-resourced communities hands-on experience in STEM fields.

“The things that you do with your STEM Saturdays, the young people in white coats, that innovation, that creative knowledge create solutions for the things in the future, the problems of the future, is what we need,” Burroughs says.

“One of the things that I love (is) seeing the young kids in white coats. Once you put on that white coat, and I'm sure you've seen it, that confidence goes up. That level of ‘I could do anything goes up’ and that is what I love to see in our young people. So, when they do decide to get into medicine, you know, they've been wearing a white coat since they've been five years old. So, they get their white coat when they graduate medical school, it's where they're supposed to be. It's not a new thing to them. It's where they were supposed to be. And you have put them in a place to say, ‘okay, this is my rightful place. I need to own it.’”

Listen to their engaging conversation.

Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie is a podcast series featuring interviews with guests from all aspects of STEM – entrepreneurs, educators, corporate leaders and students – who discuss the importance of STEM in their lives today, and how to start STEM careers. The founder and leader of STEM Global Action seeks to expand STEM education, especially in Black & Brown communities. Since 2013, when he launched his flagship affiliate, STEM NOLA, his programs have directly impacted more than 100,000 students, 20,000 families and 2,150 schools across the U.S., and in five countries abroad.

On the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, Special Guest Jackie Smalls, Chief Programs Officer at Code.org, talks about the racial divide in STEM education and technology. She says the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the gap between STEM learning in White communities versus more limited opportunities in many predominantly Black & Brown schools across the country. “In terms of the gaps, we knew gaps existed, but I think the pandemic just really exposed how big those gaps were and who actually has access,” Jackie tells host Dr. Calvin Mackie. “And it's a shame. We shouldn't have to park a bus in a neighborhood to make sure that all students have access to WIFI. It baffles me how we think that this is not something that should be free and accessible to everyone.”

Jackie is the Chief Programs Officer, managing Code.org’s curriculum, professional learning programs, and its nationwide network of regional partners & facilitators to expand computer science opportunities in schools. She worked in large and diverse school systems as an experienced teacher, science curriculum writer, and STEM Administrator. Jackie held various leadership roles with Discovery Education, a K-12 Digital curriculum resources provider, running national professional learning programming and education partnerships impacting tens of thousands of teachers and students. Combining her passion for education and STEM she was the head of programs at Black Girls Code with the oversight of (14) City Chapters Workshops, Enrichments, Summer Camp Programming and Strategic Partnerships impacting thousands of girls of color.

In the conversation with Dr. Mackie, the topics include what it takes to overcome racial barriers to excelling in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields; why it’s critical for Black & Brown students to have access to STEM learning; and the important role that mentors play in encouraging STEM careers. Calling out technology companies, Jackie says if they want to make a difference in our society, they should be providing Wi-Fi everywhere.

Jackie knows racial barriers are real. “I had a student tell me that she walked into a college computer science class, a Black girl…The professor, came to her and said, ‘Are you in the right class?’“  At code.org, “we are trying to make sure computer science is accessible for all students,” says Jackie. The nonprofit is dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by young women and students from under-resourced communities.

“You’re teaching a society,” lauds Dr. Mackie, who leads STEM Global Action. “I believe you have a voice that every mother and every father need to hear because it's credible, it's transparent and it's authentic.”

                                                      ###

Dr. Calvin Mackie founded STEM NOLA in 2013. The New Orleans non-profit is committed to expanding STEM education, especially in communities of color. In July 2021, Dr. Mackie launched STEM Global Action, a campaign and network pursuing STEM education for children, parents and communities. His initiatives have impacted more than 100,000 students, 20,000 families and 5,000 schools across the U.S., and in five countries. An archive of Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie episodes on YouTube is HERE.