Page 10 The Skanner July 20, 2016
By Brelaun Douglas
NNPA/DTU Fellow, Atlanta Voice
I
n an efort to boost minority partic-
ipation in science and technology,
100 Black Men of America recently
hosted a panel discussion with rep-
resentatives from General Motors to
encourage young minorities to think
outside the box when it comes to their
career paths.
This summer, 100 Black Men of
America, an organization dedicated
to educating and empowering African
American youth, held their annual con-
ference in Atlanta, Ga., that focused on
topics like civic engagement and man-
aging money. The event also included
a panel discussion titled, “Bringing
STEM Education to Life,” a workshop
geared towards getting youth interest-
ed in science, technology, engineering
and math ields, commonly known as
“STEM.”
Panel members included Sherwin
Prior, managing director for General
Motors Ventures; Tobin Williams, ex-
ecutive director of human resources
and corporate staf for General Mo-
tors; and Aaron Richardson, senior
manager for IT development for Gen-
eral Motors who discussed how STEM
was involved in something young boys
oten love: cars.
“[Technology] is absolutely essen-
tial. Over 33 years, the company that I
work for [has become] a very diferent
company,” said Williams. “Thirty-three
years ago it was primarily a manufac-
turing company. Three years ago it
was primarily a inance company and
today it’s pretty much a sotware com-
pany. We are continuously looking for
individuals who have the capability in
sotware. There is a blending in terms
of the sotware skill capability between
engineering and computer science.”
Prior agreed, stating that STEM is all
about “thinkers and problem solvers”
and that the panelists were some of the
people who drive the technology be-
hind cars.
The panelists also talked about the
challenges that the young people may
face in an industry or career path
where most people don’t look like them.
In 2012-2013, Black males accounted
for just 8.7 percent of the people who
earned degrees in STEM ields, accord-
ing to the National Center for Educa-
tion Statistics.
“Opportunities are rarely conve-
nient,” said Richardson. “They’re oten
disguised in something that seems like,
‘Oh, I got to do this,’ or ‘I can’t do this, I
can’t do that.’ It’s always disguised in
challenge. So I challenge you to think
about that as you think about how you
want to continue your learning in the
STEM area to think about the sacriic-
es that you have to make that will ulti-
mately lead to signiicant beneits in
the long term.”
Prior also told the youth not to be
discouraged by the lack of diversity in
STEM ields.
“
“It’s about changing the narrative,” he
said. “Don’t believe that African Ameri-
cans aren’t doing phenomenal fantastic
things. They just aren’t talked about in
the media like they should be.”
Ater the discussion, participants
lined up to ask the panelists questions
about how the technology in the cars
worked and about the science and en-
gineering that goes into building the
Grab a headline on
your mobile device.
A young participant shares his art work during a workshop titled ““Bringing STEM Education to Life,” at the
30th Anniversary 100 Black Men Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.
cars. Questions included things such as
what is the future of jobs for workers
when more and more jobs are becom-
ing automated, how safe the vehicle is
and what the future of the technologic
capabilities of the car looked like.
Partici-
pants were
then invit-
ed to draw
their own
cars and de-
cide what
type
of
technology, old or new, the cars would
include. The young men designed ev-
erything from cars that could hover
and drive themselves to cars that could
be unlocked with a ingerprint rather
than a key.
The crowd was populated with young,
Black boys, mainly middle and high
school-aged, from across the nation in-
cluding 13-year-old Noel Towson, who
inds the 100 Black Men beneicial to
him.
Don’t believe that African Americans
aren’t doing phenomenal fantastic
things. They just aren’t talked about
in the media like they should be
Make The Skanner part of your daily routine
Enjoy an in-depth read
on your desktop.
TODD BURFORD/CADILLAC
News
100 Black Men, General Motors Encourage Young People to Pursue STEM Careers
Page through the
print edition online.
Towson, along with ive other young
men from the South Bend, Ind., chap-
ter, came to the conference with his
chaperone Eldridge Lewis Chism Jr.,
who is also a 100 Black Men member.
Chism has been involved with the or-
ganization for years and found the con-
ference and panel beneicial because it
gave the young men “new thoughts and
new ideals and hopefully provide[d]
them an opportunity.”
“My mom took me to the ‘100 Black
Men’ the irst time,” said Towson. “I
liked what they taught us, the life les-
sons and how to better prepare our-
selves for the future, so I just stuck
with it.”
Brelaun Douglas is a 2016 NNPA “Dis-
cover The Unexpected” (DTU) journalism
fellow at the Atlanta Voice. The DTU jour-
nalism fellowship program is sponsored
by Chevrolet. Check out more stories by
the fellows by following the hashtag #Dis-
coverTheUnexpected on Twitter and In-
stagram. Learn more about the program
at nnpa.org/dtu.