In January 2020, the Mu Sigma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., based in Baldwin Hills California, hosted a unique youth mentoring session that focused on exposing Los Angeles Approximately 40 preteen and teenage boys were in attendance at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, CA, where Brothers taught youth the basics of aerospace technology and rocketry. This program directly aligns with the Fraternity’s Go-To-High School-Go-To-College initiative.
Dr. June Scobee-Rodgers, wife of the late Challenger Space Shuttle Commander Dick Scobee, established the Columbia Memorial Space Center along with several other educational space centers across the U.S. in honor of her husband who passed away in the infamous Challenger Space Shuttle disaster.
The Columbia Memorial Space Center is equipped with engaging exhibits such as an astronaut suit, a robotics lab, a bottle rocket launcher and much more. With interactive and educational activities, the youth who were not familiar with the subject learned the basics of space travel, planets, stars and other astronomical objects.
According to a 2018 Pew Research Center report; only 9% of black professionals and 7% of Latinx professionals have a career in STEM. According to a 2015 National Science Foundation report, only 4.3% of engineers are black.
Therefore, there is a strong need for more black and brown students to be exposed to these fields. The purpose of the program is to stretch the imagination and inspire the boys to explore an industry that is beyond the boundaries of their inner-city communities.
Brother Tony Magee, who is a Rocket Scientist in Materials and Process Engineering at Aerojet Rocketdyne, spoke on the importance this program, “For so many underrepresented youth – a STEM Education is a cure for poverty. It’s the main reason why I became an engineer. All I really wanted was a family with a big house and fancy car!” Bro. Magee went on to explain that today’s youth is fully capable of obtaining a career in the engineering field, “f a kid can get a B+ in Algebra, that kid has full potential to earn a PhD in engineering. That means with all the distractions that’s going on (in his community) he was still able to earn a B+.”
The Mu Sigma Lambda Chapter partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Watts Willowbrook with the help of Bro. Vernon Jackson, Program Specialist for the organization, and Bro. Kenneth Stevenson, Athletic Director of the Verbum Dei High School in compiling the students who participated in the event.
Mu Sigma Lambda
Brother James Leassear
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