Building STEPS was founded in 1995 by Matthew Weinberg, CEO of The Weinberg Group, and is structured as an internship program designed to expose minority students to workplace dynamics and encourage post high school education, with an emphasis in science and technology. The decade old non-profit is headquartered at TU and their offices are right across from where I spend most of my day typing away on my mac in the Administration Building.
The Building STEPS program has served over 252 high school Juniors and Seniors since their inception and continues to have astounding results, like:
- 94% of their students have gone on to college
- 11 of their students are in masters doctoral programs
- 100% of their students receive academic scholarships for college
The exposure these students receive is first-rate and includes seminar days to Northrop Grumman, a behind the scenes tour at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, University of MD Biotechnology Institute, and a visit to Dr. Jim Saunders’ classroom in our very own Smith Hall. This year, Dr. Saunders hosted 60 Building STEPS students in October. Some of the hands-on activities in the past have included a:
- Demonstration in the Cadaver Lab
- Space Exploration Presentation by our very own Astronaut in Residence Dr. Don Thomas
- Slime Lab experiment with Dr. Saunders
- Planetarium Show
Lab experiment with Dr. Saunders
The Division of Economic and Community Outreach has been fortunate in the past few years to have a few Building STEPS interns with us over the summer. Recently, we interviewed them for our ongoing “Education Meets the Workforce” series.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AcHdCT79LU]
