Academic and Professional Support<\/strong><\/p>\nNSBE members are often able to do well academically because their active participation with the organization reinforces what they\u2019re taught in the classroom through hands-on applications. Many of the group\u2019s meetings even serve as study sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter joining NSBE, you realize how many members are actually in your class,\u201d says Melissa Dugas, a junior industrial engineer and NSBE secretary. \u201cSo it\u2019s like an automatic study group. You have equals if you\u2019re struggling in a subject.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weekly meetings provide members with practices to develop the professional skills through audience-based interviews, resume review and debate sessions. During 70 percent of these events, employees from major engineering companies, such as Northrop Grumman and Duke Energy, visit to give members an inside look at the engineering industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur last GBM (general body meeting) had a panel for private industry versus government, and I felt that spoke out because it helped to describe what it was like to work in those industries,\u201d Dugas says.<\/p>\n
Emphasis on Community Outreach <\/strong><\/p>\nIn addition to developing multidisciplinary projects, such as a thermoelectric generator, the NSBE\u2019s TORCH (Technical Outreach and Community Help) chair, junior Julian\u00a0Alexander, organizes community-service events focused on pre-college initiatives. These activities are aimed toward getting kids from elementary to high school interested in STEM.<\/p>\n
In the fall, the mechanical engineering major put together the annual Walk for Education, during which members went door-to-door in underserved neighborhoods to give children information on how to prepare for college. They also invited them to a park to enjoy some fun STEM activities, such as making slime, volcanoes and moving a hydraulic arm with syringes and fluids.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The goal is to] have them exposed to the science aspect of things and maybe not just think \u2018Oh this is a project I have to do once a year for a grade,\u2019 but instead, \u2018Oh this is a cool project that will expose me to opportunities that will get me further in the science field,\u2019\u201d Alexander says.<\/p>\n
Networking Success<\/strong><\/p>\nNot only do current NSBE members at UCF extend a helping hand to others, alums from the program often dedicate their time and efforts to helping undergrads who are still finding their way.<\/p>\n
Cimarron Carter \u201914<\/strong>, a systems engineer for Lockheed Martin and the chapter\u2019s executive advisor, always tells students to include their NSBE experience on their resumes because he\u2019s seen first-hand how it influences their chance of landing a job.<\/p>\n\u201cI have people all the time who are managers at Lockheed Martin right now who come to me and say, \u2018Hey, do you know this person? They applied for an internship and they\u2019re currently a NSBE-UCF student,\u2019\u201d says Carter, who earned a degree in information technology. \u201cNSBE-UCF and NSBE in general have such a large network that there\u2019s always bound to be somebody who\u2019s working at a company that you want to work for who was probably in NSBE before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next month, thousands of members across the nation will gather in Pittsburgh, \u00a0for the annual national convention. They will apply academic abilities to complete challenging projects, use professional skills to network for internships and jobs, and connect with a community to serve others in need, all while supporting fellow black engineers.<\/p>\n
At last year\u2019s conference, an NSBE graduate living in Tennessee handed Jones his business card and told her to call him if she ever needed anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving that type of support, having that type of motivation is definitely what keeps me going in college \u2014 knowing that one day I\u2019ll be at a conference in 10 years telling another college student, \u2018You got this. You can do it. Here\u2019s my business card if you need anything,\u2019\u201d says Jones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From professional development to community service, the National Society of Black Engineers produces some of the most well-rounded STEM graduates in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":81077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6,24,27],"tags":[500,973,1351,1566,14652,4430],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-81073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","category-science-technology","category-student-life","tag-black-history-month","tag-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","tag-diversity","tag-engineering","tag-national-society-of-black-engineers","tag-stem"],"yoast_head":"\n
UCF NSBE Breaks Barriers in STEM | UCF News Story<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n