Providing students the tools to excel; pre-college program places students on the path to careers in math, science and engineering - Cover Story

Black Issues in Higher Education, July 4, 2002 by Tenisha Mercer

DETROIT

Kenneth Hill couldn't believe what he was hearing. While at an educational conference in Washington in 1976, Hill found himself at the center of a raging debate about whether math, science and engineering were too hard for African Americans.

"I knew it wasn't true," says Hill, who had taught physics and calculus to seventh-graders in a boarding school in Zambia. "I already knew we could excel in math, science and engineering. It didn't make any sense to me. We were the first scientists and engineers. How could we not be scientists and engineers now? I knew that given the opportunity, our youngsters here could excel just as well as anywhere else."

Hill, who has a bachelor's in civil engineering and a master's in mathematics, planned to get his doctorate in math at the University of Michigan. But he soon found himself bent on proving naysayers wrong and became executive director of a pilot initiative, the Detroit Area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP), which seeks to expose more Black youth, as well as other minorities, to careers in math, science and engineering.

Now, 26 years later, Hill is still proving naysayers wrong. What began with a $250,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant to teach seventh-graders math, science and engineering has mushroomed into an initiative to train 10,000 K-12 students annually. The program is funded by the state of Michigan, the city of Detroit and the Detroit Board of Education. It is also funded by foundations and 18 corporations, who helped to raise more than $7 million during a fund rinsing campaign in 2000. Its annual operating budget is $4 million.

"We're seeing kids who have been in the program five to seven years going to engineering school who are self-confident, grounded academically, and who can complete science and academic careers," Hill says.

Most DAPCEP alumni go on to attend local colleges and universities such as the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Wayne State University and Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute) in Flint, Mich., followed by historically Black colleges and universities such as Howard, Hampton and Morehouse.

Gerard White, 40, was a student in the first DAPCEP program in 1976. White is now an auto designer at MSX International, an auto supplier based in Troy, Mich.

"DAPCEP gave me direction," says White, who has crisscrossed the globe, living in such countries as Germany, Korea, Italy and France, and has worked on international assignments for Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler.

"I was interested in science and math, but I didn't have a path to direct that in the proper manner. I had some skills, but I didn't know where to direct those skills. My science teacher always encouraged me, but I didn't know any engineers and my idea of an engineer was a guy on the back of a train," he adds.

Engineers, scientists and mathematicians--professions students may never even have known about before--help mentor students in the program.

"Exposure is a key part of the program," board member Raymond Gregory says. "A lot of kids (need that), especially in the inner-city, it's not like you have an engineer living down the street from you."

Programs such as DAPCEP expose minorities to the possibilities of a lucrative, high-paying job in engineering, math and science, says Dr. Milton Robinson, a consultant to the president of Kettering University, and a SECME Inc. representative. SECME is a nonprofit organization based in Atlanta that works with business, industry and schools in 17 states to increase the number of minorities in engineering, math, science and technology.

Kettering recruits five DAPCEP students each year to attend a six-week, pre-college engineering program during the summer.

DAPCEP features a rigorous curriculum meant to challenge students. Students select from among a variety of courses, such as computer-aided design and drafting, Internet application design, civil engineering, 3-D geometry and robotics.

There are 7,500 students who take part in more than 225 classes that meet from 9 a.m. to noon each Saturday. Another 2,500 students participate in summer courses and in-school programs, which include pre-engineering after-school classes at public schools in Detroit.

But it isn't the math, science and engineering classes that drive DAPCEP. It's the recognition that African American children can excel in technology, and those same beliefs are instilled in students.

"When you look at our community and if I mention a basketball player or a gospel star, there's no mystery there because the infrastructure is there to develop those careers," Hill says. "We said if you put in the infrastructure for technology careers, let's see what happens. Let's create that same environment for math, science and engineering as there is in our community for music and sports."

It worked.

Students in the program have won the National Society of Black Engineers' Golden Torch award that recognizes excellence in math and science among young people nationwide every year since 1998. Two years ago, the National Association of Minority Engineering Program Administrators named DAPCEP the Pre-College Engineering Program of the Year.