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| Home : Volume 32 : Winter 2006 | |
| The Wisconsin Black Student Engineering Society | |
Wisconsin Black Engineering Student Society |
As a UW-Madison freshman, National Society of Black Engineers-Wisconsin Black Engineering Student Society (NSBE-WBESS) member Derek Davis attended the National Society of Black Engineers conference, an educational and networking event in Anaheim, California. Although he says that the event was memorable in many ways, what struck him most was that he was among 10,000 black engineers who were there for the same reason he was: to meet people and advance his career.
Right then, he realized he wasn't alone in his sometimes challenging quest for an engineering education. “You're all in the same pain I'm in,” he remembers thinking. “From a freshman and sophomore point of view, theres a goal at the end. You just need to get over those little obstacles called math and chemistry.”
Now Davis, a gregarious civil and environmental engineering student from Chicago, is eagerly anticipating his graduation in May '07. This year, he is 2nd vice president of WBESS, and one of his personal missions is to involve others — particularly freshmen — in the organization that has given him both moral support and lifelong friends.
WBESS is a student chapter affiliated with the National Society of Black Engineers, or NSBE. Advised by Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Tim Shedd, its primary goal is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and have a positive impact on the community, says Ninrat Datiri, an electrical and computer engineering senior from Tuskegee, Alabama, and WBESS president. He's quick to point out, however, that both groups are open to anyone. “One thing we found out is that a lot of people who buy into our organization end up sticking in engineering as opposed to other people, just because there are so many things that we offer,” he says.
Each year, the group's 50 or so members can participate in a variety of social, educational and outreach activities. Among them, they volunteer as mentors at Project Bootstrap, a Madison after-school program designed to keep youth engaged in school and out of trouble, and at the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County.
They invite Madison high school students to the university's Union South bowling alley, providing a social, informal setting for the students to meet WBESS members and learn about engineering at UW-Madison. And they sponsor a summer cookout for students in the university's bridge-to-college Pipeline program. “We're pulling them in early,” says Davis. “They're here for the summer, just taking classes and getting that first experience in engineering, and we're like 'alright, we got you.'”
In the spring semester, WBESS members host “Day on Campus,” a free event for high school students from Madison, Milwaukee and Racine who are considering an engineering education. “The purpose of this event is to reach out to prospective engineering students who are looking to come here—or not just here, but anywhere — and they want to know how engineering is,” says Datiri.
At Day on Campus, visiting high school students tour the entire university, including several engineering laboratories, and participate in an activity like the popular egg drop, which challenges them to design a container that keeps a raw egg whole when it's dropped several feet. WBESS members introduce the students to scholarship directors and host a networking luncheon that enables them to meet engineering faculty, staff and students. “We end the day with a college panel to give them a chance to ask questions,” says Datiri.
Because part of the WBESS mission is attracting ethnic minorities to science disciplines, a giant share of its members' service falls into the category of outreach. But since attracting minorities is just one step, members also engage in professional development activities and programs that enable them to encourage each other to stick with engineering and excel academically.
Every two weeks during the academic year, the entire group conducts business meetings. Always on the agenda are speakers from such companies as GE Healthcare, Rockwell Automation, Procter & Gamble, Alliant Energy and Inroads, all of which attended fall 2005 meetings. Sometimes WBESS alumni, the speakers are valuable industry contacts who provide insight on working — and employment — in their engineering fields. In the future, members will be able to participate in industry and plant tours.
The group also organizes a mentoring program. “Upperclassmen are able to guide people like freshmen and sophomores — people who really haven't gone into their major yet — to sort of give them guidance outside of their advisor,” says Datiri, who used to E-mail his schedule to more advanced WBESS members. “They'd be like, 'Hey, you might like to take something else.' I also see myself doing the same thing now. I was receiving benefits; I'm actually helping other people out, too. It's like an endless chain.”
And members plan events like movie or bowling nights so that they can just have fun. One popular event is the president's party, a potluck dinner at the current WBESS president's apartment. “A lot of times you just see people at meetings or doing work, but it's just nice to chill with somebody and get to know them outside of that,” says Datiri.
Regardless of whether their events are social, educational or outreach-focused, WBESS members spice them with lots of laughter and good-natured kidding among people who have grown to be close friends. It's the kind of supportive environment the organization was designed to create. Perhaps that's why their NSBE Region 4 slogan — a play on the number four — is so appropriate: “Fo' solid, fo' life!”
For more info about WBESS, check out homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~wbess.
Content by perspective@engr.wisc.edu
Date last modified: 03-Feb-2006
Date created: 03-Feb-2006
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