NACME Student Scholarships
Posted on March 11th, 2015 by Jaimie Schock
The NACME Pre-Engineering Student Scholarship Program recognizes the nation’s highest achieving African American, Latino, and American Indian high school seniors who have demonstrated academic excellence, leadership skills, and a commitment to science and engineering as a career goal. Each winner receives a $2,500 scholarship. Apply by March 15, 2015.
Filed under: Grades 9-12, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on NACME Student Scholarships
Tags: African-American Students, Latino Students, Minority Group Students, Native American Students, Scholarship, scholarships, Scholarships and Fellowships
Science Club for Girls (SCFG) is a series of afterschool STEM programs offering K-12 girls the chance to explore science and technology through experiments and activities. Through the Junior Mentor leadership program, teenage girls become role models, teaching young children science, learning life skills, conducting outreach, and exploring careers in STEM fields. 
Educators who try to fix the achievement gap afflicting young black males by focusing on their shortcomings have it backwards, argues Yvette Jackson, chief executive officer of the National Urban Alliance. “We must embrace a new approach to African-American males that focuses less on what they aren’t doing and builds on what they can and want to do as the path to improving their academic performance.”
The long-documented achievement gap between black and white students turns out to be wider than is generally known. According to a new study focusing on young African American males, 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.
There are 6.5 million teachers in the United States, but only 9 percent are black. Yet, in many urban areas, black students are, far and away, the single largest cohort. Does this matter? Some educators emphatically say it does.
A recent survey of women and underrepresented minorities who hold STEM degrees found that many of them were discouraged from seeking their careers. But, what was, perhaps, eyebrow-raising was that most of those affected said the discouragement came from college professors. 
Berkeley, California is one brainy town. Along with UC-Berkeley, Berkeley High School excels, especially in science. However, Berkeley is home to a large concentration of low-income residents, mainly African Americans and Latinos, whose math and English proficiency scores are woefully behind those of white students. In order to try and halt this trend, the school plans to cut portions of its AP science program in favor of helping struggling students.
An LA Times study of test results of 152 charter schools, 161 magnets and all nearby traditional schools found that magnets were the clear leaders. Charters also outperformed traditional schools. African American students were especially benefited by magnets and charters, with 76 percent proficient or better in math at magnets and 57 percent at charters, as opposed to only 40 percent at traditional schools.
