SEM Link Partners with 100 Black Men of Atlanta to Prepare Atlanta Youth to Pursue STEM Careers

ATLANTA - Dec. 18, 2018 - PRLog -- Science, Engineering and Mathematics Link Inc. (SEM Link) has established a partnership with 100 Black Men of Atlanta (100BMOA). The organizations will collaborate on program activities for high school students in Underrepresented Groups in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and support the work of schools to prepare students to become college and career ready in these fields. This partnership will aid both organizations with achieving their common goal of providing STEM educational opportunities and positive adult role models to encourage and equip high school students to pursue STEM careers.

The first program within the partnership is the Experimental Design Mentoring Program, a program of SEM Link's Experimental Design Program, at BEST Academy.  SEM Link's goal for its Experimental Design Program is to increase the quality and quantity of STEM fair projects and provide opportunities for the STEM community to support K-12 students. The program has provided schools and school districts with judges for STEM fairs and the Experimental Design Handbook; an online resource for students and educators to develop their STEM fair projects available on SEM Link's website.  The Experimental Design Mentoring Program provides high school students with strategies to develop their scientific literacy, research and laboratory skills to produce STEM fair projects that are competitive within their school, school district, regional and higher-level fairs and competitions.

The Experimental Design Mentoring Program kicked off on November 1^st with an orientation to the program for the BEST Academy students. This included participants of the Project Success Program and selected students. The Experimental Design Mentoring Program includes a digital learning component, which is an eight module self-guided online course that trains students to conduct background research, design and conduct their experiment and prepare for their STEM Fair presentation as a research scientist would prepare for a research conference.  "I'm excited about this partnership because it gives us an opportunity to achieve our goal of increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fairs; in particular African-American and Latino youth. SEM Link focuses on providing STEM fair support because STEM fairs are one of the few opportunities in a child's K-12 educational experience that they get an opportunity to study a topic that they have in interest in; which can spark their curiosity and interest in STEM" expresses  Ms. Tokiwa Smith, Founder and Executive Director.  "When students participate in STEM fairs at the high school level, it provides them with an opportunity to learn skills that prepare them to pursue STEM Careers as well as the possibility of wining college scholarships and other financial rewards for conducting research." states Ms. Smith.

100 Black Men of Atlanta's Project Success is a program designed to provide academic, social and cultural enrichment for the students in the Atlanta Public Schools System. The program focus areas are test taking strategies and strengthening the core foundations in education to help students matriculate and graduate from post-secondary institutions. Collaborating with SEM Link aids their goal of expanding their STEM programming beyond the current program activities; which includes robotics. "This partnership provides us with additional opportunities to prepare under-served youth to become college and career ready in STEM as well as engage our members and partners around these initiatives" states Mr. Ramon Singer, Program Director.

About SEM Link

Science, Engineering and Mathematics Link, Inc. (SEM Link), a tax-exempt national nonprofit organization, founded in 2005 by Ms. Tokiwa T. Smith in Atlanta, Georgia on the premise that exposure to members of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) communities is critical to student achievement and career exploration in math and science.  Our two core programs, Experimental Design Program and Math and Science Career Academy, enhance the STEM educational experience for K-12 students by providing them with opportunities to engage in hands-on STEM activities, explore STEM careers and learn about real-world applications of STEM. Since our inception we have served thousands of youth in urban areas. Like SEM Link on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/semlinkinc) and follow @semlink on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/semlink) or @semlink on Instagram (http://instagram.com/semlink). For more information about SEM Link visit our website at www.semsuccess.org or email us at info@semsuccess.org.

About 100 Black Men of Atlanta

In 1986, Atlanta-based entrepreneur, Nathaniel Goldston, assembled 18 of his friends and associates together to share the vision of starting a community empowerment organization that would focus on Atlanta's underprivileged youth. Goldston, who had been exposed to a similar concept during a business meeting in New York called One Hundred Black Men of New York, aptly named the newly formed coalition 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc.

100 Black Men of Atlanta is one of ninety-five 100 Black Men organizations based in cities around the nation. Together these organizations joined forces to create 100 Black Men of America headquartered in Atlanta, which now has more than 100 chapters worldwide — with more than 10,000 members. 100 Black Men of Atlanta has grown to become one of the largest of these chapters, with over 200 members locally.