Yesterday, Dr. Robert L. Wallace, founder and CEO of BITHGROUP Technologies, and I took forty-one Baltimore City area high school students to visit the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering. It was an incredible experience, especially for me, as it took me back to the summer of 1976 when I was an Upward Bound student at Carnegie Mellon University. At that time, I was a rising high school sophomore.
For me, “Education is the great equalizer,” and I know this because I am a living example of this phenomenon. When you give students exposure to experiences and opportunities to see how great they can become, they will rise to the occasion. Yesterday, I was grateful to spend the day with these young future STEM professionals, Dr. Laura Stubbs, Dean Vijay Kumar, and several current students and professors at the University of Pennsylvania. The knowledge shared by the professors and students was invaluable.
I was also excited because I know that the only way we can increase the number of women and people of color pursuing and being successful in STEM-related careers is through early exposure, continued experiential learning, and providing mentoring and support.
So, today I, Harry William Holt Jr., say thank you to Carnegie Mellon’s Upward Bound Program Director Everett Tademy, A Better Chance Masconomet’s Program Mrs. Barbara Booth, INROADS Pittsburgh Director Carole Cohen, and Brown University School of Engineering Professor Edward Kornhauser for believing in a skinny, nerdy Black boy from the Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I promise you I will do my best to pay it forward daily. I thank God for these programs and opportunities because they changed my life, and I know that they can and will continue to change lives far into the future.
“Education is the great Equalizer.”
Harry Holt 2020