Mentorship is a critical aspect of our program as studies show that North American Black youth oftentimes need to interact with Black professionals in STEM, to develop a keener interest in pursuing STEM related careers. Black youth living in many parts of Canada with similar demographics to Kingston ON, where Blacks are a very small minority of the population, need mentorship to combat negative media stereotypes of who Black people are, and their capabilities in fields outside of sports and the various Arts.
Mentorship occurs at all levels of our program. Our instructors are from the Black or BIPOC community and serve as the primary mentors and role models for the students, as they freely share their lived experiences during workshops when actively encouraging the students to complete their tasks. Our instructors in turn receive mentorship from our leadership team. Additionally, in all workshops students are educated about the work of Black professionals in STEM fields related to the content to help raise their awareness of Black professionals in STEM around the world. Doing this not only provides them with STEM role models from diverse countries and cultures, but also helps to broaden participants worldview of Black people living in countries with sociopolitical structures and systems that differ from what they are used to. These experiences are invaluable in helping Black youth to foster a better interest in STEM, which will in turn inspire and motivate them to pursue STEM-related careers.
Mentorship provides our participants with a more in-depth and sustained experience in a variety of STEM concepts, allowing for a deeper understanding and passion for STEM. Mentorship, which is not limited to university students but also includes adults who are successful in various STEM fields, has allowed for an improvement in participants’ perception of their academic capability and potential that parents are also attesting to. A parent who has 3 children enrolled in BYiS shared that “The benefits to my children are immense! Socially, they are able to grow their connections with people that look like them in Kingston, both teachers and students alike! Academically, they are positioned to grow into the world of science which is exciting.”
The leadership of Black Youth in STEM understands the critical importance of choosing the mentorship pathway as a means of shaping the career choices of Black youth, and as such, have employed the use of the transformational mentorship model, as describe by David Nour in the article ‘The Best Mentorships Help Both People Grow’ published in the Harvard Business Review (2002). We use transformational mentorship by intentionally including members of the Queen’s University National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE-QU) and other Black university students in our programs, so that they can actively interact with the participants. In doing this, we make BYiS not just an experience for K-12 students, but also a haven and training ground for the undergraduate and graduate students, who gain valuable experiential learning opportunities by mentoring the BYiS program participants. Our university students absolutely love the sense of community that BYiS provides, being surrounded by children and instructors who not only look like them but may be from the same cultural background. This undoubtedly enhances the mentorship experience when they visit, to help the students and to share their academic and at times life journey.