https://www.nola.com/news/education/article_5106a89a-8057-11eb-8aa8-7f0e10c01fb5.html
Calvin Mackie, the founder of the nonprofit STEM NOLA, long had a vision to bring science, technology, engineering and math education to more students in underserved New Orleans area neighborhoods.
A tipping point came in 2013 when his son, who was then in second grade in a magnet school in Jefferson Parish, came home and said he didn’t like science anymore because there weren’t enough hands-on activities in school.
Mackie, a former engineering professor at Tulane University who has been appointed to multiple boards focusing on disaster recovery and the advancement of young Black men, knew he had to do something. So he set up a temporary experiment hub in his garage and started holding science lessons for his son and his friends on the weekends. The word spread — fast.
“Before we knew it I had 20 kids showing up in my garage on Saturdays,” Mackie said. “And my son said, ‘Daddy, my friends need this.'”
Fast-forward to today, and STEM NOLA, which he started with $100,000 of his own money to bring extracurricular science and math activities to kids, has grown exponentially in its nearly seven years.
Now, it’s set to expand yet again thanks to millions of dollars donated in the past year that will create a permanent, state of the art hub in New Orleans East and bring programming to a number of military communities across the Gulf Coast.
So far, STEM NOLA has engaged with more than 50,000 kindergarten through 12th grade students and more than 1,500 college students through an array of programs, including after-school lessons, expos, weekend events and even in-school programming at Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School, Mackie said. Most participants are considered economically disadvantaged.
Armed with a building donation from Ochsner Health and a $1.25 million donation from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Mackie now sees a greater reach. He has secured a 40,000-square-foot space and created a development plan for a new, roughly $10 million STEM NOLA Innovation Hub for Black Excellence in New Orleans East.
The goal is for a 2023 opening date and for students to have a dedicated place to learn about things like coastal restoration, wind energy, friction and robotics by learning how to build levees, create wind- and solar-powered vehicles and more.
With a specialized laboratory space, classrooms, and meeting spaces, the new building will not only serve as headquarters for STEM NOLA, which he hopes will be a national destination and a partner with local schools, but also allow programs to expand to meet demands of the 21st century.
“When our kids show efficacy and genius in science and engineering, where do they go? This will be their clubhouse,” Mackie said. “They can discover and develop gifts and talents in possibilities like artificial intelligence, data science, gaming and more.”
The Kellogg grant follows several other contributions in the last year, including $100,000 from AT&T as part of the telecommunication company’s Distance Learning and Family Connections Fund.
STEM NOLA used that as seed money to go global: The nonprofit, which is still working on a remote basis, currently ships materials to students in 47 states and five countries.
In October, the nonprofit also received a $2.79 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to build educational workshops across the Gulf South to serve military-connected families.
The grant, which was STEM NOLA’s largest award to date, is part of the National Defense Education Program’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics awards.
Michael Kratsios, the acting under secretary of defense for research and engineering, said the grant would help the federal government follow a strategic STEM plan enacted in 2018. That plan seeks to help the Department of Defense keep current with the latest advancements and increase awareness about career opportunities for students, educators, veterans in underrepresented communities.
“The Department of Defense is proud to support the STEM workforce our nation needs to maintain our technological superiority in the future,” Kratsios said, adding that the effort was “critical for national security.”
Mackie said that while his vision had developed significantly since those Saturday science lessons in his garage, his core mission remains the same: To provide opportunity to children from all backgrounds and walks of life, no matter where they live or go to school.
“The goal of STEM NOLA is to have a million kids doing STEM on Saturdays,” Mackie said.