NSBE offers scholarship for minorities

The North Alabama Chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers Alumni Extension (NSBE-AE) has a scholarship for local students up for grabs.

The Creative Minds poster contest is available to encourage and stimulate youth in the areas of math and science by offering programs and services that include scholarship endowment, tutorial programs and advanced study skills, according to Richard Richardson, scholarship chair.

The poster must address the topic “What does science mean to you?”

“It’s our experience that minorities are underrepresented in engineering and science, and are not provided with incentives that others have,” Richardson said. “It’s our mission to increase the number that enter into college and strive to achieve degrees in those fields.”

Winners of the poster contest will receive a Summer Science Fun Pack, which includes tickets to the US Space and Rocket Center, Sci-Quest, the Early Works Children’s Museum and the Huntsville Botanical Gardens. The scholarship is available to all North Alabama students in the fifth grade.

An interview process, application and teacher recommendations are required for the scholarships.

Richardson said the organization’s goal is to make sure there is diversity in the workplace.

“A diverse workforce is a better workforce,” Richardson said. “We are reaching out to the communities where minorities are because that’s our target audience, but the contest is open to all.”

Contest criteria are as follows: participants must be minority students in the fifth grade; applications must be mailed and postmarked by Jan. 4, 2011; presentations must be made on standard 22” X 28” poster board paper (any color); the student’s name, grade and school in the top right corner of the back of the poster; and posters must be created, developed and verbally illustrated by the student.

Judging criteria for the posters are: Originality – 40 percent, Content—relevancy to topic, depth and accuracy of information presented (30 percent) Presentation—clarity of expression, quality of grammar, & neatness of presentation (30 percent).

The contest is limited to the first 50 applicants.

Winners will also be recognized at the N AL NSBE-AE Seventeenth Annual Scholarship Banquet scheduled for March 10, 2011.

“We believe that this contest will become a time-tested tradition of N AL NSBE-AE, giving us an opportunity to advance the importance science and math among elementary students,” he said. “The contest has dual purposes – to motivate today’s young people towards creative thinking and to stimulate interest in science, math and other subjects that support technology.”