STEM program STEPPS into Dayton's core to prepare next wave of high-tech professionals

For President George H. W. Bush, it was one of a "1,000 points of light." But for some Dayton kids, a program focused on getting inner city students into math and science careers is a pathway to a new future.

The Wright STEPP program, a partnership between Wright State University, Dayton Public Schools, local industry and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, puts selected high school students through a special, four-year math and science-based curriculum with the promise of a full four-year scholarship to the university at the end of it.

Over the past 23 years, it has served as model for science and technology instruction and prepared more than 1,300 students for college, arming them with the tools to earn their degrees and high-paying technology careers after graduation.

In Ohio, a growing high-tech economy has created the need for new blood in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers and spurred initiatives designed to increase those opportunities around the state. But, like elsewhere, socio-economic factors have hindered pockets of young Ohioans from moving into STEM-related careers. 

Wright STEPP � an acronym for Science, Technology and Engineering Preparatory Program � was founded in 1987 by newly hired assistant dean of the Wright State College of Engineering, Dr. Clark Beck.

An engineer himself, he had retired from Wright-Patt after 33 years, then moved to teaching. When he was hired at Wright State, his first priority was setting up the program, which originally targeted minority students.

"I didn't want kids to have to go through what I had to to get an education. Nobody should have to go through all that I did," says Beck, who grew up on a small farm in Indiana and faced racial intolerance as an academic pioneer.

After earning a math degree from Virginia Union University, yet still denied admission to other colleges to further his education, Beck eventually became the first African-American engineering student to earn both his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Cincinnati. He went on to work in the aeronautics section at Wright-Patt and teach at Sinclair Community College and Central State University, where he developed the school's engineering program.

Before joining Wright State, Beck visited a program in San Antonio designed to help Hispanic youths go to college. With the backing of the WSU's vice president of academic affairs, Dr. Charles Hathaway, planning for Wright STEPP began.

"The goals were to, first, expose these students to the worlds of science, engineering and math and get them interested, then to give them the academic background to be able to make it to college in those fields," says Beck, who retired 1992. "Finally, we also wanted to give them the financial means to be able to go to college and get their degree."

"A lot of people told me at the time that it would never work," he adds.

They were wrong. Through its first two decades, 98 percent of Wright STEPP participants have earned their high school diplomas, compared to the 72-percent national average for all high school students and the 56-percent rate for African-Americans.

More than 40 percent of the program's graduates have also gone on to claim their Wright State scholarships, with the majority ultimately earning science and math degrees from the university.

The program's success becomes more pronounced each year, says Bonnie Porter, a science teacher at Dayton's Fairview Middle School who has served as Wright STEPP's assistant director since the beginning.

"At nearly all the district's high school graduations, the valedictorians are Wright STEPP students. This year, at Thurgood Marshall (High School), where most of our students are, the valedictorian, the salutatorian and the student who's in third place are all in the program," she adds. "The competition for all the kids in STEPP is stiff."

Each year, 40 students from the Dayton schools' seventh-grade classes are admitted to the program based on their academic potential and recommendations from teachers. To be eligible, they must meet financial requirements or have the potential to be the first generation of their immediate families to go to college (neither parent can have a college degree). They must also have at least a 3.0 grade point average and maintain it throughout their Wright STEPP years.

Once they start attending the annual summer sessions, they receive classroom instruction in math, physics, biology, chemistry, information technology and other engineering disciplines like problem-solving. The curriculum also includes writing and communications classes, and hands-on lab assignments that range from building household circuits to designing satellites. They also receive year-round guidance to keep them on the academic fast-track.

During the summers, Wright STEPP also includes weekly field trips to local companies to see how engineers use their educations on the job, providing important role models for the kids, Beck says.

"When I was in their place, I didn't know of any engineers. I didn't meet an engineer until I went to college, and it put me at a great disadvantage. I had no idea what they did," Beck says.

Students who complete the four-year program earn a full scholarship to Wright State to pursue the degree of their choice, funded by grants and financial backing from industry and the university. If they fail to keep their grades up and complete the program, others are clamoring to replace them in the program.

"Unfortunately, there just aren't enough spots for all the students who show interest," says Porter. "Up until last year, we were able to add students up until the 10th grade. Now, if they aren't admitted to the program in the seventh or eighth grades, they're probably not going to. The kids who get into STEPP know what they've been given, and they fight hard to keep it."

More telling of the program's success, however, is how many Wright STEPP graduates have returned to teach and volunteer their time to ensure today's students have the same opportunities they once had. A majority of the program's volunteers come from Wright-Patterson, including a number of engineers who got their start with Wright STEPP, Porter reveals.

"That, in particular, is very rewarding to see," she says.

Mercades Blue agrees. Blue, who graduated from Wright STEPP in 1996, went on to earn a degree in biomedical engineering from WSU. After getting her degree, she passed up more lucrative job offers to return to her alma mater, Dunbar High School, to teach science and work with Wright STEPP students.

"When the opportunity presented itself, I jumped at it," she explains. "This is a program that has, by now, affected more than one generation of students. Without Wright STEPP, I wouldn't have been able to go to college. For me, it had a huge impact. It was important for me to give back, to give others the same opportunities that STEPP gave me."