Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference (BEYA)

Ladies, I attended the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference this year as a recruiter for my job and what I saw caught me completely off-guard. There were more black male engineering students than females. I really wasn't expecting this. I know I'm not the only one who reads the statistics about the fact that there are more females in college than males, so to actually see more men was shocking to me. As someone who works in the engineering field, I can vouch for the fact that it is a male (as in white male) dominated field, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see so many brothers from around the country. I was so amazed that I asked one of the applicants about the fact that there were more black men than females at the job fair and the response he gave me was wonderful. He said, "Ms. Melanie, we are just trying to catch up with you guys." I love that answer. I love the fact that we have wonderful young black men that are trying to do the damn thing. So many times we try to paint our brothers with broad brushes, but the truth of the matter is the fact that there are some black men that are doing great things and we need to acknowledge this.

These applicants came from all the major HBCU's and they were looking for work and they were very professional and well prepared. There were students from FAMU, Morgan State, Howard, Norfolk State, Tennessee State, Southern, Tuskegee, Alabama A&M, North Carolina A&T and so forth. It really made me proud to know that we have kids that are interested in engineering. I also love the fact that the conference invites little kids from elementary school and up to interact with the recruiters because I believe the earlier these children are exposed to engineering the sooner they'll realize there is another career opportunity out there for them besides being a rapper or a football player.

So, if you've never attended the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference I definitely suggest you make plans to do so next year. It was definitely worth it and it was definitely an experience. Who knows you may even find your significant other because Lord knows there is nothing like a BMW (black man working). [And the church said, "AMEN."]

Posted in: BEYA