The Region 5 Director-Elect Christopher Sanderson and Industry Engagement Liaison Charles Stein represented IEEE at the NSBE Fresh Start STEM Fair presented by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Houston Professionals. NSBE Fresh Start is a one-day STEM-based event for school-aged children designed to ignite curiosity and passion for STEM subjects through hands-on engagement.

Christopher Sanderson led the class of 14 – 30 fifth grade students through Change Management workshops based on the book “Who Moved My Cheese? for Kids” by Dr. Spencer Johnson. Students learned strategies for maintaining a growth mindset through communication, continuous learning, and skills development in the interactive session. Charles Stein presented “Mars Space Colony: A Game of Standardization”, coaching four teams to define standards for a space mission. The Honored Ones, Red Planet, DMSJ, and the Fresh Starters elected team chairs and reporting secretaries while reaching Consensus on vehicle charging and transportation protocols.

Meaningful connections were made across academia and industry. The event was hosted by the University of Houston-Downtown and IEEE leaders engaged volunteers from HP, Samsung, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Students were introduced to the IEEE TryEngineering website, expressing interest in many of the page’s featured engineering disciplines.”

Thanks again to the IEEE Innovation team at work team for streamlining the course materials on short notice and positioning us for success. The students were locked in the entire time and emerged with a favorable attitude toward IEEE Standards and IEEE.

Written by: Charles Stein and Christopher Sanderson