{"id":33956,"date":"2024-02-28T13:46:58","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T18:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/its-cuthemedev1.carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/?post_type=cu_story&p=33956"},"modified":"2025-03-24T15:29:05","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T19:29:05","slug":"opening-doors-and-shaping-futures-for-black-youth-at-carleton-university","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/story\/opening-doors-and-shaping-futures-for-black-youth-at-carleton-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Opening Doors and Shaping Futures for Black Youth at 杏吧原创 University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n
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\n Opening Doors and Shaping Futures for Black Youth at 杏吧原创 University\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n \n

Ty Burke<\/em><\/p>\n \n \n

Melanie Mathieu<\/em><\/p>\n \n

In order to seize an opportunity, you need to get one in the first place. Not all young people have the same access to jobs and internships, and members of equity denied groups face challenges gaining the work experience that is essential to future success. But 杏吧原创\u2019s ELITE program<\/a> is helping Black youth get a foot in the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professional Development for Black Youth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Called ELITE for short, the Experiential Learning in Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship program offers Black youth fully-funded internship opportunities to students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The program launched in 2021, and its work experience component is supplemented by wellness and coaching, and other hands-on elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interactive Multimedia Design<\/a> student Zainab El Sharrif was a member of the 2023-24 cohort, and undertook a digital communications internship at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI)<\/a>. Even though she worked with a group focused on clinical health research\u2014and she has no educational background in health care\u2014the four-month internship was well-suited to El Sharrif\u2019s interests and career aspirations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cMy manager did a good job of helping me understand, and I was able to contribute to a team where I brought something new to the table,\u201d says El Sharrif, who is studying for a Bachelor of Information Technology in Interactive Multimedia and Design. \u201cEveryone was very supportive. My manager made it a safe space to ask questions, and was always willing to hop on a call. The team gave me constructive criticism on my work, which made it the outcome even better. It was a really good learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As a digital communications intern, El Sharrif worked on conference presentations and other public-facing products. The experience cemented her goal of a career in user experience design. She also valued the wellness and coaching series\u2014though she did not take to it right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery few weeks, all of the students in the program would hop on a Zoom meeting, and discuss their ways of coping, stress factors, how to deal with stress,\u201d says El Sharrif. \u201cIn the beginning, it just felt like just another thing that we have to do. But as the weeks went by, I really started to understand the benefits. It was a community support system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From University to the Workforce<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For the OHRI, ELITE students have brought in different skill sets that complement the ones their team already has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cELITE students are chosen because they are high achievers and they are inquisitive. They bring energy to the team,\u201d says Nicole Langlois, the manager of the OHRI\u2019s Thrombosis Research Program where El Sharrif undertook her work placement.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe have had interns from different backgrounds, but they all had skills we needed. One studied neuroscience, another industrial design, and others systems and computer engineering. We selected them because they have knowledge and expertise that we do not have in our group. They brought technical skills in websites, computers and design, and also creativity, which we really appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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OHRI hosted four ELITE students, and Langlois credits them with enhancing her own technical skills by introducing her to user-friendly software like Canva. Students have earned author credits on research papers, and references for summer jobs. And they take away important lessons about working in a professional environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving a placement is much different than learning in a classroom,\u201d says Langlois. \u201cYou get to see the real world in all its messiness and all of the challenges that come with being part of a team. Students in the ELITE program are really exposed to the realities of that. They learn to be resourceful, to find information on their own, and the soft skills of interacting with people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Future Growth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The Faculty of Engineering and Design at 杏吧原创 University sees our participation in the ELITE program as another step we\u2019re taking to help reduce systemic and attitudinal barriers for equity-denied groups in engineering and design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPromoting diversity benefits everyone and I\u2019m excited to be part of this transformative journey,\u201d says Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Cynthia Cruickshank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cruickshank and the Faculty\u2019s EDI Council have been implementing the Faculty\u2019s EDI Action Plan, which includes eight categories of action. One that Cruickshank has a personal invested interest in is developing student supports that help address gaps in academic, wellness and financial resources that are offered to undergraduate and graduate students.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cPromoting diversity benefits everyone, and [my] goal is to create a culture where diverse ideas shape the way we approach challenges in engineering and design.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Ty Burke Melanie Mathieu In order to seize an opportunity, you need to get one in the first place. Not all young people have the same access to jobs and internships, and members of equity denied groups face challenges gaining the work experience that is essential to future success. But 杏吧原创\u2019s ELITE program is helping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33958,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[203,193,197,225,229,209],"cu_story_tag":[],"class_list":["post-33956","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-co-op","cu_story_type-feature-stories","cu_story_type-information-technology","cu_story_type-interactive-multimedia-and-design","cu_story_type-lead-feature-story","cu_story_type-undergraduate"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/33956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/33956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34386,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/33956\/revisions\/34386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=33956"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/engineering-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=33956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}