Tallahassee, FL- One way the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) gives back to the community nationally is by distributing educational materials door-to-door during its annual A Walk for Education (AWFE) events.
Leon County community resident, Reva Dunlap said, "It nice to have an event for my grand-children to go to educationally outside of school."
Dunlap said she received a knock on the door of her home by a gentleman who gave her educational information brochures about AWFE and invited her and her three grandchildren to their carnival.
The FAMU-FSU (FAMSTATE) Engineers NSBE hosts its national A Walk for Education. This year's Leon County event was hosted at the Walker-Ford Community Center in the Bond community.
The event included a community walk distributing educational literature about FAMU-FSU's college of engineering, scholarship information, SAT/ACT information, information about admissions cost, fitness, ways to stay safe, health issues that affect the community, ways to get healthy and maintain healthy lifestyles and community outreach information.
FAMSTATE NSBE volunteer, Felicia Jones said, "The event extends past passing out educational materials.”
Teaching Our Youth Science (TOYS) is a science organization that participated in the walk and volunteered for the event. TOYS set up many experimental science stations that engaged the youth participating.
"It was great to see how things look in the Ocean as babies and grow in an experimental tube, my grandchildren enjoyed themselves," Dunlap said.
Over 50 members of the Bond community participated in the many educational activities, science experiments, food, music and games provided. This was the first time the event was held at Walker-Ford for the Bond community.
Walker-Ford Center Supervisor, Sedrick Swan said, "We plan to have the event again."
While interacting with college students and doing experiments, the kids looked like they were having fun. Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) exposes young adults early: with the kids getting practice doing experiments now, experiments on a higher level will make more since to them later.
Many FAMU-FSU organizations volunteered in support of the FAM-STATE chapter of NSBE during AWFE.
Garneisha Hibbert, the Technical Outreach and Community Help (T.O.R.C.H.) chair for the FAM-STATE NSBE chapter, said student organization volunteers, Bond community and Walker-Ford Community were a major part of the success of the event.
Student organizations and volunteers’ from; Teaching Our Youth Science (TOYS), the FAMU-FSU undergraduate and graduate chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity, FAMU Kappa Epsilon, FAMU STEM NSBE and the FAM-STATE Engineering NSBE assisted in facilitating the activities and events of the walk.
For more information about FAM-STATE NSBE's A Walk For Education (AWFE), e-mail torch.famstate@gmail.com. #AWFE