Led by two Teach For America corps members Shauna Tulloch and Shantil Barber, the mustangs won first AND second place in the middle school egg drop competition! The competition was a fun way for our students to practice essential science skills like measurement, creating a hypothesis, and conducting an experiment. They were also were awarded third place OVERALL in the middle school division for outstanding averages in egg drop, banner, poster, mousetrap car, water bottle rocket, and computer coding. This was an enormous win for the Mustangs as there were over 600 students from 46 different schools in attendance.

The Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering (SECME) is a strategic alliance partnering schools, universities and government programs. The program aims to increase the pool of historically underrepresented, underserved, and differently-abled students who will be prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology, thus creating a diverse and globally competitive workforce. According to the US Department of Education, only about 40 percent of public high schools serving predominantly African American students offer physics. This lack of access to foundational STEM skills puts African American students at a significant disadvantage in preparing for advanced STEM courses and careers in the future.

Despite the statistics, programs like SECME and teachers like Ms. Tulloch and Ms. Barber ensure that our students will be not be defined by their circumstances. Our students, underrepresented or not, have so much potential. What they lack however, is equal access to opportunities that effectively prepare them for a future that is not limited by their socioeconomic status.

For our community, this victory is more than just an awesome accomplishment, it sends a very important message to the world -- that our kids can accomplish anything they put their minds to and where they come from will not dictate where they have the potential to go. With unlimited support and strong leadership from dedicated teachers such as Ms. Tulloch and Ms. Barber, the possibilities for our kids are endless. Watch out world, the Mustangs are on the way!