Chelsea Coleman Acosta loves participating in the North Carolina Math/Science Education Network Pre-College Program (MSEN) at her school. The eighth grader has been in the program for three years, since its pilot year at her school in 2022. When the school opened for the new year, Coleman Acosta kept hounding Mr. Wilson, her MSEN teacher at Neal Magnet Middle School in Durham, North Carolina, about when the program was starting back up and asked when her friend’s little brother– who has been waiting years to start middle school, be part of the program and play with water bottle rockets– could apply. 

STEM engagement is at the heart of MSEN’s mission, and these are only two of the many examples of how much students love the program.

“I really like the classes they provide and how they let us choose our own electives,” says Coleman Acosta. “I also like that my friends participate in it too, because I get to be with them, and also the [NC State] campus is really nice. We learn a lot in our electives, and all the information they gave us, we can apply it into real life.”

One of the highlights of MSEN is the annual field trip to the Lenovo campus in Morrisville, North Carolina. In October 2024, Lenovo’s Black Leaders Achieving Success in Technology (BLAST) employee resource group hosted over 200 middle and high school MSEN students on their campus for a day of STEM activities, exposure to Lenovo technology and networking opportunities with Lenovo employees. Students were from Durham Public Schools, Edgecombe County Public Schools, Rocky Mount Prep and the Wake County Public School System. Activities included PC server building, elevator pitches, a design thinking activity, user experience accessibility learning and a presentation by the Franklin Academy robotics team.

“It’s just a vehicle for us to also introduce STEM to the kids,” said Markesha Parker, ThinkAgile VX Worldwide Technical Lead at Lenovo, about the Lenovo field trip. “We have a lot of resources when it comes to introducing STEM, but MSEN does have that great pool of talent that kind of cuts out us having to go and research where we can find all these kids.”

Since 2020, Lenovo has donated $50,000 to the MSEN program, additionally providing volunteers from BLAST to help with MSEN events. Their funding has allowed MSEN to host more students, specifically those from low-income households, serving over 1,340 students over the past few years.

“I am just grateful that this program does exist,” said Parker. “I don’t recall any specific engineering or STEM-related programs when I was coming up. We had programs that could introduce you to various fields but none that were just specific to STEM…it’s always great to have a good program so that we can kind of make sure a lot of people are getting that same exposure and experience…I love this program. I love it.”

Research suggests that exposing middle school students to career paths is beneficial for students to increase their likelihood of graduating high school and going to college, plus they can gain the skills needed to become successful in their career choice.

“It’s just a perfect opportunity for us to open the door for our kids to get that exposure.”
-J.J. Wilson, Science Teacher and After-School Program Lead, Neal Magnet Middle School

“Research shows that children in seventh grade know their career path so, if you expose them in sixth grade, build upon it in seventh grade, they at least have an idea, even if it changes, when they get to high school,” said Nicole Edwards, assistant principal at Neal Magnet Middle School. “When you look at where the world is going, there is not a field that’s not tied to STEM. So, it would make sense to have more of our kids to learn about these hands-on activities, and although every student may not attend college, there are careers that are STEM-related that they can still participate in…We’re preparing them for the 21st century.” 

In addition to exposing students to STEM, activities like the Lenovo field trip provide an opportunity for students to experience the possibilities of a STEM-related career.

“STEM fields are the highest paying fields with a bachelor’s degree,” said Braska Williams, director of the MSEN program at NC State. “Degrees in these fields can really change financial mobility within families. There is a need for more people from various backgrounds in STEM to solve major issues in our world: climate change, technology needs, medicines, clean water and food. We need different approaches on how to solve these issues.” 

Edwards says that some of her students have never been outside of Durham, and MSEN is playing a major part in providing her students with opportunities they never had and the career paths they might have never chosen. She has been working with MSEN since 2007 and sees the value it provides her students.

“I saw the benefits, and those students were earning scholarships to school,” said Edwards. “They were continuing to follow the STEM path.”

One of Edwards’ former students, a local 10th grader who piloted the program in eighth grade, continues to join Neal students in their trek to MSEN’s Saturday Academy program at NC State in Raleigh. He’s won the stock competition event for the last two years and has won about $500 in awards.

Neal’s MSEN after-school program lead and science teacher J.J. Wilson believes that MSEN provides opportunities for his students that they wouldn’t normally have.

“For the kids, it’s the opportunity to actually be able to do things that they’re not able to do in their daily life,” said Wilson. “The fact that they’re going on field trips, like Miss Edward says, a lot of kids have never even stepped outside their neighborhood. For them to just be able to go on various field trips, which the program has allowed them to do over the past three years, has been very mind boggling for them.”

Wilson says that Williams and his team have tailored the program to fit his students’ interests, offering more college tours, hands-on activities and trips to local plants to see how technologies are manufactured. Williams also finds ways for students to participate even if they have financial barriers. He ensures that all students get the opportunities they need to be successful.

“It’s just a perfect opportunity for us to open the door for our kids to get that exposure,” said Wilson. “When they get to high school, they already have an idea….that exposure helps to narrow down what they see themselves doing in the future. So I think by having this opportunity and getting our population of students in there, it will open the door for years to come, like we said, ‘We’re safe for the future.’”