From Engineering to Equity: A Journey Towards Disrupting the Status Quo

Reflecting on lessons learned from a challenging undergraduate experience and embracing a new perspective on career success as a means to disrupt inequitable systems via community-driven innovations.

Time has a funny way of being patronizingly patterned…

Early this morning, while sifting through my rolodex of undergraduate emails connecting me to colleagues from a time seemingly far, far away, I happened upon an attached academic improvement scholarship essay, titled “Up to Snuff”. I wrote this essay during my final semester at the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering, but I have no recollection as to why I even wrote it in the first place.

In this essay, I spoke of one of the most challenging times I experienced in undergrad where, through a well-intentioned attempt to finally enjoy my college experience, I ended up overdoing it, becoming overwhelmed in my dance and kickboxing classes on top of some of the most difficult engineering classes I’d taken throughout my entire academic career. This led to the inevitable withdrawals from the fun classes on top of the difficult ones.

The lesson learned was that I needed to strategically use my time to enjoy my college experience. This experience shifted my perspective from seeing coursework as an obstacle keeping me from graduating to understanding my college experience as a learning opportunity to figure out how I learn best while unashamedly asking for help. The activities I partook in didn’t necessarily matter if I felt valued, my stress was limited, and I had a support system to help me navigate through my challenges. This perspective shift made my final year in undergrad much more enjoyable.

Though the improvement in my GPA during my final semesters of undergrad was marginal, I felt much better about myself and my ability to succeed as a professional equipped to go out into the real world despite not knowing whether I’d pursue engineering or another tangential career (e.g., engineering education). The lack of clarity on where my career was going didn’t seem to matter as much if I continued to move forward as a lifelong learner offering value in the way I felt best aligned with my skillset and passions.

You probably don’t know this, but I’ve been on medical leave for a solid month now with at least 2 months to go. My current job as the Dean of Postsecondary Success at a high school in Detroit will likely conclude when I’m medically allowed to return to work in favor of remote work for accessibility purposes since my disability prohibits me from driving.

Upon reflecting on where my career is heading (which was why I was initially sifting through emails to reconnect with likeminded peers), a few hours later, a Facebook memory notified me that today marks exactly 7 years since I graduated with my BSE in mechanical engineering.

If you know me well enough, you know the number 7 resonates with me in many meaningful ways because it marks the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another. It has shown up in my life in numerous ways that I’d rather not recount, but I acknowledge it as the number of completion.

The past 7 days were characterized by an intellectual crisis that eventually led to some level of practical clarity over my career. Though it may not be my purpose to singlehandedly change the world through equity-focused qualitative research in STEM education, I’m finally gaining a grasp of the language I’ve been missing to characterize my real interests and potential pursuits to leave my uniquely small mark on the world.

Since I had success with scholarships and fell in love with education outreach, I thought I was always going to champion college access and success. However, after navigating through academia and seeing the many systemic gaps, power imbalances, and inequitable policies abroad, I’m starting to gain a larger perspective on what’s going on. I’m not saying I have anything figured out. In fact, I’m acknowledging the opposite. I’m saying there’s so much we don’t know and there’s a few idealized concepts we haven’t applied at-scale yet that intrigue me while also challenging my initial ideas that led me down the research path I initially chose.

I navigated to grad school with deep aspirations to overhaul the engineering education system so that Black and Brown students could thrive in conjunction with empowering these same students to find liberation through entrepreneurship (i.e., to gain financial autonomy outside of predominately white corporations). I'm now seeing the underlying issues with this logic far beyond what I thought when I published my dissertation. The more I learn about/experience the ramifications of capitalism, propaganda, and the lack of access, in general, to fulfill needs, the more I've become disillusioned with where we're headed and how much weight people put into the status quo staying the same, or even worse, being automated.

Instead, I want to challenge the inequitable systems that be and disrupt the status quo. I don’t want to sell out to corporations, government agencies, foundations, and the like. I want to address existential challenges in a think tank focused on justice, community-driven innovation, and sustainable development. I don’t want to push for economic and workforce development, expecting students to willingly pull themselves up by their own bootstraps to navigate an education system that caters to the wealthy, compels the minoritized to be compliant, and severely underestimates the power of minoritized individuals to leverage their sense of agency, autonomy, and authenticity to solve challenges of the world today.

I will learn about these systems, collaborate with individuals looking to address the myriad of challenges at the intersection of public policy, moral philosophy, science, and technology, and work toward building a community of advocates seeking to disrupt the status quo in favor of supporting our community shareholders for the public good.

In other words, I’m shifting my perspective from viewing my career as a vehicle to achieve acquisitive success (i.e., credentials, awards, and money) to that of a way to unlock our wholistic success as a collective. Of course, my priority is my family, but I find a deep sense of purpose in loving people and meeting them where they are.

Reflect on your own journey, identify what truly matters to you, and take action to pursue your passions while making a positive impact on the world. It's important to challenge the inequitable systems in place and work towards a more just and sustainable future for all.

Perhaps we can collaborate on ways to build a future where we all win!