Trenisha Goslee

Last year, while I was standing with my sixth-grade all-Black team at a National STEM competition in Houston, Texas, I looked around surprised (or maybe not) at what I saw. With the 58 middle school teams they were competing against, I could count on a few fingers how many other teams looked like them. What was even more shocking, as our team went to the “trade floor” — a space for companies to talk about their business and expose students to different STEM careers — and heard companies talk about robots to repair wind turbines and new technology for solar energy, no one speaking to them looked like them. None of them were Black. I found two Black women with badges on and ran over to them. I told them I’ve been searching for an exhibit to show my team that had Black people working it. She looked at me sadly and said, “This isn’t our exhibit. We were just hired to tell people to watch their step, so they won’t trip.” I knew right then something had to change. How could I prepare my...