West Coast-based Summer Math and Science Honors Academy (SMASH) welcomes Morehouse College, making it the first historically black campus to join the elite STEM program, according to an article from The Undefeated. The main mission of the academy, which trains high school students in a five-week residential summer program, is reportedly to identify and train African American and Latino technology workers. SMASH was created in 2004 by Level Playing Field Institute (LPFI) in Oakland, California and has academies at UC Berkeley, the program’s original site, Stanford University, UCLA and UC Davis.
Only 11% of the country’s science and engineering workforce is African-American or Latino, and that group earns just 17% of all science and engineering degrees, according to the article. Morehouse College will host a SMASH Pathways bridge program this summer with 39 rising ninth graders from underrepresented areas of Atlanta and will host a full SMASH Academy residential program next year with rising 10th through 12th graders. Morehouse reportedly hopes that after several summers of exposure, some students will choose to attend the college upon their graduation.
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