Math Students Celebrate Black STEM Innovators

Students in Elizabeth Moore’s eighth grade Honors Algebra 1 and tenth grade Algebra 2 celebrated Black STEM innovators during Black History Month in February. They each chose an innovator who interested them, read about that person’s background and achievements, and created a Google slide that encompassed what they had learned. 

Students covered the early lives, accomplishments, obstacles, and legacies of over 25 innovators from the last 300 years. Their STEM fields included astronomy, neuroscience, medicine, chemistry, physics, engineering, and more. Many of these innovators, such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Alice Ball, Christine Darden, and Annie Easley, worked for NASA or in academia.

Some students, like Charlotte Nesevich ’25, were able to successfully contact their innovators. Charlotte chose Dr. Aprille Ericsson-Jackson, a NASA aerospace engineer and the first woman to earn her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Howard University. Dr. Ericsson-Jackson replied to Charlotte, and they connected over their shared interest in math and softball.

This March, math students will celebrate women in STEM as part of Women’s History Month.

By Katie Kasperson ’17, Marketing and Communications Intern