The first cohort of Blueprint participants were identified by their teachers, their parents or by members of their communities as being passionate about STEM. Blueprint is about giving them the tools they need to take the next steps.” “The switch has been flipped, they sense that STEM is for them, and they want to know more. “After a decade of running programs like these, we now see a critical mass of students,” says Dawn Britton, Associate Director, Engineering Student Outreach. Delivered in collaboration with the U of T Chapter of NSBE, ENGage has been running for 10 years, and aims to spark a lifelong interest in STEM.ĮNGage has also spawned new programs, such as Launch: Science and Engineering Camp, which has run in various neighbourhoods around Toronto since 2018, and ENGage High School Saturdays, which began in 2020. “By connecting students with mentors - Black undergraduate students at U of T Engineering who are also members of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) - that have also had that experience, we were able to start building a whole new community.”īlueprint builds on other U of T outreach programs, such as ENGage, aimed at Black students in Grades 3 to 8. “As a Black student who graduated in STEM from a Canadian university, I relate to that feeling,” says Abraham. She joined Engineering Outreach in 2019 with a mandate to enhance programs focused on equity, diversity and inclusion, and directed the team that designed and delivered Blueprint. “I often hear Black students say that they are the only ones who look like them in their classrooms,” says Cassandra Abraham. In its first year, Blueprint has attracted more than 50 participants from across Canada. It offers them a chance to extend their knowledge of STEM topics, and connects them with mentors who can help them understand what it is like to study and work in STEM on a day-to-day basis. Launched this summer, Blueprint engages Black students in Grades 9 to 11 who have a love of STEM.

A new U of T Engineering outreach program is empowering Black students from across Canada to explore their future in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Blueprint math program