Pre-College STEM Program Launches Engineering Major’s Plans and Career
“As a ninth grader in high school, I had never seen a black engineer. I didn’t even know like they I knew they existed. But it was really hard for me to think that was obtainable for myself since I had never seen it.”
Terrell Galloway spent a summer working at a naval nuclear lab on projects that he can’t discuss. “It was a really, really cool project,” he said, sharing only that his work involved fuel for submarines.
When the senior mechanical engineering major graduates from the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering in December 2021, he hopes to go back to work there or at a similar organization.
These plans for his future began when he finished the eighth grade and learned about “Investing Now,” a pre-college STEM program operating in Pittsburgh.
The program, which his mother found through a Google search for “robotics,” was a natural fit for him because of his interest in robotics.
At first, he was reluctant. “I didn’t want to do the application. Not a lot of students want to give up their summer as a high schooler. But as soon as I came to the program – ever since the first day, it really changed my mind,” he said.
He spent summers during his high school years doing math and science activities and taking courses to prepare him for college.
As a current senior in college, he said he is just now working on “computational fluid dynamics” – a field that he had worked on as a junior in high school.
Galloway is still working with the program, serving as a student coordinator. In addition, he and two other graduates of Investing Now have formed “Future Kings,” a mentoring program for young black men in the Pittsburgh area.
Future King’s mission is to cultivate and develop male-identifying black youth into realizing they are Future Kings — young, successful leaders in their careers, in their communities and in their worlds.
Galloway said Future Kings seeks to address the crippling psychological effects on black men that stem from a history of slavery, Jim Crow-era laws and mass incarceration. They believe that by mentoring young, black, male-identifying students, they can stop the cycle by encouraging them and showing that they are capable of great success.
Through his experiences with Investing Now, he helped develop countless other skills that he hopes to share with the 30 students who will join the first cohort of Future Kings in the summer of 2020.
Galloway is extremely mindful of how his pre-college STEM programs shaped him and also instilled in him the importance of giving back.
If it weren’t for his experiences with Investing Now, Galloway said he is certain his life would be different now.
“I don’t think I would be an engineer if it wasn’t for Investing Now, because Investing Now wasn’t the only program I was in through Investing Now. I was able to get into the National Society of Black Engineers. And that’s where I was able to see that there are black engineers in the world,” he said.
“As a ninth grader in high school, I had never seen a black engineer. I didn’t even know like they I knew they existed. But it was really hard for me to think that was obtainable for myself since I had never seen it.”
Listen to Terrell Galloway explain his pre-college STEM Experience