Nineteen-year old, Alexavier Williams (left), 21 year old, Amare Williams, 19-year-old Cadyn Alexanderia Wells, and 19-year-old Tianna Alicia Haliburton (right) are HBCU students and volunteer for the Elaine Bryan Foundation.
(Marlon Hyde/WABE)
An Atlanta-based nonprofit is expanding a mentorship program for high school and college students to prepare them for high-paying tech careers.
The Elaine Bryan Foundation recently brought together community advocates, elected officials and business leaders to celebrate its 16th anniversary.
The organization helps Georgia high school and early college students secure scholarships, jobs, and internships in science, technology, engineering and math.
One of the students, 19-year-old Tianna Alicia Haliburton, says she’s already benefiting from her work with the foundation.
A native of Trelawny, a parish in northwest Jamaica, she wants to work on maternal mortality as an obstetrician-gynecologist.
“Specifically for Caribbean women,” said Haliburton, a freshman health science major at Spelman College. “We face a lot of reproductive health issues that a lot of times is stigmatized and not really catered to towards our community.”
Elaine Grant-Bryan, the Honorary Consul for Jamaica in Atlanta, runs the nonprofit.
“Seventeen years ago, I had the dream, you know, oh, I’m gonna fix the thing in Georgia in terms of education. They’re not teaching these students good. Let me do something about it. I didn’t know it would be this hard,” said Grant-Bryan.
Elaine Grant-Bryan, the Honorary Consul for Jamaica in Atlanta, runs the non profit. Her organization helps Georgia high school and early college students secure scholarships, jobs, and internships in science, technology engineering and math. (Marlon Hyde/ WABE)
Student volunteers with the foundation say they have received scholarships and support with shaping their career aspirations through the non-profit. Like 19-year-old Alexavier Williams, a sophomore biology major at Morehouse College.
“I want to go into the world of pediatrics. I feel like, especially for children of color, I feel there’s not enough representation in those fields,” said Williams. “I also want to open my own practice in the Caribbean.”
Georgia State House representative Arlene Beckles, State Rep. Billy Mitchell, and Lisa Cupid, the Chairwoman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, were among the elected officials who attended the foundation’s recent luncheon. Representatives from companies including Delta, Home Depot and Microsoft also joined the event.
His Excellency Major General Antony Bertram Anderson, the current Jamaican ambassador to the United States, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens spoke to about 200 attendees.
His Excellency Major General Antony Bertram Anderson, the current Jamaican ambassador to the United States and Atlanta’s Mayor Andre Dickens spoke to about 200 attendees. (Marlon Hyde/WABE)
Dickens, who has an engineering degree from Georgia Tech, says that as more tech jobs and opportunities open up here, he wants local students to be ready.
“Because when young people are given opportunities, they do more than just succeed individually, they move an entire city forward,” said Dickens.
Twenty-one-year-old Amare Williams, a junior biology major at Morehouse, agrees.
The HBCU student, whose ultimate goal is to become a neurosurgeon and give back to the Caribbean by addressing healthcare disparities, believes that the Elaine Bryan Foundation has greatly helped him develop his STEM skills.
Being a participant has also helped strengthen the abilities of 19-year-old Cadyn Alexanderia Wells, a sophomore at Spelman College, who plans to become a pediatric pulmonary surgeon.
“I want to do research on pulmonary sarcoidosis and how it can be prevented in early ages, and I also want to open up a pediatric free clinic in the Caribbean,” said Wells.
Registration is now open for the foundation’s summer mentorship program.
