As one of the first recipients of SME’s new Irving P. McPhail Scholarship, Brayden Miller is pursuing an associate degree in electrical and mechanical engineering at Rose State College. From there, he plans to transfer to a four-year university to get a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

April is Celebrate Diversity Month, and the SME Education Foundation continues to reinforce its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) by providing increased programming opportunities to underrepresented students in communities across the country.

Racine Case High School in Wisconsin has transformed their SME PRIME program by creating a machine-repair career pathway, implementing new courses, and providing students with training experience using a Festo equipment training system.

A sophomore at Georgia Tech, scholarships are critical to sustaining Gideon Ndeh. “Scholarships are life changing. They shift the momentum; allow focus on my education. They’ve been a necessity — they’ve changed everything. I feel blessed.”

Last year, nearly 900 students from 30 high schools in 12 U.S. states participated in Student Summits that took place at four SME events: RAPID + TCT, EASTEC, SOUTHTEC and WESTEC. In all, nine full days of Student Summits — made possible by a donation from the Arconic Foundation — took place during the SME events.