By Kiara Doyal
AVELA – A Vision for Engineering Literacy & Access, a registered non-profit student group at the University of Washington (UW), focuses on bridging opportunity gaps in public education and supporting underrepresented minority students. It is helping to create a brighter future for the next generation of STEM leaders, especially from communities of color.
Over the past few years, AVELA has experienced significant growth. The organization carries out its mission to reduce access inequalities for Black and Latino communities through a mentorship model that is culturally responsive.
According to Kyle Johnson, Executive Director and Co-Founder of AVELA, the organization is comprised of underrepresented minority students, as defined by the National Science Foundation, who represent the communities they serve. These students go out and teach various science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics to their peers.
For new UW students, AVELA offers hands-on experience in developing and presenting STEM activities. While participation is open to all, AVELA specifically encourages freshmen, sophomores, and graduate students at UW to join, particularly those interested in building hands-on project and mentorship experiences. This approach allows students at different stages of their academic journey to contribute to the community while gaining valuable experience that can bolster their own educational and career aspirations.
Driven by a desire to create meaningful change and to address the disparities that many students from underrepresented backgrounds face, Johnson, along with a few other students, launched AVELA in 2019 to address the educational gaps they experienced in their secondary school education.
“After my study abroad trip to South Africa in 2019, I realized that systemic issues require systemic solutions,” says Johnson. “I came together with some peers, and we created the first AVELA chapter here at the University of Washington.”
Johnson says that the core values of the organization—Ubuntu, adaptation, and representation, while honoring community and integrity—help provide the framework for their success and ensure that the organization’s programs are tailored to the needs and interests of the students being served, making the educational experience more engaging and effective.
“There is this South African phrase, Ubuntu, which means having humanity towards others,” says Johnson. “Our outreach programs focus on being convenient for students rather than staff, ensuring that the teaching process is student-focused and student-led.”
Over the last five years, AVELA has supported approximately 400 underrepresented college students in the Seattle area and about 5,000 secondary school students in Washington State. The organization creates and leads workshops, camps, panels, and other forms of community outreach, allowing university members to share their experiences with colleges and industries, as well as their technical expertise. These activities not only benefit the students who participate but also help to build a stronger community of learners and educators who are committed to making a positive impact.
“AVELA employs a multi-tier near-peer mentorship model where graduate students mentor undergraduates, who then mentor secondary school students,” says Johnson. “We share our research, involve them in our projects, and then they teach those topics to the next generation.”
This cascading mentorship model ensures that knowledge and skills are passed down through multiple levels, creating a sustainable cycle of learning and teaching.
Adaptability is a key strength of AVELA. As a student-led organization, AVELA prioritizes student communities by listening to their interests and accommodating their schedules.
“Being adaptable means using our outreach programs to listen to what students are interested in and what they have time for,” says Johnson. This flexibility allows AVELA to remain relevant and responsive to the evolving needs of the students it serves.
Saara Uthmaan, an Informatics & Writing Major and Outreach Lead for UW AVELA, joined the organization at the end of her freshman year, which provided her with an opportunity to explore new fields and gain confidence in her abilities.
“My first experience with AVELA was doing this mini-learning program, where we were taught HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and that was how I first got involved,” says Uthmaan.
“At the time, I wasn’t a technology major, I wasn’t a STEM major, I was a writing major,” she continued. “So, AVELA allowed me to start from zero, learn something, and then go out into the community and pass it off to other students.”
AVELA aims to motivate more Black students, especially women of color, to become interested in STEM and technology. According to Johnson, among AVELA’s 400 members, 90% are Black, 10% are Latino, and about 75% are female, and with proper mentorship and access to technology those numbers could quickly start to increase. The organization creates lesson plans for projects that cater to the specific interests of students while covering the academic concepts required by state Common Core Standards.
“There is this huge notion that women, specifically women of color, don’t want to get into technology fields, and I think a part of what we do here at AVELA has been to show that if you have the right systems in place, instead of being pushed to non-tech fields, you will find that women of color will thrive in droves in tech. 70% of our STEM instructors are women,” says Johnson.
Samira Shirazy, a Human Centered Design & Engineering Major and UW AVELA President, says that AVELA partners with local middle schools, high schools, and community centers with high populations of Black and Brown youth to ensure the program reaches its target demographic. According to Shirazy, these partnerships are critically important for reaching students who might otherwise not have access to STEM opportunities.
“A large part of what we have seen in these different areas is the lack of access to physical technology, and experienced mentors,” says Johnson. “A problem that a lot of students in the Black community experience is that the low representation within STEM fields leads into a whole myriad of different issues, like economic disenfranchisement, racial profiling, and then a lack of community when you do try and go into these fields.”
By providing more opportunities for underrepresented students at all levels to pursue their interests in college and STEM, AVELA is hopeful that the Black community will continue to grow within the STEM field, as they will continue to represent the populations they are aiming to support.
“We have made fun activities for students to be excited about STEM-related subjects and as well as showing them someone that looks like them at a young age, to give them this impression in their mind, and continue growing and being involved in STEM,” says Uthmaan.
This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship lab. The lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBC Universal.
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