Tufts Blogs

In the midst of a very busy second semester there was always one shining light promising rest and relaxation: spring break. Originally, I just planned on spending my week at home with my family, but when the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) announced their annual convention would be in person in Anaheim, California and the Tufts chapter planned to attend I knew I had to take this amazing opportunity to find community with Black engineers in a place much warmer than Massachusetts (for free!). 

After joining NSBE last semester, it very quickly became a family to me. As a Black engineer going to a PWI, there are times when being in a classroom where no one looks like you can be discouraging, but NSBE has always been there encouraging me to continue at every step of the way. I always look forward to going to their events, whether it be study halls to chat and do work or alumni panels filled with useful advice for navigating undergraduate studies. Since it is a pre-professional society, NSBE has also been integral in my professional development. As a first-year student, I had no idea what the process of finding internships would look like, but NSBE held workshops for resumes, advice panels from recruiters in top companies, and shared opportunities for internships that focused on students from diverse backgrounds. With their help, I was able to land my first internship in the New Technologist program offered by Cyborg Mobile and Microsoft!

I thought that traveling with NSBE and meeting people from the organization all over the country would be amazing, but I never imagined how great the impact on me would be. Our club arrived a day before the convention started and we got some time to explore southern California together. After enjoying the hotel’s pool and hot tub, we got a late lunch at Bubba Gumps which had amazing seafood before heading to Long Beach to enjoy a west coast sunset for the first time. We ended the day with In and Out (not as good as Shake Shack in my opinion) and got a good night’s rest before the actual convention started.

The convention itself was a life changing experience. For the first time, I was surrounded by thousands of successful Black engineers at different stages in their engineering journeys. It was extremely affirming to see so many engineers that looked like me and had similar experiences to mine. I was in awe at the way Black culture was at the forefront of the entire convention and how it was embraced by each and every one of the participants. I got to take advantage of so many resources like workshops held by top professionals in their fields, networking events held by companies from many different industries, and most importantly, a career and grad school fair where I was able to network and form critical early connections with recruiters (I also became best friends with LinkedIn). I’m extremely grateful to have been able to go to this convention and even more so grateful to have gone with my NSBE Family.