Women of Color Awards Conference
Jerome Mitchell, ONR Research Student

It’s not easy being a woman of color. Women of color were challenged with obstacles and struggles since the birth of America. In the beginning, women of color weren’t allowed to have part of their own life. The women of color were forced to become second-class citizens. As the 20th century approached, women began claiming their position as first class citizens. They began to develop the curiosity that would lead them to male dominant roles. Many of the dominant roles that women of color have adopted as their own have contributed a great deal to the country that had been cruel and unfair to them. These roles included industrial, commercial, governmental, researched sciences, and technological careers. Researched sciences and technological careers have been instrumental in the world because they have led to cure for diseases and enabling the disability to be comfortable. It has been rare that women of color have been recognized for these great accomplishments. No Longer must the general public wait to applaud these great emeralds.

As a student researcher for ONR/NASA/NOAA, I have found that it would be both vain and presumptuous to conclude that the National Women of Color Awards Conference was not informative. The awards conference was held in Nashville, Tennessee at the Resort and Convocation Center at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel on September 12-13. Companies that sponsored the conference were NASA Glenn Research Center, NASA Kennedy Space Center, Equal Opportunity Program, Abbott Laboratories, and DuPont. The conference’s theme was “Rising on the Elements of Discovery.” It not only honored individuals, but it also provided others with the knowledge that success is possible, allowing opportunities for women. Students from Elizabeth City State University, Virginia State University, University of Maryland, Morgan State University, and Coppedge State College attended the conference. The students from these major historical black colleges were engaged in several workshops. The workshops were Networking Reception, College Student Orientation, Invest in Me Leadership Training Part III: “Delegation & Team-Building,” and Part IV “Leadership & Emerging Technologies.” (continued below photos)

Antonio Watson moderated the workshop on Networking Reception and College Student Orientation. The moderator explained that the attendance of students is inevitable because it would allow them to “discover the secrets of unparalleled success” and “understand that opportunity will change your life.” Attendance at the conference would enable students to network with professional women of color in fields of research sciences and technology. The motivational speech encouraged students to “expand their horizons,” and “get something out of life” and “don’t measure on the loss of opportunity.” The speech ended with one important key factor: Know Women in Technology. Knowing women in technology would require students to introduce themselves, to talk about how the honorees got where they are today, and to take advantage of the weekend (education, and career changes).
The presenter for the College Student Orientation was Dianne Jones. The presenter is the manager of GEM. GEM is a fellowship program created in 1968 to offer opportunities for underrepresented minority students to obtain Master Degrees and Ph.D Degrees. The presentation was entitled “Master Your Future” which gave three subtopics: Dare to prepare, Practice what you preach, and what love got to do with it. The first subtopic encouraged reading and being updated with material related to your field of study. Know your strengths and weaknesses, Be a volunteer (share experience), protect your assets (health, family), negotiate (convince people what you deserve), say please and thank you, and be prepared for everything. The second subtopic required students to speak the truth. Master all forms of communication; students are either circular (students take a long time to getting to the point) or linear (students are to the point). The third subtopic explained that students must love what they do. The triangle of love provided relational love as the stepping-stone, preceded by personal love, then spiritual love.

Being a computer science major, The Invest in Me Leadership Part IV “Leadership & Emerging Technologies” was a workshop that interested me the most. Judy Smith, who is a member of Booze Allen Hamilton’s senior leadership team of the Defense Information Technology Group, presented the workshop on “Emerging & Leadership Technologies.” The workshop gave some helpful ideas on new technological tools that would give an organization the advantage over the competition in coming years. It interested me the most because I could learn about new internet applications, social software, and untethered nanotechnology. According to the presentation, biometrics would be a common feature in the future environment. Biometrics deals with biological data that are stored on the person using a bar code. The presenter suggested that a student should be a “computational athlete.” In order to become a “computational athlete” a student can’t be afraid to change, write down achievable goals, and analyze the gap between technological and non-technological software.

The conference ended with the celebration of the awards banquet. The master of ceremonies was Bill Grimmette, who told a story of survival as each honoree was receiving her award. Each honoree provided a story, which depicted her struggle in America, and provided a message that could help others reach their internal goal.

Having experience my first conference, I have learned many things. Attending the conference has provided me with the opportunity to revise my educational and career goals. Women of color have bridged the gap for future students, and being a student, I plan to take advantage of those endeavors.