Irene Duah-Kessie grew up in West Humber-Clairville, a neighbourhood whose second-largest visible minority group is Black, making up 18 per cent of the population. She says Black residents here lack opportunities to pursue STEM — that is, science, technology, engineering and math — which encompasses fields that encourage innovation, problem-solving and critical thinking.
When starting her bachelor’s degree in life sciences at McMaster University in 2012, and while working on her master’s degree in sustainability management at the University of Toronto in 2017, Duah-Kessie noticed a lack of diversity among her peers and professors.
“When I had gone into higher education, I had noticed really quickly that there [were] not many people that looked like me, particularly Black students in STEM,” she explains.
Duah-Kessie says that for Black youth, barriers to entering STEM fields start at school. More suspensions and policing of Black students lead to higher dropout rates. Between 2011 and 2016, 48 per cent of suspended students in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) identified as Black. As of 2023, they accounted for 24.8 per cent.
Recently, the TDSB has been taking a closer look at anti-Black racism in its disciplinary actions through the Caring and Safe Schools team.
Because she saw a lack of Black representation in STEM while in university, Duah-Kessie launched Rise in STEM in 2019. The youth-led grassroots organization aims to help Black and other underserved youth learn about the varied career pathways in STEM.
In January, Rise in STEM launched STEM Athletics, a first-of-its-kind program in Toronto’s west end that teaches the science behind sports.
The 12-week program for seventh and eighth graders at St. Dorothy Catholic School has 20 to 30 students attending every week. Participants spend time in the library during the program’s STEM-focused portion, learning about different career pathways, while they assess game strategy and play in the gym. They also learn about performance analytics, equipment design, the physics behind movement and more.
STEM Athletics also features guest speakers from different industries and hosts workshops across the city, such as the Toronto Raptors Hack-A-Thon.
“I learned how to analyze data and track my findings,” says Abel Tesfaye, an eighth grade student at St. Dorothy Catholic School.
“I feel like [I like] the technology part because it’s really interesting,” says Victor Antonio Moran, another eighth grade student at St. Dorothy Catholic School. “In the future, technology will be really important, and I feel like if we learn about it now, it will help us [to] be better for the future.”
Bryan Addo is the program coordinator of STEM Athletics. He says that through the program, students visit the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) Centre, where they learn about the relationship between athletics and gaming, career pathways in e-sports and virtual reality, and game strategies. They also met professionals in sports with STEM backgrounds, such as strengthening coaches and staff on e-sports operations teams, who look like them.
“If you don’t see yourself in these areas, how would you possibly even want to be in these areas, right? I think representation is very very important, especially in the STEM fields,” Addo says.
Looking ahead, Rise in STEM hopes to partner with more organizations to introduce STEM to different sports, like soccer and hockey, and launch programming in schools beyond Etobicoke.
