Editor’s note: People of UW is a human interest series produced by The Badger Herald staff members. The series aims to highlight a student or student group at the University of Wisconsin making an impact on the campus community. These Q&As are lightly edited or shortened for clarity and style.
Please introduce yourself (hometown, year, major, role on campus).
My name is Marco Assam. I am a junior studying civil engineering here. I am a president of the National Society of Black Engineers this year, which has been really exciting. I grew up in Cameroon, but now live in Maryland.
What does the NSBE work to achieve?
NSBE is a national organization with chapters across the country. Our mission is really to cultivate the next generation of engineers, in every multicultural way and empower them to do great in their personal, professional and academic journeys.
We have different zones that we work in including our academic and professional excellence zone, creating study tables and cultivating academic resources. We have our pre-college initiative working with our local middle schools and high schools to make sure that that pipeline starts as early as possible. We have our outreach zone, which works with other organizations on campus. Additionally, the technical outreach and community health zone — our big volunteering zone. Overall the mission is to cultivate the next generation of engineers and these subzones really help.
What are the benefits of being involved and what are NSBE members doing?
Something that NSBE provides that is unique is a community of people who you can lean on in the professional, academic and personal sense. The school of engineering is very collaborative, especially for students in minority groups, where it can be hard to work otherwise. Having a support system for members to guide them through that experience is great. The opportunities the organization provides, like study space during finals, volunteer opportunities and even a shadow program with our executive board can help members gain essential leadership skills.
We also go to two conferences every year. Hundreds of companies attend a huge career fair, providing great workshops and networking opportunities. We were in Baltimore recently and got some great opportunities there. Members who never had an interview before are now interviewing with IBM. On our more local level, our chapter does lots of corporate outreach.
We currently have ten corporate partners that have a direct line to our students. When our students are having a hard time with their elevator pitch or need help on the resume, we can connect them to great recruiters who want to see them succeed.
The UW Chapter won “Comeback Chapter of The Year” for the Region. What contributed to this achievement?
Above all, it’s passion. I think over time, the kind of the passion that people have had for NSBE has grown in the three years I’ve been here. We have an executive board that has grown more and more passionate about the work. We’re seeing people pour in time into creating new initiatives, reflecting on the year before and saying, “This is how we can grow it into this year. This is a void that I really want to fill. This is a new thing I want to bring into the org,” and that’s been really wonderful to see.
I think also having members who see an executive board who want members to succeed, has also really played a big part into this. Executive board members in their class see another student of color, introduce themselves and invite them to upcoming events.
How has your journey been becoming the President of the chapter? What does it mean for you personally?
It means a lot to me. I first got introduced when I was an admitted student. So I knew once I got on campus, my first thing was to find out about NSBE in person. In my first year, I was a NSBE ambassador. Then, my sophomore year, I was secretary of the chapter and now I’m president.
To see how we’ve grown from that position to where we are now, not just our numbers, but also our reputation where students mention how happy they are about NSBE’s work. Personally, I’ve learned as much from this position as I’ve put into this position.
I’m part of the POSSE program. It’s a leadership scholarship on campus. There’s a cohort of 11 of us who are recruited from the DC area. We’ve been close friends for a really long time. We were reflecting on our college journeys not too long ago and one of my friends in the program said, “Marco, this is not the high school Marco I remember, like, at senior year of high school, right? Being in NSBE, whether it’s on the executive board or a member, really gave you a lot.” This presidency has taught me so much that I’ve been able to apply in so many areas of my life. It’s been really great seeing that outcome.
Aligning the chapter’s mission to the Wisconsin Idea has been a focal point. What has this looked like and why is it important to align with it?
I think it looks like an aligning of outreach in every one of our sub genres. In our pre-college initiative, we’re working at local middle schools and high schools. In our academic initiative, professional excellence, we do study tables, with every other organization on campus.
We really try to market our workshops to also help out students who aren’t engineers. One with a corporate partner focused on Imposter Syndrome, which is something that anyone on campus can face. When we advertise those workshops, we make sure that not just do it within the engineering school, but across campus. Again that goes for all kinds of our subgenres.
I think we see the impact that the Wisconsin Idea has on a school level and we want to replicate that on our smaller organization scale. Again, just as a student all the way from the east coast, seeing that impact all the way over there. I also think NSBE as a national organization is wonderful. Each chapter has their own identity and their own kind of focus areas. Having that unique identity as a Wisconsin school has really helped shape the way we show up in the world.
How can students learn more about NSBE? What are future opportunities they can look forward to?
Our big thing is our NSBE Instagram — @NSBEWBESS. Our next big thing that I’m really trying to push is our end of year golden torch banquet. It’s a celebration of the year ushers in the next generation of leadership.
This year, we’re taking a unique spin on it. We’re really trying to make this a campus wide experience. We’re welcoming in other student organizations and anyone who wants to grow professionally, socially and academically. That’s going to be April 29 from 6-8 p.m. and those interested can follow the Instagram to learn more about that.
