DALLAS — Every year, the University of Texas at Dallas puts on the African American Male Bowl "Aiming for the Stars" competition for the betterment of young Black boys. UT Dallas' Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion collaborated with the Dallas nonprofit project "Still I Rise" to sponsor the event.

Unlike last year, they held the 2022 bowl in-person on Saturday, Feb. 26 at UTD. Eight teams of North Texas students competed in a mathematics quiz event and an engineering project where they were to construct a catapult for a grape with Lockheed Martin engineers nearby to help.

"It's so important to have an event like this, now more than ever. We've been in quarantine for two years. Yes, we had this opportunity for these same students last year, but in a virtual sense. But it's nothing like being in-person," said UT Dallas assistant director for community engagement David Robinson. "And as you see, the responses from the teams of the schools have been overwhelming... to have something like this in-person so that students are seeing each other, students are being engaging with the participants and volunteers."   

According to AAMAB.org, the event's main objectives are as listed:

  • Promote academic achievement among African American males.
  • Encourage African American youth to continue to excel in their educational endeavors.
  • Encourage teamwork, peer mentoring, accountability, and learning through competitive academic measures among African American male youth and adult mentors.
  • Increase male mentoring relationships with young African American males inside and outside the classroom environment.
  • Counteract the negative images of African American male youth in all aspects of the media.
  • Impact time learning outside of school for African American males from underrepresented communities.

The event's organizers hope to widen the minds of Black male youth to see higher education as a possibility. Since the bowl's first appearance in 2010, its outreach has grown over the years, and many past participants have gone on to attend college.