Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute held a workshop for Black Families Technology Awareness Day, meant to bridge the gap in representation in the STEM field.

Most kids just play video games. But eight-year-old Malachi Houze designs them.

“I like expressing myself in the game, it’s what I do best,” Houze said.

What You Need To Know

  • Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute held a workshop for Black Families Technology Awareness Day

  • This is the 23rd year of the event

  • Families from across the country and the world joined the workshop

  • PI hosts the event to create more representation in STEM fields

His mother, Brittney Mitchell, thought all those hours spent in his room were spent just playing games with his friends.

She was surprised to know her son was the brains behind the project.

“Who knows in 10 to 15 years what he will be making you know,” Mitchell said. “He might work for Google. It’s really cool to me to see it.”

Malachi’s interest in tech and science goes back years to when his mother bought him his first science kits

Through experiments and tests, he has now found a potential job one day, an engineer.

To learn more about the field, Britteny signed Malachi up for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Black Families Technology Awareness day.

The event is designed to help get more Black families, and more specifically children, interested in science, technology and math and address job disparities in those fields.

“It gives hope to these kids that I can be a doctor, or architect one day, and it really doesn’t matter what neighborhood I live in,” Mitchell said. “It’s really good, it teaches them a lot.”

While this year the event is virtual, the fun doesn’t stop for the participants.

Kicking off the day was Kat Lopez, who did a presentation titled the Nose Knows, teaching kids about the sensory skills the nose has and how it works.

“Even though it’s very hard to do remotely, I just love interacting with the kids, teaching something new,” Lopez said. “Hopefully it’s something that sticks with them and they take the further with them to high school, college and hopefully their careers.”

Interested in science from a young age, Lopez says her goal is to make the field fun for the next generation

And as a woman in STEM, she hopes to continue to inspire underrepresented groups to enter the field.

“Showing them that someone like me or the other presenter can do it, and seeing that people underrepresented in these areas can do what other people in this country can do is a great step in the right direction,” Lopez said.

Knowing there are kids like Malachi on the other end of the screen is motivating for Lopez, as she knows the next generation is in good hands.

“I think he’s going to go far,” Lopez said. “These kids, they think outside the box. If he keeps doing that, hopefully he can save some lives, or create some kind of innovation that can change the world.”

And for Brittney, she’s a proud mother watching her son grow.

“They wouldn’t have ever had those dreams if it wasn’t for this program,” Mitchell said. “Going to see scientists and other things like that. So it’s really rewarding to know that they have really good dreams in life and don’t just want to sit around and be on the TV all day.”