Black History Month: Celebrating Today’s Leaders
“I always want to be a leader,”
–Kenyana Caesar, Senior Manufacturing Engineering, Johnson & Johnson
This month, we join the Nation in paying tribute to the men and women who helped, and are helping, shape our country. Our African American Learning Champions are contributing everyday to our efforts to ignite the genius in every child.
We focus on profiling diverse professionals in STEAM careers throughout the year as part of our efforts to provide access to information on these professions. We call these leaders our “Learning Champions,” and we hope they inspire students to become doctors like Lynn, engineers like Sherman, or scientists like Norris.
Bryan and our other Learning Champions share key insights like this one, and talk about their journey, their families, about overcoming failures, and about enjoying their successes.
“I have been to China, Indonesia, Australia, the Philippines, and every time I travel I take a deep breath and I look around, and I am like, ‘I am here…I’ve done this.”
– Dr. Bryan Baugh, Global Medical Affairs Leader Infectious Disease and Vaccines, Johnson & Johnson
In addition to video interviews, educators and parents have access to eBooks at six reading levels in both English and Spanish, vocabulary sets, exercises, and even an animated video to begin exposing students to potential careers at a young age. These non-fiction stories have a great impact on all students as they see leaders who share similar experiences, who look like them, and to whom they can relate.
Our goal with STEAM careers content is to close the achievement gap by exposing students to fields and professions they may not have heard of, or don’t believe are for them. Learning more allows them to dream big, while providing teachers and parents with the tools and resources to ignite the genius in every child.
When you hear our Champions speak, you can’t help but be inspired, and ultimately, we hope to create the next generation inspirational leaders to follow in the footstep of Learning Champions like Lana, Bryan, and Noris.