NSBE - March/April 2008 - (Page 36)

A Well-Deserved Break B y r a s h e i m t. fr e e m a n hich one of the NSBE values has prepared you most for the next level? “That’s a good one,” says Jason Robinson Mitchell, senior electrical engineering major, Ronald E. McNair scholar and president emeritus of the NSBE chapter at Marquette University. He credits the NSBE values of professional success, academic excellence and community service with making him the man he is today. And he credits NSBE with helping him move beyond mistakes he made as a boy nearly five years ago. “I just thank God and Brother Mack for the opportunity to prove myself at the next level,” says Robinson Mitchell, now 22. The “Brother Mack” in question is Carl B. Mack, who is well-known within these pages for his bona fides as executive director of NSBE and his passion for moving more of the nation’s black youth into the pipeline to engineering careers. W Jason robinson mitchell of the marquette university chapter earned a second chance at life and received one, because of nsBe. of marijuana. He received 18 months’ probation for the offense. At Marquette that fall, Robinson Mitchell continued with NSBE and served as chapter president in 2004–05 and 2006–07. He also tutors and mentors students in NSBE Jr. programs. After hearing this story, Mack immediately changed his salutation to recognize the young man in front of the more than 200 business leaders, educators and NSBE sponsors in his audience. Mack’s call to action to help Robinson Mitchell was so strong that the local daily newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, published a feature about the young engineering student whom nobody would give a chance. “You’re telling me that we are here to talk about how (to) get more students involved, and you can’t help this one?” Mack later told the Journal Sentinel. “You ain’t got a prayer. You’ve got a chance in hell of helping those out there in the streets of Milwaukee and all over the country if you can’t deal with this one.” “I just thank God and Brother Mack for the opportunity to prove myself at the next level.” At Marquette last November to give a speech on this topic, Mack heard that Robinson Mitchell was unable to land a simple internship. Employers were rejecting him because of a conviction on his record. As a preteen in Milwaukee, Wis., Robinson Mitchell joined a gang and was in and out of juvenile detention centers from the age of 12. His mom, Barbara Jean Robinson, a paternal aunt who adopted him when he was six weeks old, struggled to get him onto a better path through programs such as NSBE and Upward Bound. She ultimately prevailed. By his senior year in high school in 2003, gang life held no attraction for Robinson Mitchell. He was accepted into Marquette’s engineering program. But four days after he turned 17, on the night of his high school prom, Robinson Mitchell made a drug run for some elder gang members and was arrested for felony possession of less than a pound 36 • march/april “Brother Mack got up and spoke on my behalf, and weeks later I got so many internship offers and job interviews,” says Robinson Mitchell. “I really have to thank him in person at the (Annual) National Convention in Orlando. I even got a handwritten letter of reference from the governor and paperwork for clemency.” Robinson Mitchell reports that he now has six or seven internship prospects and one internship offer lined up to be explored at the upcoming NSBE Career Fair. “I knew that when I, Latoya Freeman and DeAngelo Trotter revived the NSBE chapter at Marquette, that (it) would be a great thing for me and my people,” he says. ■ Rasheim T. Freeman is a multimedia consultant based in Baltimore, Md. 2008 • www.nsbe.org http://www.nsbe.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NSBE - March/April 2008

NSBE - March/April 2008
Contents
The Flame of Change
What Is Your Smile Saying?
International News: Telecom Training In Nigeria
Get Involved, Get International!
NSBE International, History in Brief
Truth Power!
Is Government Work for You?
Partners for Positive Impact
Regional News: Region III Economic Overview
GM Flexes Its Green
NSBE Calendar
Hot…Not
A Well-Deserved Break
Goodness Ikeri of Caterpillar
Tonya Erwin of Toyota
Albert Rodriques of Lehman Brothers
Igniting the Torch
Finding Career Fair Success
The AE Niche
Working in Harm’s Way
Reality Check
AE Members on the Move
Advertisers Index

NSBE - March/April 2008