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Marquette men's basketball help underserved kids from Racine connect STEM with sports

Posted at 10:32 PM, Jul 11, 2022
and last updated 2022-07-11 23:32:36-04

RACINE, Wis. — Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) team up with sports, as SC Johnson & 4th Family brings 45 students from Racine Unified Middle Schools together with Marquette men's basketball.      

"First thing is acknowledging that they're here, and the importance of showing up," Marquette Men's Basketball Head Coach Shaka Smart said. "It's great that they're taking part in a program like this, and then bringing some of our guys around, and showing positive examples of guys that are having success in college, on and off the court. Stevie Mitchell for example has a 3.9-grade point average, is a business major, is a true student-athlete. Sometimes as adults, we use these broad concepts and young kids, they need specific examples and they need real-life examples."

"We for a long time have been focused on giving kids in underserved communities access to STEM education. We made the connection between STEM and basketball and the science of sport, which is what this program (is) about," SC Johnson Chief Communications Officer Alan VanderMolen says. "We feel so happy to be able to bring these kids from Racine up to Milwaukee. We really hope these kids build long-term relationships with each other, and also understand that sports (are) a part of their life. But also, very few people get to make their careers in sport. So linking sport to science and technology education for careers because there are a lot of jobs out there that kids like these don't have access to."

Helping to bridge the gap was achieved through the program Monday.

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