Level the Playing Field – a UNC student-founded startup – kicks off its third year of recruiting, training and placing minority students into internships at top corporations. Its focus? Find inventive ways to bridge the professional opportunity gap.
College is a time of exciting change and growth for students – from exploring academics to developing friendships to finding their unique places in the world. But as academically and socially prepared as they are to begin their career journeys, many minority students experience an opportunity gap: they have ample skills and knowledge, but lack the professional networks and experiences that many non-minority students have ready access to. These professional development connections – or a lack of them – play a make-or-break role in whether students can launch their careers at top companies or not.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumnus and second-year UNC School of Medicine student Nehemiah Stewart is bridging that gap for minority students through his startup Level the Playing Field. The organization works with faculty, staff, alumni and corporate partners across the nation to recruit minority students from HBCU‘s and other institutions, train them in professional development skills, and place them into influential internships at some of the top corporations in the nation.
“During our time in school, we may learn how to balance chemical equations or how reactions work. But we don’t necessarily learn how to get a job or articulate ourselves,” says Stewart. “So giving students that opportunity to work with and learn from these industry leaders is valuable.”
The organization is set to kick off its third year of operations with a banquet celebration Friday, September 23, aimed to inspire and energize students, faculty and administrators from seven universities, including Carolina, Duke University, North Carolina A&T University, North Carolina Central University, NC State University, Shaw University and UNC-Greensboro. In addition, nine major corporations from across the U.S., including AskBio, Eastman, Eli Lilly and Company, Merck, Nvidia, Procter & Gamble, SAS, SciVida and Slice Interactive will gather to network and celebrate growth and development of minority students.
“Back in 2020, I was challenged to think deeply about how we could provide more for our minority students. I began meeting extensively with corporations and faculty I partnered with during my first company, and initially our goal was to just have a pretty cool club… maybe a campus-wide thing, max, that would help students find post-graduation careers,” says Stewart. “But as we began to bring in students and guide them through the phases of the program, we saw the impact and positive results it was having on their lives and decided to scale the program into what it is today. Now that we’re going into our third year, we’re excited to celebrate how much more impact we can provide to each student, industry, and university as we extend the arms of this community.”
Level the Playing Field is a three-phase program held over one year. Students accepted into a Level the Playing Field cohort begin in the professional development phase, where they are guided by mentors to attend seminars and career readiness workshops hosted staff at partnering universities and corporations. The following spring marks the beginning of phase two, where students across the state take a professional development course at Carolina designed by the Level the Playing Field advisory board. Upon completion of the course, each student in the cohort enters into a paid, full-time internship with the corporation, research laboratory or shadowing opportunity of their choosing.
“After going through our cohort, Level the Playing Field students are trained and prepared to take on a full-time internship with one of our corporate partners,” says Stewart. “Our corporate and academic partners are seeking talent, but often there’s a divide, especially from the industrial to academic side. So it’s not just leveling the playing field for students, it’s leveling the ground for industry and students to come together for a shared understanding for forward success.”
One of those successes involves a UNC student from Ghana who, Stewart explains, had a very strong accent, and his self-esteem was suffering because of his frustration in communicating in the U.S. “This student participated in a Level the Playing Field cohort and, as a result, was inspired to share an idea for his hometown in Ghana,” said Stewart. “His idea was to build out a marketplace in Ghana to help farms share crops and livestock through a mobile app without having to travel across the country to achieve those outcomes. The student had a strong desire to serve his people, but didn’t previously have the means to do so.”
The student, who majored in chemistry, completed the program and was placed in a fully paid internship with Merck. Through his connections within Level the Playing Field, the student was able to move his idea forward, secure sponsors for his plan, and raise more than $150,000 from Level the Playing Field donors in one summer to turn his idea into a reality.
These are the types of experiences that Stewart wants to jumpstart at this year’s kickoff banquet. In advance of the banquet, Level the Playing Field is providing opportunities for students to have one-on-one interviews with its corporate partners via Zoom calls. The night of the banquet, Level the Playing Field will host a mini career fair to help connect its corporate partners with graduate and undergrad students of the program. For students and employers, the evening turns into an excellent chance to network and discuss potential opportunities.
As Stewart reflects on his own experiences as well as his aspirations for Level the Playing Field, he sees the kickoff banquet as more than the beginning of a new cohort. It’s an opportunity to inspire, energize and empower changemakers and innovators who have found success in various career fields to pay it forward to coming generations.
“When you’re one person trying to create change, it’s impossible,” he says. “Through Level the Playing Field, people from across universities, corporations, states, backgrounds and majors… all who are represented will have the same goal of making a difference for students like myself and others. For those seeking to create change, you’re not alone. Programs like ours are going to be right behind you to push you along the way.”
The more than 150 attendees expected at the banquet will hear inspirational remarks from Dr. Sylvester James Gates, who is known for his work on supersymmetry, supergravity and superstring theory. James served on former President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and he is also a Ford Foundation International Theoretical Physicist. In 2013, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, becoming the first African-American theoretical physicist so recognized in its 150-year history.
Building on its steady growth and success, Level the Playing Field is looking to expand the program outside of North Carolina with its first out-of-state location slated for Atlanta in 2023.
Whether you are a student looking to apply to a cohort or an industry leader who wants to be involved, visit leveltheplayingfieldgroup.com for more information.
| UNC-CH
