Since our founding, BEAM’s long-term goal for students has always been college success, and that means we aim to provide our students with the tools and support to complete a STEM major.

Students from low-income or underrepresented backgrounds face obstacles that others simply don’t. These obstacles include not just academic preparation, but also student and family knowledge of the system and important deadlines, comfort navigating bureaucracy, difficulty fitting in once on campus, and subtle messaging that can come from faculty and advisors who make assumptions about students’ capacities. Many of BEAM’s alumni, nearly 100 of them, are now enrolled in college.

In this final stretch, support can make a disproportionate difference in student lives. BEAM alumni now in college are entering a new phase of their lives, in an environment where they are unlikely to have prior contacts. Our advice ranges from how to pick classes for a first semester in college, to why to go to office hours and how to use both the campus and BEAM networks to their best advantage. Each challenge they face, whether academic or social-emotional, is something that other BEAM students (or students from comparable backgrounds) have dealt with and solved. By providing students resources where they can find these answers, we allow them to worry less and have academic success.

Ayinde Alleyne, an engineering graduate from UPenn, serves as BEAM’s College Support Coordinator. BEAM college students now get monthly reminder emails, two “stayon-track” meetings a year with Ayinde, and dedicated support in answering questions.