At the end of March 2019, I attended the Annual Convention for the National Society of Black
Engineers in Detroit, Michigan. At the conference, I was able to participate in professional
workshops about networking, resume building, reaching educational goals and more. It was also
beneficial to hear from black professionals about navigating your first job after graduation and to
meet the other 14,000 educators, students, young professionals and more at the conference. At
the guidance of our deans, I was able to use SPIRE funds to pay for the registration fee. At this
conference, I was also offered an internship with Southern Company in Chicago as a general
electricity intern. My family however is from Maryland, and I was concerned about the high
costs of living in Chicago. Again, because of guidance from Dean Crowley, I was able to use
SPIRE funds to help pay for transportation to and from work including use of the rail system,
and occasional ubers to and from site visits. Generally, the use of SPIRE funds has lowered the
financial barriers for participation in both the conference and internship and has helped me to
participate in two things that have enhanced my experience both academically and professionally
at Duke.