Kennedy Colon – Defender of Potential
Kennedy Colon is a graduating Senior at the University at Buffalo where she studies Civil Engineering and is the current President of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Collegiate Chapter. Through her affiliation with NSBE and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) she actively searches and engages in any form of volunteerism as a way to serve her community, if there is no opportunity present she will create one. Under Kennedy’s Leadership her NSBE Chapter has won the Chapter of the Fall 2018 Semester for Region 1 and most recently the Silver torch award for conducting the most technical events/outreach in the Region. For the Academic year 2018-2019 she has devoted her time to creating a pipeline in the City of Buffalo to increase awareness and the participation of students k-12 in STEM.
Being born and raised in Buffalo has fueled her passions and made her most effective. She has created partnerships with the Buffalo & Erie county Public Library located downtown, ISEP (Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Partnership), and strengthened her chapters interactions with their NSBE Jr. Chapter located on UB South known as STEP . Before her term is over she hopes to further communications with NYGEARUP and Big Brother Big Sister in order to have a sound relationship for years to come. To further extend the reach of this pipeline she has helped foster a relationship with a community center and developmental program known as Developing Roots In STEM (DRiS), located in the inner city which is known for hosting STEM Expos and mentoring events. NSBE has helped host the first of these Expo events this past October. In order to make sure this pipeline is strong on both ends, she has created a mentoring program within her society on a collegiate level and has taken on many of her general body members on as mentees. She has re-opened many programs within her society such as study nights, night outs, and soft/hard skill based workshops. Using these programs as her tools, she volunteers as a tutor, speaker and chaperone.
To further uplift those who are sometimes over looked she has created an annual Award Ceremony entitled Black Engineering Excellence (B.E.E) Awards. Which is meant to honor and uplift those who need encouragement and often lack a solid support system. At this ceremony those who serve their community, support those around them, achieve academic success, are graduating and/or have exemplified the overall meaning of what it is to be a minority Engineer are honored.