EOP Programs Cultivate Diversity and Success at NJIT

A massive banner is plastered onto the bridge above the Campus Center for all to see: “#1 Nationally for Student Upward Economic Mobility.” It’s true. NJIT has one of the highest percentages of students from the bottom fifth of the income distribution who end up in the top fifth. No programs are more responsible for this accolade than the Office of the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and the NJIT chapter of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME).

The programs are led by some of the college’s most motivating and emotionally supportive people on campus. Their work helps bring about greater diversity of people and ideas on the NJIT campus and for the many businesses that recruit from it.

“We need diverse students because they bring new ideas from what they’ve learned in their home neighborhoods and their schools,” said EOP Executive Director Crystal Smith. “They can put a different spin on what employers are looking for.”

Setting up a diverse student body for success requires a nurturing and supportive culture surrounding the program, originally cultivated by the former and much celebrated executive director, Tony Howell. 

"Your grades and SAT scores have nothing to do with how well you do in college. It’s support, it’s drive, discipline, and maturity. It takes sacrifice. You have to push off that instant gratification.” - Kiecey Castle

NJIT now has over 800 students in the Educational Opportunity Program. These students are often faced with social and economic challenges, not shared by those with more educational opportunities.  

According to Assistant Director of EOP Recruitment Kiecey Castle, many are first-generation students and may lack the confidence in themselves to persevere through the rigors of a college curriculum. After all, he was in that exact position not too long ago. 

“I was afraid to graduate,” said Castle. “Because none of my family was alive to see this monumental accomplishment in my life, I would sabotage myself.”

Castle was raised by his grandmother, who passed away while he attended NJIT. He went on to achieve a degree in Management Information Systems at the Martin Tuchman School of Management while under the tutelage and mentorship of Tony Howell. Castle now plays a vital role in cultivating confidence in prospective and current students by drawing on his own life experience. He travels the state to encourage high schoolers to trust in their abilities to succeed while mentoring current and former students. 

“It wasn’t the work for me that was the challenge. It was the emotional part,” said Castle. “My experience, what I went through, gives me the mindset, the passion and understanding of what they’re going to go through. Your grades and SAT scores have nothing to do with how well you do in college. It’s support, it’s drive, discipline, and maturity. It takes sacrifice. You have to push off that instant gratification.”

"We try to keep up our GPA and keep up with the opportunities offered to us. We have to make the most of what we have right now." - Keidy Alcantara

Students in the EOP program come to NJIT in the summer before the start of the semester for what Crystal Smith calls an “academic boot camp.” They wake up at 7 a.m. and start math, physics, chemistry, and engineering classes at 8 a.m., depending on their chosen academic paths. 

“It teaches them how to stick together and lean on each other. We let them know that in order to get through NJIT, you have to go through it with someone who’s as smart as you,” said Smith. “So at the end of the summer, I look at the students. I look at how they shined. Did they shine in physics, or math? I tell them they have the opportunity to be NACME scholars. It usually works out very well.”

“We try to keep up our GPA and keep up with the opportunities offered to us. We have to make the most of what we have right now,” said NACME Ambassador Keidy Alcantara, also a NACME scholar. “It’s about staying motivated and consistent. It can be difficult to keep people motivated, especially when we’re struggling in class or when we’re expected to keep high standards for ourselves that we can’t always reach. We have each other to lean on.”

Alcantara helps spread the word about the benefits of NACME, which offers scholarships and invaluable networking opportunities. She also coordinates the support networks necessary to succeed in the demanding program, which requires a 3.5 GPA. 

The mission of NACME is to increase the representation of historically underrepresented groups in STEM careers, such as students of Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic descent. Major companies in civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and all kinds of tech-related industries come to NJIT to recruit NACME scholars.

“We need diversity because they bring new ideas, what they’ve learned from their home neighborhoods and their schools,” said Smith. “They can put a different spin on what these corporations are looking for.”

“Especially with a group of diverse engineers, I think it will make the technology we have a lot better because it brings a lot more perspective into what is being developed,” said Alcantera. “It makes a project better in all aspects. When you’re working around people that think similarly to you, a lot can be grown in that circle.”