NEW ORLEANS - Dr. Calvin Mackie, host of the Let’s Talk STEM podcast, talks with Kate Ayers, director of STEMM education and outreach at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, about the challenges advancing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for Black and Hispanic students in Memphis.

“We take a variety of approaches to addressing issues of equity and access to STEM learning experiences,” Ayres says. “A lot of our work focuses on developing school partnerships to offer afterschool programs within the school or hosting curriculum collaboratives to really work with the educators to co-create and integrate more science into the learning day. And that's especially true at the elementary school grade levels.”

Ayres leads the Cancer Education and Outreach Program at St. Jude, a community outreach program that increases diversity of the biomedical workforce by addressing inequities in K-12 STEM education. Ayers works with educators to co-create science learning modules that integrate cancer concepts into the classroom curriculum. In addition, Ayers established the St. Jude Science Ambassadors Program, which connects Memphis youth to diverse scientists to dispel misconceptions related to who scientists are and who can be a scientist. She is also a founding member and chair of the Memphis STEM in Medicine Ecosystem, a city-wide initiative aimed at addressing inequities in STEM education specific to the Memphis area.

Ayres is frank in acknowledging that the education system in Memphis and many other urban areas do a disservice to children of color.

Calling the inequities “an education debt,” Ayres says, “Let's be honest. There are Black and Brown children who have not been served by our education system. And that becomes generational, a generational debt has been accumulated.” She is not comfortable calling the disproportionate education levels between Blacks and Whites a gap. “It's not a gap,” she insists.

“It's a debt that's owed. We have to work as communities to make sure that we are paying tribute to that debt that is owed to these communities that have not been served.”