Ebunoluwa Soneye (EB) is a fifth-year social work student at McMaster University who joined the McMaster Engineering community outreach team as an outreach facilitator in the spring of 2024.
The Mac Eng community outreach team focuses on providing barrier-free STEM education to community members who have historically been underrepresented in the field.
We sat down with EB to learn more about her experiences as a Black woman who has experienced the impact of Mac Eng’s efforts to make STEM more inclusive and accessible.
In your earlier years, what was your perception of STEM?
I remember hating STEM from a very young age. Growing up in Nigeria, my parents enrolled me in after school math lessons because of how bad my grades were. To everyone’s surprise I enjoyed math when I did it from home and got one-on-one support to explain it to me. However, once I got into the classroom, I felt stuck.
When I moved to Canada, I realized girls like me (immigrant, low-income Black women) didn’t seem qualified enough to do STEM. In fact, I don’t think my school had any women BIPOC STEM teachers. My family couldn’t afford any extra lessons and so I just progressively got worse.
I always thought I wasn’t smart enough for STEM. I was great at speaking and passionate about community work, and I knew that’s what I had always wanted to do, so abandoning STEM didn’t feel like such a bad idea. I thought I had escaped it. I had a great reason to explain to people why I didn’t go near anything STEM related without making myself look bad, saying, ‘I just really love social work, and I want to change the world that way’. If only I knew I’d bump into it again in a few years.
What is your role on the Mac Eng Community Outreach team?
In May 2024, I became an outreach facilitator at Mac Eng. I am responsible for developing and facilitating in-person, off-campus and on-campus community STEM workshops and advocating for and with underrepresented youth in STEM, including Black youth, Indigenous youth, girls and youth facing socioeconomic disadvantages.
My aim was to leverage my expertise in social work to significantly enhance the quality and impact of our programming. I integrate a social advocacy element into typically inaccessible STEM education, ensuring that our initiatives are not only educationally enriching but also socially responsive and inclusive. I also play a role in fostering stronger connections with community partners, building meaningful relationships that support our outreach efforts. I like to believe I help create a more holistic approach to STEM education in community, as community engagement is where my heart is.
What was one of the most memorable moments in your role?
I will never forget the first project I prototyped! A unique thing social work and STEM education have in common is problem-solving skills. Whether it’s a client’s complicated relationship with the systems they engage in, or a code that simply won’t run, problem-solving skills are required to be efficient.
Problem solving genuinely gets me giddy. I love finding and providing solutions, and I didn’t realize how much my social work education had played a role in that. Critical thinking is at the heart of the learning we do as social workers and so every time I apply this skill to fixing a project that didn’t work, I remember feeling like my heart would implode from the pride I had in myself. I started referring to myself as a ‘woman in STEM’!
This thing I had spent my entire life avoiding was something I was capable of. It was such a small moment, but it spoke volumes to me on the fact that I can really do anything I want because I am intelligent, and I really am brilliant, and not just at social work.
What surprised you about your role? How did it change you and your perception of STEM?
I started my role with a great feeling of imposter syndrome because truly what does social work have to do with engineering? But through this role, I’ve learned that I’m very deserving of where I am because I am aware of the value and unique lens I bring to this space, which as a woman of color is a huge milestone for me. The number of transferrable skills I could bring to the role from a social work background surprised me.
I am generally a much more confident person, and I know that every field, no matter how niche, benefits volumes when they work with someone who has social work education. I bring immense value to any team I end up on especially with my work experience in community engagement with the Mac Eng team. We bring a unique lens to our work that really solidifies the impact that any organization can make.
Who was a mentor to you on the Mac Eng outreach team?
I cannot overemphasize the blessing that Sarah Alizerig, the community outreach and engagement manager at McMaster Engineering has been to my journey. I really cannot imagine a more perfect manager of community outreach and engagement. Other than the actual countless depths of skill and value she brings to the role, what really sets her apart is the heart she has for the work. She really believes passionately in the vision of creating more accessible education and you see that reflected in every decision she makes. She advocated tirelessly for me to get this role as a social work placement because it had never been done before now. Her leadership constantly inspires me to chase my dreams because like she always says, ‘one door leads to another which leads to another and gets you closer to where you need to be’.
I also have really loved working with Jodi Buckley, who is a passionate Black recruitment officer and career advisor on the team. Watching her navigate her role and impact so many lives is so motivating. I hope to build my career to be as meaningfully impactful as hers.
Why is representation so important?
How do you dream big if you are not aware that you are allowed to dream? A lot of youth from marginalized backgrounds spend their whole lives navigating systems that seem to be against them. When you come from such a position where the systems that are supposed to support you seem to bring you down, it becomes much harder to even have room to dream for more.
Representation makes you feel like your dreams are valid and possible. It makes your goals feel less heavy and less of a mythical occurrence. Every milestone I have achieved at McMaster including thousands of dollars’ worth of awards is because I have seen people who look like me either do or attempt to do these things.
What do you hope to see change in the field of STEM and for youth who may also not see themselves in fields like STEM?
I hope to see STEM education be more accessible. I hope to see more BIPOC youth pursuing STEM education, including Indigenous youth and racial minorities from different countries, as well as more diversity in the way STEM education is taught! Anyone should be able to see themselves in STEM and their decision not to pursue it should be a lack of interest, not because of inaccessibility.
What’s next for you?
I will be completing my degree this December and I’m now looking for full-time graduate opportunities. I’m ready for my next adventure and curious to see where it will take me next.