LEXINGTON, Va., Jan. 21, 2022—Earlier this semester, 10 cadets attended the BEYA STEM conference, which was held virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. BEYA, which stands for Black Engineer of the Year Award, is an organization dedicated to helping minorities pursue careers in the STEM fields. VMI has been sending cadets to the BEYA conference since 2014, with the goal of helping them find internships and employment opportunities.

“The cadets who attended BEYA virtually were able to go to talks from people in industry—technology, communications, computer science, health care, etc.— from large corporations including Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Walmart, Raytheon, etc.,” said Col. Troy Siemers, professor of applied mathematics, who organized this year’s cadet group.

Jordan Ward ’21, a mechanical engineering major and a member of the Honor Court, attended the BEYA conference for three consecutive years, including this year. “I got my summer internship out of it [last year], and that was just from me showing up and presenting myself,” said Ward, who plans to pursue graduate study after VMI. Ward’s internship was with Raytheon Technologies in Northern Virginia. “It was a little different because of COVID—some days in the office, some days working from home—but I was still able to get a full experience out of it,” he said.

Siemers noted that the cadets also showed up in numbers at the Stars & Stripes event, which spotlights high-ranking African-American officers in all branches of the military. Three years ago, Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins ’85, superintendent, was selected as the Army recipient of the Stars and Stripes Award at the BEYA STEM Conference. That same year, retired Air Force Col. Timothy K. Bridges ’79 won the BEYA Career Achievement in Government Award.

“Cadets should attend [BEYA] primarily because this organization specializes in working with companies who are specifically recruiting STEM talent,” said retired Army Maj. E. Sean Lanier ’94, a member of the VMI Board of Visitors who has been involved with BEYA for many years. “The majority of these companies do not recruit on campus at VMI, so it’s an opportunity for cadets to earn internships and post-graduation employment opportunities in cutting-edge companies.”

In addition to Ward, cadets attending the BEYA STEM conference this year were Alan Wyche ’21, Rafael Mas ’22, Mariah Woods ’22, Xavier Frederick ‘23, Solomon Harris ’23, Dontray Brown ’24, Brian Jackson ’24, Martin Parnell ’24 and Mark Shelton ’24.

Mary Price
Communications & Marketing
VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE