Look: Mentoring for Diversity, Academic Excellence

Members of the Roberto Clemente Minority Business Association (RCMBA) gathered recently for a banquet celebrating the 1st Step Toward Excellence and Professionalism (1st STEP) program. Run by the Northside Urban Pathways Charter School, Downtown, 1st STEP is a mentoring and career development program for underrepresented high school students. Members of RCMBA, part of Pitt’s College of Business Administration, meet weekly with the charter school’s juniors and seniors as part of that mentoring program.

The Dec. 13, 2007, event at the William Pitt Union featured as its keynote speaker Deborah L. Walker, above center, (GSPIA ’03, CGS ’01), assistant to the dean in Pitt’s Division of Student Affairs. She is surrounded by RCMBA participants: (back row, from left) Melvin Goins, Chaun Lowe, Theresa Forrest, Danitra Pipkin, Justin Sullivan, Erika Kiah, Tiwanda Taylor (CAS ’93), Akilah Huguley, and Ray Ibe. The front row, from left, includes Walker, Lati Wells, Josie Hollis, Allison Johnston, and Mariam Sesay. Taylor, an academic advisor in the College of Business Administration, is RCMBA’s advisor. Kiah is the organization’s 1st STEP chair.