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| Caledonia Jr. High students (seated l-r):Â Daniel Downey, Tiffany Ruch-Jones, Gelisa Ash, Cylin Downey. Dal student mentors (standing l-r): Khadija Douglas, Tesia Rolle (Pearce photo) |
- African proverb
Each session of ImhotepĂs Legacy begins with an African proverb, providing the programĂs young participants with a sprinkling of their ancestorsĂ wisdom. Perhaps none is more appropriate to describe the history and inspiration behind ImhotepĂs Legacy than that of spider webs ensnaring a lion, signifying that people united together can achieve great things.
ImhotepĂs Legacy is an after-school project run as a partnership between ±«Óătv University and the Government of Nova Scotia. It provides young African Nova Scotians at local junior high schools the chance to work with university students and professors of African descent to experience the study of science hands-on. The program takes its name from Imhotep, the Egyptian who became the worldĂs first physician and architect of the step pyramid over 4,500 years ago.
The ImhotepĂs Legacy program began in 1999, when ±«Óătv physics professor Kevin Hewitt launched a science outreach workshop for African Canadian students while in Vancouver. ĂThe idea was to get local students excited about science, have them see more students of African descent who attend our universities and study in the sciences,â he says. ĂThatĂs why we chose to name the program after Imhotep: we want to remind students that they too can achieve because their people have a history of achievement.â
Partnering with Wayn Hamilton with the African Canadian Services Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Education (now Executive Director of the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs) and Barb Hamilton-Hinch, coordinator of ±«ÓătvĂs Black Student Advising Centre, the trio established the ImhotepĂs Legacy program in Nova Scotia.
While the program has undergone many changes since its first incarnation, the problem it seeks to remedy still exists: low numbers of African Canadian students pursuing careers in the sciences. Emmanuel Nfonoyim, who has served as project coordinator since 2004, believes that the personal connection that ImhotepĂs Legacy provides is central to dealing with that reality. ĂWe use common household items and provide a positive, informal environment with lots of participation and input from everyone,â he explains. ĂThe students feel valued in whatever they have to say.â
Role Models
ĂWe have a great team,â says Nfonoyim. ĂThatĂs why this program works so well.â
Two of the most important members of that team are Tesia Rolle and Khadiji Douglas, the programĂs student mentors. On Tuesdays during the school year, they visit Caledonia Junior High School; on Thursdays, St. PatrickĂs-Alexandra School. At each school they find a classroom of 10 to 15 students, eager to find out whatĂs on the agenda for the afternoon.
It might be a session on optics and light, where students build a pinhole camera. It could be a session on polymers, disguising itself as a chance to play with slime. Or, in the most popular lesson, the students may be learning about the physics of music by making their own harmonious compositions. Often theyĂll get out of the classroom altogether, on field trips to ±«ÓătvĂs Faculty of Engineering, the Bedford Institute of Oceanography and the Discovery Centre.
Rolle and Douglas, undergraduate science students at ±«Óătv with ambitions in dentistry and medicine respectively, hope that their own enthusiasm for the sciences influences the students they work with. Sharing laughs about the more entertaining moments from the past year, theyĂre also conscious of their importance as role models for these young students.
ĂBeing one of those people that others can look up to is big to me; plus, I get to have fun with kids,â says Rolle. ĂActually, itĂs more than fun. ItĂs enriching. ItĂs the highlight of our week.â
Celebrating Success
This July, the organizers of ImhotepĂs Legacy held their closing ceremonies at the Halifax Citadel Hotel. The dinner recognized the young students with certificates for their participation, and showed off the work thatĂs been done over the past year. Administrators and parents alike championed the program for its positive role in the community.
Having grown up as an African Nova Scotian, Hamilton-Hinch is proud to be part of ImhotepĂs Legacy. ĂWeĂre there because we believe in the community and this opportunity,â she says. ĂImagine the doors being opened for these young people. ItĂs great to be a small part of that success.â
As the programĂs organizers look to the future Ă Hewitt hopes that with further funding the program can expand to include younger students and stretch across the province Ă they also reflect on how the experience of working together to make a difference has changed them.
ĂWe all start to enrich the lives of the students,â says Nfonoyim, Ăbut we end up enriching our own lives as well.â
ImhotepĂs Legacy is a partnership between the Faculty of Science, the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, the ±«Óătv Black Student Advising Centre, the African Canadian Services Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Education, and the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs. For more information on the program, visit its new website at
You may have noticed Ryan McNutt's name attached to a number of recent ±«Óătv News stories. Ryan is a graduate of the NSCC public relations program who is working with ±«Óătv's Communications and Marketing department for the summer.