About 10 years ago, a middle school student, Aaron Marshall, walked into a basketball gym about 45 minutes from his hometown of Hammond, La., and saw rows of booths with hands-on STEM activities, from 3-D printing to robotics.
NEW ORLEANS, LA – Dr. Calvin Mackie is the founder of STEM Global Action (SGA), a campaign and network of affiliates that bring science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to children and teenagers in New Orleans, and other parts of the country. As a veteran STEM professional, he sees a strong bond between Marvel’s fictional cinematic universe and the vital role that STEM education plays in propelling children from under-resourced and underrepresented communities into high-paying and sustainable careers.
His brother, New Orleans native Anthony Mackie, portrays Sam Wilson on the Disney+ miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and recently became the first Black Captain America in the Marvel Universe. “As a superhero, Wilson overcomes ferocious enemies and his own doubts about bearing the legacy of Capitan America,” says Calvin Mackie. “He also confronts the concerns of others that no self-respecting Black man should even want to protect America considering its historic mistreatment of Blacks. In real life, my brother has also prevailed against the odds. When we lost our mother growing up, our family banded together and made his dreams come true: Anthony went to acting school.”