Orlando, Fla. – When Saron LaMothe served as counselor for several K-12 schools in some of this city’s most impoverished areas, she used to pick up on cues from Black students indicating that they felt they weren’t meant for certain careers.
Sometimes, she said, the cues were explicit, such when top-performing Black high school students expressed that they felt they were “acting white” for wanting to take advanced studies and pursue certain high-status professions.
Other times, LaMothe said, she got the subtle sense that some Black students—often as young as elementary school—could not envision themselves as doctors or in similar professions
“And I would want to explore: Why is that?” LaMothe said.
LaMothe is getting the chance to explore those questions and others as doctoral student through the Holmes Scholars program in the College of Education at the University of Central Florida, or UCF.
The program, which has been adopted by several institutions of higher learning throughout the United States, helps prepare members of underrepresented groups for jobs in the professoriate.
Were it not for the generous funding provided through the College of Education at UCF and the mentoring and networking support provided through Holmes Scholars, LaMothe said, a Ph.D. and the prospects of becoming a professor would simply be out of reach.
