SEEK is an after-school mentoring program at The University of Texas at Austin that partners with the Cockrell School of Engineering and Communities in Schools, a nonprofit organization.
UT engineering students of all disciplines provide opportunities for young middle school students to explore engineering as an attainable career path. Overall, we strive to show the mentees a clear path towards engineering: from how to study in the classroom now to attending college and pursuing a future career.
What We Do
SEEK administers weekly, hands-on demonstrations in the classroom. Assisted by mentors, middle-school students participate in projects that teach engineering principles of many disciplines. Example projects include assembling a robot, creating Gak gel, launching a rocket, and constructing a model bridge. Students also get to see engineering applied in life by touring the UT campus and visiting the Engineering labs and simulator facilities.
SEEK mentors provide positive, one-on-one influence academically and socially, giving middle school students attention that can help them develop goals and better learning skills.
Our Mission
Our mission is to reach out to the Austin community and show students that they can pursue math- and science-intensive disciplines such as engineering. Additionally, the program develops the UT mentors as they communicate basic engineering principles and serve as role models. The simple act of friendship, tutoring, mentoring, and teaching has the potential to introduce new directions to our youth.
Most of the students we mentor are bright kids who have the potential to enter into Austin ISD's high school magnet program, but they lack direction, self-confidence, and/or focus. We help middle school students learn to believe in themselves and to achieve their full potential.
Our Leaders
Administrative President: Rachel Harvey
Program President: Mike Vu
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Phil Schmidt
Our Mentors
The mentoring program develops the University student as he or she communicates basic engineering principles and serves as a role model to students. This simple act of friendship, tutoring, mentoring and teaching has the potential to introduce new directions to our youth.
As engineers at UT, our workload is aggressive and time consuming. We can sometimes forget about making a difference in society and instead, get lost in the numbers and science we deal with in our classes. SEEK strives to provide an environment for student engineers to take an active role in making a difference TODAY. In addition, we help to ease the workload by offering two hours of class credit to mentors, which count toward the 14-hour rule established by the Cockrell School of Engineering.