NC State’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) won the Academic Tech Bowl competition at the 49th NSBE National Conference in Kansas City in March. Three of the four team members were Park Scholars, including Nehemiah MacDonald ’23, Jenni Mangala ’24 and Alvin Mutongi ’23. The chapter also received Region 2 Medium Chapter of the Year.
The mission of NSBE at NC State is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.
Nehemiah and Alvin, both in the Class of 2023, recapped the weekend and talked about their time in NSBE.
Alvin Mutongi ‘23
Major: B.S. Civil Engineering
I have been in NSBE since my freshman year. I got involved when I met a group of upperclassmen who were Black Engineers. They reached out to me and invited me to the meetings. Our friend Jenni Mangala ‘24 put the class together and the NSBE secretary put together the team.
The NSBE National Conference competition consisted of about a dozen schools with teams of four students. They asked all sorts of questions from the fundamentals of engineering exams from economics to mathematics to chemistry.
It meant a lot to win the competition. It was an opportunity to let other chapters know that NCSU NSBE is back and in full effect, and we are a chapter that truly supports its members. While I have another year to participate, NSBE has given me countless opportunities to improve my network, give back to my community, and become a better engineer. Next year we will contend for the National Medium Chapter of the Year. I will be the program’s chair, alongside Jenni and Bryan Wilson ‘24, as President and Vice President.
Nehemiah MacDonald ‘23
Major: B.S. Industrial and Systems Engineering
Similarly to Alvin, I got involved with NSBE after meeting some older students who encouraged me to come to a meeting.
To be honest, we entered the competition on a whim, so it was a happy surprise when we won. Our mentality was, “why not?” So winning this competition with the rest of the chapter cheering us on, it was great. We were also named Medium Chapter of the Year for our region. That was a chance to make a name for ourselves again.
As I prepare for graduation, I am sad to leave NSBE but I am grateful for the opportunity to have served as Vice President this school year. I am planning to work for a year post-graduation and then return to graduate school to pursue a master’s degree. NSBE has had a great impact on my career trajectory, most notably my first internship with Ernst & Young and my current full-time opportunity were both the result of NSBE career fairs.