T&H Engineering Explorer Post Alumna Starts STEM Non-Profit

T&H is incredibly proud to share the news of our 2012-2013 Engineering Explorer Post Alumna, Ambria Berksteiner​ starting a non-profit organization called “Operation One Stem at a Time”. Inspired by her previous Exploring experience, the organization mentors young women of color to become leaders in STEM career fields.  Following high school, enrolled at Spelman College as a Math and Engineering major. After graduating from Spelman College in 2017, she completed her Industrial Engineering degree at Auburn University.

In May 2017, won the Miss Black Savannah USA Pageant. While fulfilling the duties of this prestigious title, she decided to empower young Women of Color in the STEM fields as her pageant platform, launching ‘Operation One STEM at a Time’.  said, “After the positive benefits I received in the Engineering Explorer Post program, I felt that founding a STEM mentoring organization for young women was a natural choice for me.” In 2019, she added a scholarship program to the organization, the Change Agent Scholarship for young women enrolled in the Savannah Chatham Public Schools planning to pursue STEM. The deadline to apply is April 10th.

In January she was honored with the 2020 Citizen of the Year Award from the Men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., and in April, she will receive the Leadership Service Award from the 100 Black Men of Savannah, Inc. Along with being Miss Black Savannah USA, a Spelman Alumna STEM Ambassador, a member of the Executive Board of the Na Society of Black Engineers and of the Georgia Power Women in Engineering Scholarship, displays her exemplary service as an advocate for the STEM fields as she continues to use her voice to pay it forward and expose under-represented students to the STEM fields.