SECME: Thinking Out of the Box
	SECME is a strategic alliance to renew and strengthen the professional capacity of K-12 educators, motivate and mentor students, and empower parents so that all students can learn and achieve at higher levels.
	Announcement:
	EVENT: Broward County SECME Olympiad WHEN: March 14, 2009 WHERE: Blanche Ely High School
	Our Mission
	SECME’s goal is to increase the pool of historically under-represented, geographically under-served, and differently-abled students who will be prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), thus creating a diverse and globally competitive workforce.
	What is SECME?
	SECME, Inc., a premier pre-college (K-12) alliance, links engineering universities, school systems, and corporate/government investors. Its mission is to increase the pool of historically underrepresented, under-served, and differently-abled students who will be prepared to enter and complete post-secondary studies in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. SECME was established in 1975 by the Engineering Deans at seven Southeastern universities: Alabama, Florida, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Tennessee, Tennessee State, and Tuskegee. Today that alliance extends to schools, universities, science- and technology-based business and industry, and public and private agencies in 17 states (from New York to Arizona), the District of Columbia, and Grand Bahamas. For its first 22 years, SECME was an acronym for Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering. In 1997, the name was changed to SECME, Inc. SECME is chartered in the State of Georgia as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation. From the beginning, its National Office and administrative home has been in the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in midtown Atlanta. In creating SECME, the founding Deans acted to address two urgent--and enduring—national challenges: 1) declining engineering enrollments on campuses across the U.S., and 2) growing evidence of shortfalls in technical talent to sustain an economy--and global leadership position--increasingly dependent on technology and innovation as primary engines of growth. Their solution: to tap new talent in two groups then grossly under-represented (at less than 1 percent each) in the engineering profession--namely, minorities and women. Thus SECME began as a collaborative effort of school districts, engineering universities, business and industry, and government. The noble dream and determined pursuit of the founders was excellence and equity as well as needed change in K-12 education. The school-university partnership was the defining element in the original SECME “framework.” That model is, very intentionally, teacher-centered. By impacting teachers, all students benefit.
	Our Vision
	To be a beacon and benchmark for excellence and equity in pre-college education.