The DREAM Program (Designing with Rice Engineers - Achievement through Mentorship) was developed to encourage underrepresented minority high school students to pursue college studies in STEM fields, particularly engineering. The DREAM Program has taken shape over the last three years at Austin High School (AHS). Through this program Rice University undergraduate engineering student mentor AHS students throughout the academic year. The mechanism for establishing the mentor/men tee relationship is an open-ended design competition. Two to three AHS students (men tees) form a team with a Rice University group leader (mentor). One day a week, after school, the team meets to solve a design challenge. After 5-7 weeks of design, testing and iteration, AHS students are then compete with their designs on the Rice University campus. AHS is a public school (Houston Independent School District - HISD) of approximately 1850 students, of which approximately 95% are Hispanic and 3% are African American, with 86% of the student body receiving reduced price or free lunch.
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