From STEM to Social Impact: My Journey Towards Equitable Community Development by Jy'Den-Myles

From STEM to Social Impact: My Journey Towards Equitable Community Development by Jy'Den-Myles - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

From measuring the mass and velocity of marble roller coasters to the physics of designing amusement theme parks, STEM was my hobby. As a child, I was fascinated about discovering how things became a thing and how things worked.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I participated in the From the Fire Leadership Program for Young Men where we studied entrepreneurship, financial literacy, leadership, and social justice. Simultaneously, I registered for Economics and Personal Finance, and World Geography summer courses with my school. These diverse forums staged a melting pot for my development and sparked new interests.

In the heart of the nation's capital, where decisions with global impact are made, suburbs are pristine, and tourists flock to see the White House and cherry blossoms, the city is rife with homelessness, crime, water pollution, and housing disparities. I was awakened by the beauty and blight of Washington, DC. This motivated me to participate in the Verizon STEM Innovative Learning Program which allowed me to select a social impact project to address a local issue. While in China, we drank factory-sealed water bottles due to poor water quality. Yet with all its charm, segregation left DC’s Anacostia River abandoned with pollution. This led me to design a water treatment system to improve the river’s water quality. While my design was not selected, the experience connected me to a community of activists and entrepreneurs.
As a child, I despised being forced to tag along with my dad to business meetings where adults argued over new developments, businesses, green space, dog parks, affordable housing, and public safety. I survived the meetings with an iPad in my face to block out the adult noise. Despite my father’s hopes for me to pursue STEM, the service, advocacy, and support work of his community as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner (ANC) in Washington, DC had a tremendous influence on me. This early exposure to the community and my later exposure to corporate responsibility in urban planning enlightened me on the profound social impact, emphasizing how people and their livelihoods are at the center of business deals.
As I learned about historic redlining and modern-day practices that perpetuate economic inequalities in communities of color, I was motivated to be a changemaker. This led me to the Real Estate Exchange Scholars Program at NYU for two weeks this summer, with other experts from Cornell, Harvard, and MIT. The program was filled with site visits to tour firms and engage with CEOs and executives. Dustin Jones of NYU’s Schack School of Real Estate taught Land Use and Zoning Workshops, and Ali Daye of Cornell’s Baker School of Real Estate taught Capital Stack, among others. These workshops were masterclasses on how commercial real estate studies social science and the impact of urban planning. These lessons were vital to my role as NYU cohort Site Planner where I assembled a team of diverse experts to survey an abandoned Brooklyn site. My team and I studied the site and researched zoning regulations, sustainability needs, urban plan use, finance, and investment plans to support our design-build. We sketched out a design to help pitch our mixed-use plan to investors. In the end, we concluded the valuation and data supported our development of a community revitalization plan for our Brooklyn site that included affordable housing, retail, employment, education, green space, and recreation. In our win against Cornell in the final competition (before industry experts as judges), my team deployed strategic efforts to invest resources aimed at improving the economic well-being of businesses and the quality of life within the community. This was a scholarship and our team advanced to the National competition against MIT. When we returned to our school life in the Fall of 2023, I ran into challenges rallying the team as they became distant juggling competing priorities and interests. Due to a lack of engagement, I made an executive decision to cut team members which further disadvantaged our team weeks before the competition. My decision also cut these team members out of scholarship monies so I made my case before the Program Director who approved of my decision. While I was deeply saddened by our loss to MIT, I learned it is critical to form a team that shares your passion. I displayed decision-making, emotional intelligence, and accountability skills. The team was looking for me to lead in the face of adversity.

Recently, I was selected from a highly competitive application process to the immersive - Morgan Stanley Financial Scholars Program. This 6-month program is designed to develop a pipeline of ambitious high-school seniors into the world of finance with internship opportunities. My earlier exposure to the World of Money Financial Program and The Young Entrepreneurship Program inspired me to learn financial literacy.

The policy impact of racial disparities results in communities grappling with layers of despair leaving them with little hope in the American dream. For my long-term goals, I would need public and private investments and partnerships with banks to develop a community revitalization plan with equitable outcomes. Indeed, a great education will equip me with the tools to build a diverse business portfolio of real estate and finance through innovative and global solutions that economically empower marginalized communities.