15 years ago, Hero’s Alliance was created to help parents and students connect while accessing skills and educational opportunities. Program Coach Derhun Sanders, an MTU alumnus, says Hero’s Alliance started small. But saw many students return at the start of the next school year.
And that’s because they enjoyed it. We were running it as a pilot. This cohort that’s coming up in the fall will have 50 students in the program. – Derhun Sanders, Coach, Hero’s Alliance
On Sunday, a group of students arrived in Houghton, driving up to the Husky Statue, after completing a 600-mile journey from Detroit. Solar panels on an accompanying travel trailer charged the vehicle’s batteries. Sanders says the trip to Houghton included a different style of terrain from the program’s typical trip to Texas.
They did get the vehicle up to 45 miles an hour going downhill. They loved that. But in some areas, especially coming out of Traverse City, some areas, they had a good 30 % incline or 20 % incline, And that was a little bit more drain on the battery than they would normally see when we were down in Texas, where it was a consistent terrain flat going around the Texas Motor Speedway. – Derhun Sanders, Coach, Hero’s Alliance
Sanders says it’s incredible to see parents and students have access to the opportunities and access to STEAM programs through the Hero’s Alliance.
So we surround the parents with the support and love that they need in many different aspects. But getting to the class, the students are challenged to learn. What does the Pythagorean Theorem have to do with what we’re doing? And so it’s designed to bring that math and science to life. What does it mean? Why is it important to have these right angles on this solar array? So I’m proud of them, definitely proud of them. The Heroes Alliance organization is super proud of the work that they put in before putting the car on the road. – Derhun Sanders, Coach, Hero’s Alliance
Michigan Technological University is always excited to see alumni return to campus. Especially when the trip home to the Copper Country brings more connections with students.
What’s really unique is that they’re empowering parents to support their children through this process. They have a variety of different programs. One is this free STEAM program, and the solar car. Where they start from beginning to end building and then competing. Typically they go to Texas, but something came up this year. And so they reached out, and drove the solar car to Michigan Tech. And we’re really thrilled that they are allowing us to be a part of that. – Alyssa Fredin, Executive Director of Admissions, Michigan Technological University
Many students enrolled on campus, from Michigan call the Southeast or the Saginaw Bay region home.
It’s our largest region of recruitment. We have three different regional admissions managers in the Detroit area and surrounding areas alone. So recruiting and supporting those students on their academic journey and getting them here to Michigan Tech. This really correlates what they are doing right now with the solar car, of building it from start to end. Learning those applications and how things are built. And so that gives them an idea, if engineering or anything in STEM fields are of interest to them. And then they get to see maybe I want to do chemical engineering, or electrical engineering, or work in sustainability. – Alyssa Fredin, Executive Director of Admissions, Michigan Technological University
Hero’s Alliance was created in 2010 to close the gap in access to educational opportunities for the underserved youth of Detroit. Those interested in learning more about the program or the 600-mile journey students took to arrive in Houghton can find more online.
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