Pastor Matthew Davis, Dr. Deetrice (Dee) Wallace, and Mrs. Carolyn J. Davis are a powerful team preparing young people for the future. Pastor Davis, a spokeperson for the project, has a vision to encourage intellectual development through the use of robotics, music, and drama. The team is inspiring spiritual growth and maturity in young people in the Southside area in Houston, Texas.
Pastor Davis is both a shepherd of a flock and an engineer with a vision of a future where African Americans and Latinos can compete and achieve in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Music and Mathematics (STEAM). Some people may not recognize the connection, but there is ample research revealing that the STEAM goals are interrelated. Clarifying the connections in the various disciplines is foundational to attracting students to perfect their understanding of how things are related, if you are taught to “see” and “discern” the connections.
Pastor Davis wants to develop more professionals like Ayanna Howard, who is an expert in robotics. She was recently recognized as “the Nation’s most senior African American female roboticist in higher education.” Reportedly, Howard has overseen nearly 50 projects at Georgia Tech. Howard was also at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, where she was a senior robotics researcher, according to an article. (https://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/news/2017/nations-most-senior-african-american-female-roboticist-in-higher-ed-to-deliver-chambers-lecture-sept-25/)
Davis’s vision for the youth in Southeast Houston (Sunnyside, South Park, and South Union) is historical and unique. Davis’s team has spearheaded other robotic, music and drama projects located on the campuses of African American churches yet operating as a separate non-profit entity. The presence of the robotics and the arts project in welcoming and nurturing environments is fundamental to inspiring minority youth to become high achievers in technical areas such as robotics where mathematics and other areas are blended to produce projects that are fun, intellectually stimulating, and preparatory for the future.
Davis’s dissertation for his doctorate specifies more benefits to the youth and the communities in which they reside. The youth learn how to collaborate and to work together to attain goals in the affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains. His work in an area of Houston where economic development needs to be enhanced will, indeed, stimulate increased development of both academic excellence and economic development in an area that has historically been underdeveloped.
We celebrate the work of Pastor Matthew Davis, Dr. Deetrice (Dee) Wallace, and Mrs. Carolyn J. Davis in Black History Month 2021. We salute his team of collaborators as they prepare youth for the future, using robotics, music and drama as the central theme because it provides an interdisciplinary experience in education that is fun and enriching. The highly credentialed team is comprised of Dr. Wallace, who is the Founder and Robotics Coach of Synergistic STEM Outreach Center, and Mrs. Carolyn J. Davis, the pastor’s wife, who is the Director of Turning Hearts Music and Drama Ministry.
For more information, contact Pastor Matthew Davis, New Beginning Church, in Houston, Texas. Email turninghearts@yahoo.com.