In its first year, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE)-North Carolina A&T Engineers (NoCATE) has made a huge impact on Hispanic students, the university and the community at large.

Establishing a SHPE student chapter at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) is no small task, especially when there are only about 100 Hispanic students enrolled in all its programs. As the first Hispanic organization at NC A&T, our chapter has overcome many obstacles while increasing our membership by nearly 200 percent since August 2007.

NoCATE competed in the Academic Olympiad at the 2007 SHPE Conference in Philadelphia, making it to the final round and placing second nationally. During our chapter’s outreach day, which took place during Engineers’ Week, Hispanic students were brought on campus to learn about the world of engineering and what it offers. NoCATE was recognized as Chapter of the Month for December 2007 at the Regional Leadership Development Conference. Although we are a small and new organization, we are now widely recognized outside the engineering and technology colleges at A&T.

This Fall 2008, SHPE formed its first Intra-Mural Soccer Team, competing in the newly formed A&T intramural soccer league and winning its first victory against the "Free Agents." SHPE’s team includes two former state high school champions.

SHPE participated in the homecoming parade with students from different Multicultural organizations; we walked together with flags from our countries of origin with a Multicultural banner that proclaimed “Multicultural Aggies" and "Many Cultures, One Aggie Pride."

In October, SHPE will collaborate with the Multicultural Student Center in hosting of a group of Hispanic middle and high school students and their families for a celebration of El Dia de los Muertos and an opportunity to share with them all that A&T offers. In November, SHPE will participate in its second SHPE National Conference, to be held in Phoenix, Arizona. 17 students will be traveling to represent NC A&T. This is almost a 50% increase in participation from last year. We plan to bring back another title!



Submitted by: Victor Esparza

Chapter President

www.shpe-ncat.org