Damian Humphrey Enfield Connecticut
A native of Panama, Damian moved to Boston in the fall of 1981. As he adjusted to a new language, culture, and New England winters, he excelled quickly in academics. He learned firsthand the challenges that Latinx students face in educational predominantly White institutions (PWI). During a school trip to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) as an 8th grader, he met Dr. Ronald E. McNair, the first African-American astronaut to fly in the Space Shuttle Columbia who was a graduate of M.I.T. From that brief encounter, Damian Humphrey of Enfield, Connecticut, knew that he wanted his life to positively impact the education of others like him and be a role model for his community. A.C.E. was launched as a STEM-based afterschool initiative in 3 schools in Hartford, Connecticut, in 2014 with the goal of creating a "Pipeline" of talent into STEM colleges and universities and to eliminating the "Exposure Divide" that Black and Brown students have to careers in STEM. After making a considerable personal financial investment to launch A.C.E. students were able to receive math.