\begin{itemize}
\item \textbf{Student Enrichment and Mentoring}-- Fellows are often involved in direct tutoring and mentoring of students, and in coordinating activities such as high school chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE Jr.) and Science Olympiad.
\item \textbf{Educational Technologies}--Fellows can provide teachers and students with assistance in implementing educational technologies in classroom projects and curricula, including initiating web-based classroom resource and discussion pages.
\item \textbf{Student Research and Science Fair Projects}--Fellows provide invaluable assistance to students in conceptualizing a viable science experiment, providing feedback on the appropriate uses of the scientific method, assisting with locating appropriate research equipment and supplies, reviewing experimental progress and data, and advising on presentation of results.
\item \textbf{Teacher Professional Development}--Fellows have designed and implemented staff development activities for teachers, often focusing on the use of educational technology.
\item \textbf{Georgia Tech Connections}--Fellows are very effective at increasing linkages between Georgia Tech and the partner schools. Graduate students are plugged into the events in their departments and in the broader university community, and are constantly reviewing these connections with an eye towards applicability to the high school community.
\end{itemize}

\section{Graduate Fellow Participation}

\textbf{Recruitment:} Despite initial skepticism by Georgia Tech faculty and administrators, the STEP program has become increasingly and highly popular among graduate students, particularly among the African American graduate students (see chart below). We attribute this to the strong involvement by black graduate students in community involvement and civic leadership activities, and to a powerful ``word of mouth'' promotion of the program within the minority community at the institute. The table below shows the ethnic and gender breakdown of the applicants and participants in the program for the first three years. Note the progressive increase in application number. (B=black, W=white, O=other, M=male, F=female.)

\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{STEP Applicants}
\label{table_1}
\begin{tabular}{lccccccc}
\hline
 & BM & BF & WM & WF & OM & OF & ?? & Total \\
\hline
Year One & 4 & 4 & 7 & 6 & 1 & 0 & 3 & 25 \\
Year Two & 10 & 4 & 9 & 2 & 4 & 4 & 11 & 44 \\
Year Three & 15 & 7 & 16 & 8 & 2 & 1 & 7 & 56 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{STEP Participants}
\label{table_2}
\begin{tabular}{lccccccc}
\hline
 & BM & BF & WM & WF & OM & OF & ?? & Total \\
\hline
Year One & 3 & 3 & 3 & 3 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 12 \\
Year Two & 4 & 4 & 4 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 12 \\
Year Three & 4 & 3 & 3 & 3 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 13 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

Between years one and three, the number of academic units represented by those applicants grew from five departments in two colleges to eleven departments in four colleges.

\section{Stage Three: Performance Outcomes}

STEP is, in essence, a grand experiment in partnership building. Can a highly technical, majority white, university, over an eight-year period, build meaningful partnerships with low-income and predominantly minority schools that will outlast the individual people and the external support, and that will yield quantifiable benefits to both sides?