Overcoming obstacles to her own education, Associate Professor of Engineering Sirena Hargrove-Leak is focused on helping students rise to meet their potential as the director of Elon's four-year engineering program.
Like a shepherdess over her flock, Sirena Hargrove-Leak keeps watch for the telltale signs of students losing hope.
The weary look of defeat, of resignation to failure, is the outward sign of an inner voice saying: you dont belong here or youre not good enough. That voice is the thief of potential and it requires a vigilant guard. She knows its tricks.
It breaks my heart to see that discouragement and loss of motivation in their eyes, Hargrove-Leak, associate professor of engineering and director of the four-year engineering program, says. Whenever I get the sense that something isnt right, or that a student is facing challenges, I try to reach out to them to encourage them to keep going. I approach them the way Id want to be treated. Sometimes they are facing academic challenges and doubting if they can do it, and so I tell them: I know youre struggling, but you wouldnt be here if we didnt believe that you can do this.
Coaching students into believing in themselves again, she thrives on seeing “the life return to their eyes.”
She recognizes the symptoms because shes experienced them, too: being the fish out of water, the only woman or only woman of color in the room, being told she doesnt have what it takes to succeed. Shes spent a lifetime proving those voices wrong. There were times she relied on mentors and trusted colleagues to say yes when all she heard was no. There were times she relied only on herself.
“The more I tell my story, the more Im able to enact change and inspire people who look like me to press forward.”
I want people to know that its always been a struggle for me because of my identity, but Id do it all over again, she says. Its made me a better person, its made me a more compassionate person, and its shaped me as a person, colleague and professional.
Hargrove-Leak views her life as a series of steps, leaps of faith and stumbling blocks in pursuit of higher education, each as important as the one before, some more painful than others, but accumulating and culminating in a stronger sense of self and a deep desire to inspire others. When obstacles appeared and they often did she pushed through them, proving naysayers wrong, surprising even herself in the process.
The more I tell my story, the more Im able to enact change and inspire people who look like me to press forward.
Hargrove-Leak was raised in rural Vance County, N.C. Her parents espoused the importance of education, urging their children forward. As a child, she was timid behind thick glasses, never quite feeling like she fit in. She describes herself as the classic nerd. It wasnt until junior high when an older neighbor announced an intention to major in chemical engineering at N.C. A&T University in Greensboro that Hargrove-Leak thought clearly about higher education and engineering. She explored the field and she saw how engineering wove together math, science, pharmaceuticals and almost every aspect of life she could imagine. It appealed to her.
Her high school had no honors or advanced classes, though counselors saw promise in her interests. Amid vague ideas of life beyond high school, she recalls an abysmal existence, capped by a geometry teacher who made it clear he didnt believe she belonged or would succeed in his class.
I made it my personal mission to prove him wrong,” she says. “Im so proud to say that I did.
Hargrove-Leaks path changed in her sophomore year, when her mother told her about the N.C. School of Science and Math in Durham, a residential public school focused on intensive study of STEM subjects. Hargrove-Leak was accepted to the competitive school but turned it down, overwhelmed with doubts about leaving home and her potential for success. It took a phone call from the schools director and an offer of a personal campus tour and mentorship for her to reconsider. She took his interest as a sign, enrolled, moved to Durham, and thrived.
It was life-changing. For the first time, I felt like I belonged, she says.
She also met her future husband there.
While at the School of Science and Math, she had access to faculty and students at N.C. State University, but when searching for a college, she didnt feel a strong personal connection to that campus. Instead, recalling her neighbor and following in her brothers footsteps, she enrolled at N.C. A&T where she sensed they wanted me to be there.
It was there when Professor of Engineering Shamsuddin Ilias gave her what Elon refers to as the tap on the shoulder.
Speaking with her after class, Ilias expressed confidence in Hargrove-Leaks abilities, encouraged her to pursue graduate school and offered to mentor her. She was surprised but grateful to feel seen. She became a 消消犯 assistant, which she was hesitant about at first. She had visions of a career in industry, breaking the mold of her 消消犯 and nursing lineage.
I fought it like mad, but 消消犯 is in my blood, she says. I loved being able to explain something and see the proverbial lightbulb go on in students heads.
She remained at A&T for a masters degree to continue honing her math and engineering skills. Ilias encouraged her to seek her doctorate in chemical engineering elsewhere for broader perspectives that would make her a better teacher.
She was accepted to the engineering program at the University of South Carolina, an up-and-coming engineering school and university investing in recruiting and retaining African American faculty. As she arrived on campus, opposition appeared again as her graduate adviser expressed doubts about her ability to succeed. There are some people here who dont think youre going to make it, he told her.
I had flashbacks to other teachers whod told me the same thing. I fought back tears. I could not let him see that he hurt me, Hargrove-Leak says. She chose to stay and do everything in her power to prove him wrong, despite being the only graduate student enrolled in an 消消犯 course taught by that adviser. By the end of that semester shed changed his mind, and he made her semesters work the solution manual for the course. She earned her degree by sheer force of will.
It wasnt easy,” she says. “I worked so hard, shed many tears and had many sleepless nights.
“Its the students that motivate me. I see such hope and potential in them. I really care about them and encourage them because I wouldnt be where I am without people doing that for me.”
Hargrove-Leak came to Elon in 2004, hired as the second engineering faculty member. The university was just beginning its transition into a nationally recognized leader in 消消犯 education. She helped implement the human-centered courses and experiential learning that have become hallmarks of Elons engineering program. She initiated Engineering in the Village with Elons It Takes a Village Project, to bring exposure to higher education to at-risk students in the Elon area. She developed a project within the introductory engineering course that brought engineering lessons to elementary schools, the Burlington Housing Authority and the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club.
Now Elons engineering program is on the cusp of tremendous growth.
This year, Elon established the Engineering Scholars program to attract and retain bright young 消消犯s. The program is poised to partner with the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges Scholars Program, a supplemental educational program to prepare students to improve the quality of life in the 21st century.
Hargrove-Leak is helming the effort seeking ABET accreditation signifying the programs quality and value to potential employers during the 2020-21 cycle. Elon is seeking grant funding to advance diversity, equity and inclusion within STEM education something close to Hargrove-Leaks mission as an educator.
As a physical signifier of this growth and commitment to engineering and STEM fields, Elon has embarked upon building the Innovation Quad that will house science and cross-disciplinary study for decades of growth and progress ahead. A $50 million fundraising effort is underway to complete the first two buildings in the new academic quad, IQ 1 and IQ 2, during the next several years.
Hargrove-Leak looks forward to that future and the possibility of growing thoughtful engineers in the decades to come.
Our curriculum includes design elements and authentic experiential opportunities each year. My hope is that it becomes a model for other programs, she says. But its the students that motivate me. I see such hope and potential in them. I really care about them and encourage them because I wouldnt be where I am without people doing that for me.
Im honored to have the opportunity to be a part of their education because I see them as the agents of change that the world needs, she says.