COVER STORY
The Transformation BY MATHEW M. MANDERY ‘61
AS I WALKED through Brooklyn Tech’s doors, a 14 year-old freshman entering its enormous facility for the first time, little could I imagine that I would someday be principal of this incredible STEM high school; let alone be instrumental in establishing and leading an alumni foundation whose educational programs would help Tech maintain its role as a beacon of STEM education. I see as one of Brooklyn Tech’s most significant growth changes the inclusion of female students. In 1922, Tech opened as an all-male technical high school with the goal of preparing young men for leadership roles in industry. The era’s prevailing perspective was that engineering and technical areas were male endeavors. The Tech I attended maintained this viewpoint. The curriculum was similar to that our founding principal, Albert Colston, had instituted; the school remained focused on educating only young men. The only encounters with women were the female teachers and dances with Bay Ridge High School, an all-girls school. So it remained until nearly a decade after my graduation, when young women were finally admitted. I proudly returned in 1983 as Tech’s principal. The school had transitioned in little over a decade to 40% female – a very significant change given the school’s 50-year history of allmale culture. Gradually, the curriculum and majors were evolving to reflect the work world that its young men and
women would enter. A facility updating that should have taken place in the early 70s was finally happening, bringing bathrooms and locker rooms for young women – who were soon excelling academically and holding leadership of clubs, student government and athletics. Indeed the prestigious “All Tech Award” was given to young women. At Homecomings, alumni from Tech’s first five decades were startled and impressed with the incredible presence and accomplishments of our female students. I came back for a third time in 1999, to lead the Foundation’s effort to build a strategic partnership with Brooklyn Tech to bring about a complete modernization of the curriculum. Young women had leadership roles in all aspects of the school community. The transformation from an all-male technical high school of excellence for the “machine age” to a co-ed, specialized STEM high school of excellence had taken place. This issue of TechTimes shows how Tech, powered by its student body of young women and young men, is poised to celebrate its centennial and move into its next hundred years as a leader of secondary STEM education. Dr. Mandery, the Alumni Foundation’s Chief Education Officer, is the only alum in Tech history to serve as appointed principal (1983 – 1987).
Sue Mayham ’76 BY JEANINE RAMIREZ ’88
NO FEMALE ALUM has had a longer-lasting and deeper impact on the Brooklyn Tech community than Susan Mayham ’76, Alumni Foundation board member. Founder of the Ruby Engineers, a group recognizing and supporting female students, she has passionately advocated for Tech, and for Tech women specifically. If anyone can be said to “bleed blue,” it is Sue. 4
TEC HTI M E S
FALL
2020
• Financial industry pioneer youngest female manager on Wall Street; rose to Vice President of Bank of New York in a stellar three-decade career • Alumni Foundation Vice President • Captain and Founder of Tech Twirlers • Developing confidence at Tech that drove her banking career: “I wasn’t an engineer, but I knew how to engineer my career. The architecture of my career was the real WWW.BTHSALUMNI.ORG
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ALEXA WHYTE, BTHS BLUEPRINT, STOCK IMAGES, COURTESY GEORGE CUHAJ, BTHS BLUEPRINT, JASPER WALDMAN
A Pioneer Remembers
