CATONSVILLE, Md. — A UMBC program is helping underrepresented students reach for graduate degrees and beyond, with its director paying forward the support he received in Baltimore.
Michael Hunt, director of the UMBC McNair Scholars Program, remembers the people who believed in him as a youth and shaped his path to success.
WATCH: UMBC program that opens doors for underrepresented graduate students
"I've always been inquisitive, and I've always had community folks who really cultivated that for me. So my home church in Baltimore, which was New Shiloh Baptist Church, a lot of folks from the Black middle class came from that community. I was from a single parent home and my mom made sure that I was always in those spaces," Hunt said.
That support propelled Hunt to earn undergraduate and doctoral degrees at UMBC. Yet, he realized other students weren't so lucky, sparking a desire to help the next generation pursue graduate studies.
Hunt now serves as director of the UMBC chapter of the McNair Scholars Program, which has a goal of increasing graduate degrees for students from traditionally underrepresented groups.
"The issue isn't that our students aren't achieving. It's that they haven't been given the opportunities. And that's why this program is important, because it literally places the students in these opportunities. Some of them haven't even flown before. And their first time flying is going to present their research at a conference," Hunt said.
The nationwide program is the legacy of the late astronaut Ronald McNair, the first African American in space.
Thirty students are selected each year for UMBC's program. They complete scientific or scholarly research opportunities.
Most, like Kalel Kai, a junior mechanical engineering major, are first-generation college students.
"When I first came to college, I was scared. But when I saw McNair for the first time, I saw like this is a place where they don't talk about like ifs, they're talking about when’s and how's, like putting beliefs in their actions and that caused a shift in me," Kai said.
McNair builds community for students like Kai, who didn't have family or friends who shared the same goals.
"McNair has helped me gain more confidence in myself. How do I take these opportunities and make sure I can grow them, how to cultivate it into something more so I can reap what I sow," Kai said.
The federally funded program was recently cut from 18 colleges nationwide. However, UMBC leadership has reaffirmed their commitment.
Because of his work with the McNair Scholars, Hunt recently received the 2025 Outstanding Alumni Award.
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