“Young got started in 2012 by working with FIRST Lego League and Baltimore City Public Schools to host an annual Girls and STEM summit and teach technology courses to K-12 students. She also received a $10,000 grant from the Baltimore Corps’ Elevation Awards, spent a stint at the Social Innovation Lab at the Johns Hopkins University, where she first incubated the concept, and won a $2,000 grant from the Warnock Foundation.”
So far I’ve helped over 3,000 students in Baltimore learn how to use their love for Dirt Bikes for something great in society, but I am just getting started!
For most, it would be hard to correlate Baltimore’s dirt bike culture to STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math). However, for Brittany Young, a connection between the two seemingly vastly different worlds made perfect sense. “Growing up in Baltimore, the sound of summer in the city was dirt bike riding,” said Young. “Most dirt bike riders start riding dirt bikes at the age of three or four. Since they start at such a young age, they have natural ability. They also have…
BALTIMORE (WMAR) - It's a problem in Baltimore: people riding dirt bikes illegally on the street. But a new nonprofit is taking a unique approach to create a safer environment for everyone by teaching kids STEM using their love of dirt bikes. "Riding dirt bikes is my passion. I see them riding and then I was like I want to try that one day," 11-year-old Kamyia Jordan said. "I always thought one day that’s gonna be me on a dirt bike," 11-year-old Daron Harrell said. 7th graders Jordan and Harrell…
Brittany Young is founder of B-360. After noticing the lack of diversity in STEM fields, Brittany helped partner FIRST Lego League with Baltimore City Public Schools to host an annual Girls and STEM summit and teach technology courses to K-12 students. As a faculty member of the BCCC STEM Scholars Program, she provides scholarships and internships with NASA to motivate black students to pursue STEM careers, reaching them at the community college/GED level.
Using Baltimore’s dirt bike culture to get kids interested in engineering
Brittany Young knows that when many people see a dirt bike rider in Baltimore, they see a lawbreaker and a nuisance. She sees a potential engineer with natural talents and ingenuity. Like James*, a 12-year-old who’s been riding bikes since he was five and has always known the ins and outs of wheels and gears. Or Sarah*, a five-year-old who knows how to repair dirt bikes. “Nobody has told [Sarah] that these properties are also called engineering,” says Young, who grew in West Baltimore watching dirt bike riders in Druid Hill Park. “When you look at people that lead STEM [science, technology, engineering…
Baltimore’s kids are obsessed with dirt bikes. Some people think that's a problem, but teacher Brittany Young is using dirt bikes to get kids into engineering and STEM education. Her organization, B-360 Baltimore, aims to use dirt bike culture to help end the cycle of poverty, disrupt the prison pipeline, and bring together communities — while giving dirt bikes a better reputation. Dirt bikes are a controversial issue in Baltimore; some ride them around them around the city streets when it’s illegal to do so. Some people have complained about dirt bikes driving unsafely through traffic, but riders and…
