What do you want to be when you grow up?

For children who aspire to STEM fields, it helps to meet professionals who look like them, working in these fields.

That’s why the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is hosting The Future of STEM: Back to School Minority Opportunity Fair.

The event will introduce minority students in grades 5 through 12 who are interested in science, technology, engineering and math to professionals of color working in STEM related fields.

Partners from 30 area organizations will be on hand to answer questions, supply students with information about STEM opportunities, and offer advice on steps students should take to pursue various STEM fields.

Then, teacher-turned-filmmaker Andre Robert Lee will offer a talk titled, “Finding Your Place When You Feel You Don’t Fit,” detailing his journey to identity and purpose, and how it influenced his film, “The Prep School Negro.”

Following Lee’s talk, he will host a panel discussion among Triangle STEM professionals including Rene Daughtry, founder of Aisymmetry, which hosts a series of robotics workshops for students across the Triangle; Dr. Chelsea Juarez, N.C. State assistant professor from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, who has studied the evolution of diabetes in Latino populations; Veronique Moses, program director at IBM; and Crystal Harden, director of programs and strategic initiatives at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

The fair is part of the museum’s special programming being offered during the exhibition, “RACE: Are We So Different?”

The Future of STEM: Back to School Minority Opportunity Fair will be held on Saturday, Aug. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the museum at 11 W. Jones St. in downtown Raleigh. No registration is required.

For more information, visit naturalsciences.org.