People of McMaster celebrates the incredible people who help make McMaster a great place to work, learn, teach and conduct research. This is the 13th instalment of this series. Click here for the previous one.
As Program Lead with McMaster Engineering’s Community Outreach team, recent Life Sciences graduate Keziah Gibbs oversees Venture Academy — the Faculty of Engineering’s summer camp program — and supports school and community outreach year-round.
From frog dissections to coding pill dispensers, Gibbs helps bring science and engineering to life for kids and teens.
What first brought you to McMaster?
I’m originally from Grenada. At 16, I started researching careers in science and engineering and decided I wanted to pursue biomedical engineering. When I discovered McMaster, I was immediately drawn to it, but my family couldn’t afford to send me abroad. I refused to give up, and eventually earned a full scholarship.
My first year was tough — I was still in Grenada because of the pandemic, and I didn’t know anyone here yet. When I finally came to Hamilton and Mac, one of the first places I connected with was the Black Student Success Centre. It gave me a sense of community, especially as an international student.
I worked there as a student navigator when it first opened, and it was such an important space for finding peers who understood my experience
While I studied Life Sciences, my co-op with McMaster Engineering’s Community Outreach team let me combine my two passions: science and teaching. I’ve been with the team since 2023 and now work as program lead.
What does Community Outreach do throughout the school year?
In the fall and winter, our focus is outreach in schools and community centres. We run free programs for elementary and high school students, and even introduce toddlers to STEM through our “early engineers” sessions. While most of our work is in Hamilton, we also travel across the GTA.
Our mission is to break down barriers to STEM education. We design culturally relevant and inclusive projects for underrepresented groups — like formulating hair oils to explore chemical engineering, making lacrosse sticks with Indigenous students, or hosting pajama-themed “cozy coding” nights for girls.
It’s about showing young people that STEM is for them.
Can you tell us about Venture Academy?
Venture Academy is our summer camp program within McMaster Engineering’s Community Outreach. It’s for students from grades 3 to 12 and gives them hands-on STEM experiences — building carousels, dissecting sheep hearts, coding automatic pill dispensers.
I supervise a team of instructors and facilitators, making sure camps run smoothly and students are both challenged and inspired.
A big part of my role is also connecting with faculty members across Engineering to keep the camps as immersive as possible. Thanks to their support, campers get to experience things like making ice cream with liquid nitrogen, testing model structures in civil engineering labs, or experimenting in greenhouses.
The best part is when a student who starts the week saying they don’t like science and don’t want to go, leaves excited about becoming an engineer, scientist, or doctor. It’s the best feeling!
What motivates you?
My family has always been my motivation. I watched my parents make countless sacrifices to give us the best childhood they could, and that has inspired me to work hard to create a better life for all of us. This role lets me inspire my younger sibling and so many other kids by showing them opportunities in science and engineering they may not have imagined for themselves.
What do you enjoy outside of work?
I love baking — banana bread is my go-to, but recently I made a lemon blueberry cake I was really proud of. Baking is a family tradition: My mom bakes and my sister owns a small bakery. I also love trying new things — lately I’ve been learning to swim and ride a bike.
What’s next for you?
I’m hoping to continue at McMaster, both in outreach and eventually in graduate studies. My long-term goal is to pursue a master’s in biomedical engineering here at Mac.