Oakland's Ahmed Muhammad talks Town business

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland Technical High School alum Ahmed Muhammad has been gearing up for his annual STEM fair for Oakland kids, as he continues to maintain a 4.0 plus grade point average at Stanford University while advancing programs to help young people in his hometown.

The Kits Cubed STEM Fair at Oakland Tech will mark its fourth year next month. 

The free event is expected to draw an even larger crowd this year, with the ambitious goal of bringing together 4,000 young people as part of Muhammad's overarching goal to get kids in his community engaged and excited about science. 

Muhammad launched his non-profit, Kits Cubed, while in high school in 2020, during the Covid pandemic. 

His mission was to create and donate science kits to schools with the hopes of making STEM education accessible to all, offering kids opportunities for hands-on learning while cultivating in them "a genuine passion for scientific exploration."

Since its inception, Kits Cubed has donated more than 40,000 kits and put on dozens of educational events.

Its annual STEM Fair has served as a culmination and celebration of the group’s community engagement.

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This past year has been a busy one for the soon-to-be fourth-year Stanford undergrad, who has officially declared mechanical engineering as his major.

To build on his education and experience in the field, he spent his summer working on an engineering internship with PG&E.

The past school year was an eventful one too. He spent his fall quarter studying abroad in Chile, marking his first time leaving the country. 

The 21-year-old said he's now busy looking for additional internships, and fellowships, while applying to graduate school.

Outside of academics, Muhammad has found time to continue his passion for basketball, a sport he played on the varsity team while at Tech. At Stanford, he has been involved in the school’s intramural league and celebrated his third intramural basketball championship this past season.

Muhammad said he did experience a setback in his academic schedule following an accident that cut off a part of his thumb while working on an engineering project during his second year at Stanford. 

He said that while he’s doing much better, the injury resulted in him getting behind in his academic plan by one to two quarters.

But as the young man has proven time and time again, he’s been able to find a way to grow and learn from his experience. "[It] completely shifted my philosophy to paying more attention to physical and mental health, mindfulness, and generally slowing life down to be more in the moment," the introspective college student shared with KTVU.

One area where he has continued to seize opportunities and moments has been in his work to help advance the educational growth of kids in his community. 

Muhammad said he recently secured a grant from the Golden State Warriors to implement an after-school pilot program in Oakland. 

The program is being designed to engage local high school and college students to deliver the instruction, creating what he called "a cascading mentorship model with our hands-on science activities." 

Muhammad said that he’s assembling "a team of superstar" educators and curriculum developers to launch the program this coming school year, with the ultimate goal of being implemented city-wide and beyond to other communities. 

Kits Cubed’s fourth annual STEM Fair will be held on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Oakland Technical High School at 4351 Broadway. 

You can click here to register.

VIDEO: A look back at Kits Cubed's work