Creating opportunity for Detroit Public Schools students
Jhawan Davis (BSE IOE ’19) built an organization that has opened doors for hundreds of Detroit Public Schools students.
Jhawan Davis remembers the day his middle school teacher changed his life.
“They kind of sat me down and said, ‘Hey, you’re smart, but you don’t take things seriously. I think if you actually applied yourself, you could be really successful.’”
From that day on, Davis saw the world differently. He worked hard and got into Cass Tech, one of Detroit’s premier high schools. Next, he parlayed his math and science chops into a degree in industrial and operations engineering from University of Michigan Engineering. Today, he’s a continuous improvement specialist at Michigan Medicine, using engineering principles to help doctor’s offices run more smoothly and provide better access for patients.
Davis never forgot his middle school sit-down, and he has made creating those moments for others an enduring goal. In high school, he started tutoring other students in math, continuing it through college. When a series of engineering jobs in the manufacturing industry took him around the country, he worked with local National Society of Black Engineers chapters to organize volunteer tutors.
In 2022, the job with Michigan Medicine brought him back home, and Davis decided it was time to do more. He realized that he could apply the engineering principles from his industrial and operations engineering degree to education.
“I remember being at work, and I thought ‘Why hasn’t anyone taken this idea of continuous improvement to education?’ It’s an industry where there are people, processes and outcomes that are somewhat predictable, where people could benefit from this type of thinking.”
The idea led him to form the Detroit Educational Takeover (DET), a non-profit organization whose network of volunteers provides tutoring and other educational resources to Detroit Public Schools students. Since its inception in 2022, Davis estimates that the organization has provided free tutoring to around 600 students. It has also partnered with another Detroit non-profit, Focus Hope, to deliver meals to hundreds of families in need.
DET also works closely with Michigan Engineering, drawing on students as tutoring volunteers. The Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering is an especially close partner, working together with DET to host Optimaize, a twice-yearly event that brings Detroit high school students to U-M for a day of hands-on experiences and discussions. Davis says it’s an important—and fun—way to show students the doors that a STEM education can open.
“Math and science can be a struggle for anyone, and events like this show students what’s possible if they keep at it,” he said. “We don’t care what your math and science scores are, or even if you don’t think you want to be an engineer. It’s about expanding horizons and showing students that there are careers and opportunities beyond what they might see every day.”
DET held its sixth Optimaize in April 2026, gathering more than 16 Detroit high school students for a day of games, problem-solving and presentations from U-M students and professors with a focus on practical applications of industrial operations and engineering.
As DET continues to grow, Davis is looking at ways to go beyond tutoring and single-day events to forge deeper relationships with students. In the coming years, he envisions programs like longer-term mentoring, semester-long academic projects and help with college applications.
“Students today might see us once or twice in a few months, and we want to move beyond that,” he said. “We’re looking at how we do better at sustaining that relationship and helping students move toward higher-level goals around academic achievement and quality of life. Our focus is to deepen impact with the students we already serve, building stronger and more consistent support systems, and over time expand that model to reach even more young people. That’s what our future looks like.”