null
July 9, 2015
Vol. 1, Issue 14
Board of Trustees

Chairman of the Board
Anna U. Bustamante
District 3

Vice Chair
Dr. Yvonne Katz
District 7

Secretary
Joe Alderete, Jr.
District 1

Asst. Secretary
Clint Kingsbery
District 8

Denver McClendon
District 2

Marcelo S. Casillas
District 4

Roberto Zarate
District 5

Dr. Gene Sprague
District 6

James Rindfuss
District 9

Sami C. Adames
Student Trustee

Chancellor

Dr. Bruce Leslie
Alamo Colleges
Middle and high school students participated in PREP programs at all five Alamo Colleges this summer.
PREP Summer Program Going Strong at the Alamo Colleges
 
This summer, all five of the Alamo Colleges once again hosted UTSA's summer Prefreshman Engineering Program (PREP). PREP is designed to motivate and prepare middle and high school students for careers in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).  The program emphasizes increasing the number of women and minorities in these career fields. PREP acquaints students with professional opportunities in STEM, reinforces the academic preparation of these studies at the secondary school level and creates an environment in which talented students are encouraged to learn, explore, achieve, and discover.

Students from 6th - 9th grade completed their first summer of PREP at NVC (the program has a four year curriculum and University PREP).  The NVC PREP curriculum includes Logic, Introduction to Engineering, and Problem Solving. 

The San Antonio PREP program has served the community since 1979.  16,304 middle school and high school students have successfully completed at least one program summer component. Of these students, 77% were members of minority groups, 55% were women, and 38% came from economically disadvantaged families. 

During the summer of 2013, the PREP Office conducted an evaluation of former participants. The results are as follows:
* 90% of all students who are of college age have attended or graduated from college.
* 72% of the 4-year college graduates are members of underrepresented minority groups.
* 44% of the 4-year college graduates are engineering, mathematics, science or computer science majors.
* 66% of the engineering, science, computer science and mathematics 4-year college graduates are members of underrepresented minority groups.




 

Alamo Colleges International Programs Welcomes New Cohort of Students for Becalos Program 
 
Students in the Alamo Colleges' Becalos program attend a luncheon at Alamo Colleges - San Antonio College.

In Fall 2014, the Alamo Colleges' Office of International Programs launched the Secretaria de Educacion Publica (SEP) - Becalos Santander Universidades Exchange Program, an academic and internship program for 87 Mexican technical institute undergraduates at four of  the Alamo Colleges. 

 

The Becalos program, underwritten by Mexican industry, provides a four-month academic program of at least two science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)-related academic/technical courses, local STEM internships that are part of class enrollment, contextual STEM-related English as a second language (ESL) programs and cultural interchange opportunities.  International Programs is in the process of enrolling students for the next cohort of 90 who will be here August 3 through December 19. To date, 72 students are registered.

 

 


Alamo Colleges - Northeast Lakeview College Nets Grant To Establish Monarch Butterfly Waystation

 

Monarch Watch is funding a butterfly and pollinator garden
at Alamo Colleges - Northeast Lakeview College.

This summer, Monarch Watch, a nonprofit educational outreach program based at the University of Kansas, awarded a "Bring Back the Monarchs" grant to Alamo Colleges - Northeast Lakeview College. NLC will receive 32 milkweed plants to begin a butterfly and pollinator garden at the college. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has provided funds for the milkweed project and Monarch Watch is distributing the grants. 

Once established, the new habitat will be used in a service learning project for biology students. Students in Dr. Laura Houston's environmental science classes will monitor the health of the milkweed and collect data on monarch eggs, instars, and butterflies. They will send reports to contribute to ongoing scientific studies about monarchs and other pollinator species. The goal is to give students real-world experience as citizen scientists. The scientific goal is to increase the population of monarch butterflies, whose numbers have been at an all-time low for the past two years. The college also plans to share the garden with K - 12 students in its Adopt-A-School program and other community partners.

 

For more information on the grant project, contact Linda Plevak, Instructor Librarian and Monarch Project Co-Coordinator, at lplevak@alamo.edu or 210-486-5390.
 

 

 


The Alamo Colleges is one district with five community colleges serving more than 90,000 students annually from Bexar County and seven other counties in our service area. We provide an affordable, quality college education that leads to associate degrees, certificates and transfers to four-year universities. Hundreds of thousands of Bexar County residents who have come through the Alamo Colleges education programs are major contributors to the economy and culture of San Antonio.