Gavilan College Awarded Third STEM Grant
Written By Jan Janes
A
s the current Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)
grant reached its final year, and while faculty and administrators
waited to hear the fate of its newest grant submission, Gavilan
College received a site visit from evaluators.
At the end of the visit, staff heard their decision: approval of Gavilan’s
third STEM grant totaling more than $4.7 million across five years.
HSI STEM grants, funded by the United States Department of
Education, became more competitive as the number of qualifying
Hispanic serving institutions grew from 100 to 415. Of the 254
applications recently submitted, 91 were funded.
Gavilan College was one of only five grant applicants in the country
with a perfect score of 100.
“I think an important factor influencing the evaluators during the
site visit was the enormous amount of student involvement,” said Rey
Morales, Biology instructor and lead faculty with the STEM program for
eight years. He cited the summer internship opportunities and Gavilan’s
unique learning venues available to students, as well as the supplemental
instruction and service learning activities made possible by the first two
STEM grants.
The official name is Strengthening Hispanic STEM Students:
Comprehensive Support, Guided Pathways, Renewed Learning.
On campus, they call it STEM III
The new grant will enable Gavilan to create a STEM Center within the
Math and Science Quad. Plans are still in flux about where activities will
move and change. Lab upgrades were a major component for STEM II.
The Math Tutoring Lab, always filled to capacity, may move to a larger
space, freeing that area to be designated as the new STEM Center.
Another key component of the new grant is expanded STEM counseling
and community involvement. A full time counselor dedicated to STEM will
meet a few times each semester with students. The connection between
counseling staff and faculty will be strengthened so students could meet
with both, offering better insights about career opportunities.
Marla Dresch, Gavilan Math instructor and the new Activity Director
for STEM III, outlined opportunities for outreach: “There will be outreach
to area high school students, to high school faculty, and especially to high
school counselors, informing them of STEM opportunities at Gavilan.”
There will also be outreach to families about STEM education and career
options available.
“The annual community outreach program, Science Alive, is held in
February each year,” Dresch said. The program invites middle school
students onto campus to participate in hands-on math, science and com-
puter workshops. Because the college Student Center is undergoing seis-
mic retrofit repairs, the program may be postponed or cancelled in 2017.
Teaching and learning opportunities abound
With the new grant, summer enrichment programs will expand. Summer
Bridge, an existing program which offered academic boot camps as a
transition between high school and college, will continue and add more
classes during intersession. A new bridge program, STEM Transition,
will offer math and science summer classes between the first and second
college years.
Another new program, Guided Pathways, will plot a clear academic
roadmap as STEM students begin their studies. Students learn how the
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
Students installed a native garden adjacent to the Gavilan College Life
Sciences building to serve as an outdoor classroom.
classes build upon one another and when they’ll be ready to transfer. The
pathways approach also allows students to set up contingency plans if
changes occur in their schedules.
Established transfer agreements with San José State University are
shared with students so they know the correct classes to take and what
GPAs are expected.
The pathways approach encourages students to enroll in accelerated
classes which combine classes that typically span two semesters into
one class, doubling the units and emphasizing learning immersion. “As
students put a whole lot of effort into their math, it creates synergy and
students get good at it,” Dresch said.
Instructors take note of students who master math principles, recruit
them to become paid math tutors and offer them tutor training. “This
encouragement leads the tutors to accelerate their own knowledge, then
go on to schools like UCLA and Berkeley and enter a STEM profession,”
Dresch said.
STEM III will enable the college to purchase equipment
benefiting student research efforts. According to Morales, “Supplies
such as a wireless weather station help students understand effects
of weather on plants and animals, and portable wifi microscopes
to quickly assess water quality.” Computer tablets share live data
and enhance interactive learning. Camping equipment allows
students to participate in service learning programs off campus at
state and national parks and local ecological reserves.
Summer internship program flourishes
Summer interns benefit from field and lab research under guidance from
science mentors throughout the Bay Area. They apply in the spring, get
paid over the summer, often launching careers in their chosen STEM
fields. Participation leads to improved motivation, dedication to studies
and a realization they can do the work.
Neighboring universities, government agencies, nonprofit
organizations and STEM related businesses have all worked with
Gavilan College to offer internships. Field research teaches students col-
laborative, practical skills unavailable in a traditional classroom setting.
“The unique attributes at Gavilan—field activities, outdoor class-
rooms, the pond overlook, native garden and the meadow restoration
— add a creative approach to the way we teach our students,”
Morales noted..
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017
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