Category: Education

By Isa Fernández Isa Fernández, MPA is a Legacy Corridor Business Alliance Program Manager at Westside Development Corporation, a freelance photographer and peace and justice advocate. The time was set for nearly 3,000 Edgewood High School students – 9:20 AM on Thurs- day, May 16th, 1968. After months of planning, students would finally walk out of classes to protest the glaring inequalities of the public education system and gain national recognition by arguing public education inequities (due to how Texas public schools are funded in part by property taxes) were robbing them of their future by paving the way...

By Javier Rojas At the age of 13, Mexican-born teenager Dafne Almazán had already become the youngest psychologist in the world. That alone would give you a reason to pause and marvel at her accomplishments. However, Almazán has made history once again for her academic accomplishments. She is set to become the first person under 18 years old to be enrolled in a post-graduate degree at Harvard University in the last 100 years. She will be pursuing a masters degree in math education and is expected to finish her studies at Harvard after just one year. Almazán is starting...

By Kay C. Hendricks This month, the Alamo Colleges District literally rolled out its new online college initiative, complete with a VIA bus on site, emblazoned with an ad promoting AlamoONLINE—College When and Where You Want It. “In our efforts to make a college education accessible to as many residents of our region as possible, developing and promoting our online offerings plays a key role,” said Alamo Colleges District Chancellor Dr. Mike Flores. “With AlamoONLINE, we are ramping up our efforts to be the first choice of students seeking an associate degree or certificate online by offering in-demand programs,...

By: Milady Nazir Althea Campuzano has spent her entire collegiate career at UTSA. As an undergraduate, she conducted research alongside Janakiram Seshu, who encouraged her to work on Lyme disease. Due to her interest in mycology, the study of fungi, she decided to continue at UTSA and she gained admission to the highly competitive Cell and Molecular Biology doctoral program. Under the direction of her new mentor, Floyd Wormley, Campuzano focused on how hosts recognize the invading fungal pathogen, Cryptocococcus spp., which is present in the environment. Once she completed her Ph.D. work in 2018, she opted to deepen...

Last weekend, St.Philips college hosted the third annual Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCU) Truth & Reconciliation Oral History Project. The project uses the power of documented words to heal and create spiritual and social change by way of student-conducted interviews concerning experiences of racial discrimination of loved ones of color (African American and Latino/an origin). “In our efforts to heal from the effects of racial discord in America we must be willing to expose and hear the experiences of those who have suffered. Only by truly listening to those most impacted can we begin the process of healing...

By Milady Nazir Ariana Moncada is a senior double majoring in math and statistics at UTSA. This coming spring, she will be only one of 20 students from across the U.S. to participate in a mini-semester program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This exclusive research facility is a government hub that develops the latest breakthroughs in new clean technologies. The UTSA student fought hard and won admission thanks in part to her work in developing UTSA’s Sky-Imager, a solar forecasting technology that uses machine learning to help the City of San Antonio determine how much solar energy to...

Susana Hernandez knows the challenges immigrants face and has become an advocate for the bilingual community. This first-generation student is from Monterrey, Mexico and migrated to the United States with her family when she was 9-years-old. When Susana arrived in San Antonio, she said she would pass UTSA, hoping she could go there one day. “You feel very limited when you’re an immigrant and that you can’t have the same opportunities others have,” said Hernandez. That dream became a reality. Hernandez said because of the Dream Act she enrolled at UTSA in 2015. Nearly 16 years after arriving in...

Today at Brentwood Middle School (Edgewood ISD), the Alamo Colleges District joined Brentwood students and Edgewood ISD partners to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the district’s Mobile GO Cen-ter, an innovative one-stop enrollment center on wheels that brings information and access to college to local K-12 schools and com-munity organizations. The Mobile GO Center is a 43-foot, air-conditioned and heated, generator-operated trailer. Housed inside are 20 laptops and printers, with Wi-Fi access. The center is ADA compliant and has wheelchair lift capabilities. Over the past decade, more than 50,000 community members have benefitted from the services provided by the...

The Alamo Colleges’ receipt of the prestigious, 2018 National Malcolm Baldrige Award, affirms the District is among the most effective and efficient organizations in the United States. It is one of only five organizations recognized this year by the Department of Commerce and the only community college district ever to receive the honor. This is an acknowledgement to our current and future students, employers, elected officials, economic development leaders, ISD and university partners that the talented and dedicated Alamo Colleges employees deserve the recognition from our diverse communities across our eight-county service area for transforming the Alamo Colleges into...

Last month, I had the honor of speaking at a “Su Voto Es Su Voz” event hosted by the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project as part of Hispanic Heritage Month. Today, nearly 58 million people, or 18% of Americans, are of Hispanic or Latino descent. Generations of Hispanic Americans have positively enriched our nation and culture. Our mission is a continuing one. As midterm elections approach this November 6th, I continue to believe in the power of our collective voice in this country’s political process. Now, more than ever, your vote matters. As Latinos, we are not immune from...