$6 Million Grant Benefits Gavilan's Hispanic and Low-Income Students

was recently awarded a $6 million federal grant for the purpose of creating a project geared toward advancing opportunities for the school’s Hispanic and low-income students.

The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, will fund the school’s STEM Magnet: Improving Pathways for Hispanic/Low-Income Students project, with the money being received in annual installments of $1.2 million over the course of five years.

Gavilan is one of 34 colleges state wide to receive the grant, which is reportedly awarded to institutions with a Hispanic population above 25 percent.

"We are one of the select few community colleges to receive an award of this size," Gavilan College Executive Vice President, Kathleen Rose, stated in a media release. "One of the primary objectives will be to leverage all STEM disciplines and enable us to attract entry-level students in engineering and environmental science."

The project is part of the school’s STEM Student Success Initiative, which works in collaboration with the schools’ Natural Sciences Department and its Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement program to provide opportunities for students studying science, technology, engineering and math, according to Gavilan’s website.

Grant funds can be used for near anything, from the purchasing of laboratory equipment to the construction of facilities.

Gavilan officials will use the grant money to:

• Create greater opportunities for their science and math students through STEM awareness activities.

• Develop faculty and streamline majors.

• Increase support for the school's MathPath program through accelerated basic-math sequences, STEM counseling services, a summer institute, and supplemental instruction.

The grant will further be used to strengthen the program’s curriculum by implementing research internships, reworking the engineering program and by developing new environmental science curriculum.

"One of the most exciting things is developing an environmental science program," Gavilan Spokeswoman Jan Bernstein Chargin said. "There’s been a real desire by a number of faculty members to put together an actual [environmental science] degree."

Bernstein-Chargin said the school will also use the grant to make sure high school students see a clear path to studying science at Gavilan, and to ensure that Gavilan students have a clear path to transfer to San Jose State University and other higher-education institutions.

The grant was awarded through a competitive process, with acceptance being based on the schoo's ability to effectively communicate their students' need, as well as their ability to articulate how the money would directly benefit the student population, Bernstein Chargin said.

Gavilan will be required to complete two performance reports detailing the college’s student enrollment, retention and graduation rates in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.

For information about Gavilan’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education program, click here.