Federal grant fuels STEM growth at Big Bend Community College
The $4.4 million U.S. Dept. of Education Title III Grant for Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) helped the college provide new resources for students enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
MOSES LAKE — The effects of a five-year, $4.4 million federal grant from the United States Department of Education are being felt at Big Bend Community College (BBCC).
The Title III grant for Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) helped Big Bend provide new resources for students enrolled in the STEM disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math.
Big Bend was eligible for the grant for HSI because of the demographics and income levels of the population within its service district, according to the college. The goal of the federal grants is to help more Hispanic students earn college degrees. Services and benefits that result from HSI grants are available to all Big Bend students and residents of the service district.
The college is in the final year of the five-year grant. Over those years, it has used the federal dollars for a number of improvements.
College-level math courses at Big Bend were redesigned, complete with new advising strategies and the development of pre-engineering pathways.
According to information provided by BBCC, the college far surpassed its goal for enrolling more Hispanic students in STEM programs. In 2008-09, 24 Hispanic students were enrolled in STEM programs at Big Bend, and by the 2014-15 academic year, that number multiplied by nearly 20, with 473 Hispanic students enrolled in STEM classes.
Distance, or online STEM enrollment also increased from 150 full-time equivalency (FTE) in 2008-09 to 428 FTE in 2014-15.
According to the college, BBCC has also experienced a 200-percent increase in student use of the STEM Center this year.
“It is a healthy, vibrant learning environment,” Sarah Adams, a math instruction specialist at Big Bend, said. “Students are encouraged to be engaged.”
Tutors are also stationed in the STEM Center, helping students with math, biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, engineering and other coursework.
Big Bend used its grant money to implement the pre-college math model known as “Emporium.” The software-based model helped students succeed at a greater level in developmental math, with success rates rising from less than 50 percent to upward of 70 percent. The Emporium lab has computers for 62 students, with as many as seven sections being offered each quarter.
“Math is a gatekeeper for so many professions,” STEM grant director James Sauceda said. “If a student can’t pass college-level math, that student can’t be a nurse, an accountant, a computer technician or an engineer.”
Big Bend has partnered with engineering teams from local industries like Genie, REC, and SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers to “better inform students of local STEM opportunities and occupations.”
There are many more STEM jobs in the local economy that have come with industrial diversification,” Sauceda said. “Our students can become engineers and get a job near their home town.”