Northwest Vista College Receives $1 Million in Grant Money

Grant to Help At-Risk Girls in Math, Science
La Prensa San Antonio.- Alamo Colleges-Northwest Vista College was one of just 13 groups to receive a prestigious four-year grant to help high school girls gain higher proficiency in math and science. NVC, the only grant recipient in the state of Texas, will receive $203,023 for the first year of the project, with a total of $995,125 being awarded over the course of a four-year period.

Alamo Colleges-Northwest Vista College was one of just 13 groups to receive a prestigious four-year grant to help high school girls gain higher proficiency in math and science. NVC, the only grant recipient in the state of Texas, will receive $203,023 for the first year of the project, with a total of $995,125 being awarded over the course of a four-year period.
The announcement was made in Washington, D.C. June 23 during an all-star line-up of women athletes and scientists that had a roundtable discussion on the landmark Title IX legislation. The law was enacted June 23, 1972 prohibiting gender discrimination in any education programs that receive federal funding. The grants were made under the Women’s Educational Equity Act Program which provides financial assistance to enable educational agencies to meet the requirements of Title IX.
“We are honored at Northwest Vista to be one of the few groups to receive this important grant,” said NVC president Jacqueline Claunch, Ph.D. “We feel it’s critical to help girls embrace math and science to give them a chance to enter into these fields in the future and be successful.”
The government agency awarded $2.4 million in first-year grants to 13 groups for projects that will help “These grants go hand-in-glove with our efforts to improve equity and access for women and girls in the classroom and on the playing field,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in a press release.
With this funding, NVC will implement the Gender Equity in Mathematics and Science (GEMS) project, which proposes to make a concentrated effort on increasing the number of high school females and ethnic minority students pursuing college majors and careers in science and math disciplines.
The GEMS Project will recruit and identify female students who are at risk of not completing high school. The project will provide support services for female college students through faculty mentoring, summer programs and educational and cultural activities.
The project also incorporates training and professional development workshops for math and science instructors in high school and college. GEMS will recruit 44 students in the ninth grade during the first year and provide continuous services until after the students graduate from high school.
“I want to commend the NVC faculty members responsible for collaboratively creating these ideas and their commitment to GEMS,” added Claunch.