NOVA Recognizes Hispanic Heritage Month, Celebrates Pioneers of Change!
Today’s topic is Hispanic Heritage Month.
Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15 each year. NOVA is classified by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) as an Emerging Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Data from this fall shows that, as of Monday, Hispanic students comprise 25 percent of NOVA’s FTE population (which meets the 25 percent HSI threshold).
The 2024 Hispanic Heritage Month theme, Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together, is directly connected to NOVA’s E-Summer Bridge Program, which has been made possible thanks to a three-year, $200K grant from HACU and Dominion Energy. The E-Summer Bridge provides underrepresented high school students with an opportunity to take college courses at NOVA over the summer and receive wrap-around supports to encourage their pursuit of credentials that lead to careers in clean energy, STEM and IT fields.
According to a 2021 Pew study, while Hispanic workers make up 17 percent of the workforce overall, they comprise just eight percent of the STEM workforce. Our Inspiring Excellence strategic plan has a focus on connecting NOVA students to pathways leading to high-demand jobs with sustaining wage incomes, which makes the E-Summer Bridge Program so important.
Since 2021, 115 Northern Virginia high school and dual enrollment students have participated in the program; they have earned more than 400 college credits in courses taught by 11 NOVA faculty. Students in the program meet with industry professionals and take a capstone field trip to a Dominion Energy facility to learn more about clean energy careers.
The program is helping students see themselves as future STEM professionals. As one shared, “The E-Summer Bridge Program undoubtedly helped me acquire skills that will help in my future career as a software engineer. Thanks to the program, I now feel prepared and confident in my abilities to thrive in college and beyond.” Based on the success of the summer bridge, we have been awarded an additional $45K grant to extend the program into a fourth year. I thank Dual Enrollment Coordinator Katie Aimone for her exemplary management of this project, and Drs. Nathan Carter and Eun-Woo Chang for their collaborative stewardship of the grant.
Continuing with the theme, Pioneers of Change: Shaping the Future Together, I am excited to announce that Katya Echazarreta, the first Mexican-born woman in space, will join us for a special Hispanic Heritage Month webinar, Monday, September 30 at 2 p.m. To register to attend the webinar, please see this story posted in the Daily Flyer. This event is made possible by a generous donation from Micron to the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Office via the NOVA Educational Foundation, supporting speakers for Hispanic Heritage and Black History months. I hope you will register for the webinar and share information about this event and the other Hispanic Heritage Month activities happening across our campuses.
Together, we can help our students shape stronger futures for themselves and for us all.
Kind regards, Anne