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The next wave of Colorado’s great engineers and STEM leaders may very well already be enrolled at the Community College of Aurora (CCA).
Whether it is the construction of the new Center for STEM, Power Mechanics and Applied Technologies, the new Mines Academy at CCA or one of its Engineering programs, CCA is leading the way in preparing students to enter the engineering workforce.
Thanks to specialized programs, students are boosting their knowledge of math and science in preparation for transfer to four year university programs. One of those took place over the summer. Students took part in the Engineering Summer Bridge Program.
As part of CU-Boulders’ Denver Metro Engineering Consortium (DEMC) grant, participants joined for cohort style instruction focused on preparing students for high-level math they will use in their field.
Dr. Susan Young, Dean of STEM with the Division of Academic Success said, “Engineering programs like those at CCA are looking for effective ways to improve the engineering pathway pipeline for students from underrepresented populations.”
“Historically, students who enter community college do not have adequate math skills,” Dr. Young said. The Summer Bridge program addressed that need.
“Because engineering programs assume that students can start in Calculus 1 in their first semester, this grant is helping students not only identify that kind of STEM identity, but also to see themselves in the field with a variety of opportunities, and help them get up to speed on their math more quickly.”
First year student, TJ Sorupanathan understood this well. When he arrived in the United States from his native Sri Lanka as a 16-year-old student, he didn’t feel adequately prepared for an intensive university program.
“I’ve never really been the best when it comes to math,” he said. “Because I’ve been an immigrant, most of my life, I have not really had the fundamentals for math completely done. I was just kind of thrown into high school for my sophomore year, and I just had to catch up with everybody else so being able to start from the beginning for college algebra.”
Sorupanathan said not only did the Summer Bridge program give him an introduction into high level math, but it also exposed him to various engineering disciplines like computer and civil engineering.
He will study Computer Science at CCA, with plans to eventually transfer to CU Denver to complete his bachelor’s degree. His ultimate goal is to become a software engineer.
But there is a lot more to STEM disciplines than just numbers. Dr. Young said students are taught how to become effective communicators.
“Communication skills are super important in engineering,” Dr. Young said. “They all had really cool projects.They had to give a kind of PowerPoint oral presentation to the group and then they finalized it with a poster presentation where they had built a prototype.”
It turns out this was such a vital and engaging aspect of the course, Sorupanathan said, “Creating a prototype with his team was the best experience of his educational career so far.”
For him, coming from a different country to study in the US presented unique challenges, including not having a lot of hands-on classroom experience with the creation of a physical product as a project.
“I didn’t have a lot of experience. And the experiences I did have aren’t really that great. It’s just like sitting in the classroom studying and stuff.”
For his project, he addressed power supply issues for mobility vehicles such as wheelchairs and scooters. Using available supplies like PVC and cardboard, he and his group designed a prototype for a solar power supply that would fix this issue.
“Being able to do hands-on things was definitely a new experience for me,” he said.
This summer’s session was the second time the college participated in the grant. The four week program focuses on new recruits to the college, specifically targeting high school students who are aspiring engineering majors. However, it also does also serve current CCA students.
Dr. Young said this year’s enrollment nearly tripled that of last year. In addition to the intensive coursework of math, tutoring, math support and a hands-on project, students are also given guidance for career opportunities and are offered support for succeeding in their first year of college.
Dr. Young said, “When the students were surveyed, 100% of them indicated they planned on transferring to a university after CCA.”
She said, “We’re giving them the tools they need and the confidence that they need to see themselves succeed. And so a big part of this program is to do campus visits, get them in touch with transfer coordinators and help them really see how they can fit and how they can complete a degree.”
Photos by: Department of Strategic Communications