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September 20, 2016
Vol. 3, Issue 31
Board of Trustees

Chairman of the Board
Dr. Yvonne Katz
District 7

Vice Chair
Marcelo Casillas
District 4

Secretary
Dr. Gene Sprague
District 6

Asst. Secretary
Denver McClendon
District 2

Joe Alderete, Jr.
District 1

Anna U. Bustamante
District 3

Roberto Zarate
District 5

Clint Kingsbery
District 8

James Rindfuss
District 9

Emmanuel Nyong
Student Trustee

Chancellor

Dr. Bruce Leslie
Alamo Colleges
Alamo Colleges - Palo Alto College Robotics Students Ready To Win
Alamo Colleges - Palo Alto College S.T.E.M. Early College High School students prepare a robot for competition.

Earlier this year, a group of 11 students from Harlandale ISD and Alamo Colleges - Palo Alto College's S.T.E.M. Early College High School (ECHS) formed a robotics team to compete against other high schools. Despite their lack of experience, the team won first place in the 2016 Alamo Regional FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) and at the Texas Robot Roundup. They also competed at the global Championship in St. Louis.

"The biggest obstacle was just how inexperienced we were as a team," said team member Noah Pelham. "[We] had no idea what to expect. It was just getting over that initial fear of 'What are we supposed to do?' in order to compete."

Starting in January, teams have six weeks and $4,000 to design, build, and program their robot-getting it completely ready for competition. At the end of the six weeks, the robots are shipped off for competition. On game day, the teams' robots have to complete various tasks, such as crossing obstacles, moving items, scoring goals, and climbing towers.

The S.T.E.M. ECHS robotics team has the unique advantage of in-depth study in subjects related to robotics. By attending the College's S.T.E.M. ECHS, all of these students are in the process of earning their associate degrees with an emphasis in mathematics, engineering, biology, chemistry, or computer science.

The team is already preparing for next spring's competition by recruiting new team members and working on program and structural ideas. This year, the team would like to build a practice robot that they can use to prepare for the games once their competition robot is shipped. The team would build the two robots simultaneously, using the same parts and programming. However, even with additional practice, Pelham said that the team will still need to rely on the knowledge and instincts that helped them succeed last season.

Alamo Colleges - San Antonio College Awarded Scholarship Grant from Baptist Health Foundation
(l to r) Cody S. Knowlton, president and CEO of the
Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio, presents
a grant scholarship gift to Dr. Robert Vela, president
of San Antonio College. 


The Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio has awarded a $20,000 grant scholarship to Alamo Colleges - San Antonio College (SAC). A check for the amount was recently presented to SAC President Dr. Robert Vela by Cody S. Knowlton, president and CEO of the Baptist Health Foundation of San Antonio, at the Foundation's office.

"On behalf of San Antonio College, I want to thank the Baptist Health Foundation for their generous gift," said Dr. Robert Vela, president of SAC. "Many of our students come to SAC part-time and must balance family and job obligations as they pursue their education. We appreciate being able to support students with scholarships and help ease their financial burdens as they pursue their career path."

The five programs whose students are eligible to be considered for scholarships are:
* Dental Assisting
* EMT-Paramedic
* Human Services - Addiction Counseling
* Medical Assisting
* Nursing

SAC students can apply for a scholarship using the Alamo Colleges Foundation online scholarship application and meeting the annually determined deadlines.

The scholarship awards will be applied toward the selected recipients' SAC tuition. 

NLC Certified Advisor Ahmet Aksoy was the only participant from a community college selected for the Thomas Moorman Fellowship program.

Alamo Colleges - Northeast Lakeview College Advisor Awarded Texas Fellowship

Ahmet Aksoy, certified advisor at Alamo Colleges - Northeast Lakeview College (NLC), is one of four participants awarded the Thomas Moorman Fellowship for the Texas Association of College & University Student Personnel Administrators (TACUSPA).

TACUSPA is the premier association for student affairs professionals in Texas. Its purpose is to provide leadership, support, development, research, and best practices in the field of student development for professionals who work in colleges and universities in the state.

The fellowship program is designed to promote the professional development of student affairs professionals in Texas. The fellowship program is a year-long program where participants are paired with mentoring opportunities from current or former TACUSPA Board members who have also served as senior level student affairs professionals for colleges or universities in the state.

As a fellow, participants take part in board meetings, serve on one of the association's committees, and write articles for the association's newsletter. Participants are also awarded a scholarship that covers the cost of their attendance to the TACUSPA's Fall Annual Conference.

Among this year's four participants, Ahmet was the only participant to be awarded from a community college. Aksoy joined NLC as a certified advisor June 2016.  Previously, he worked at UT Rio Grande Valley as the assistant director of student involvement.


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The Alamo Colleges mission is: empowering our diverse communities for success. Our vision is: the Alamo Colleges will be the best in the nation in student success and performance excellence. The Alamo Colleges is one district with five community colleges serving more than 90,000 students annually from Bexar County and seven other counties in our service area. We provide an affordable, quality college education that leads to associate degrees, certificates and transfers to four-year universities. Hundreds of thousands of Bexar County residents who have come through the Alamo Colleges education programs are major contributors to the economy and culture of Sa n Antonio.