Alamo Colleges - Northeast Lakeview College Graduate Named 2016 UTSA Mellon Fellow

NLC graduate Monica Pepping has been seleced as a Mellon Fellow at UTSA.

Monica Pepping, 2016 Alamo Colleges - Northeast Lakeview College (NLC) graduate, has been selected as a 2016 Mellon Humanities Pathways Fellow. The program will provide 36 undergraduate students at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) with exposure to humanities research methods, opportunities to participate in humanities research studies, professional development and mentoring that leads to doctoral studies in the humanities.

Pepping is in the first cohort of fellows selected and will receive a stipend of $4,000 that will be distributed as projects are completed. 

Pepping earned her  associate degree from NLC in 2016 and is now pursuing a bachelor's degree in political science with a minor in global affairs at UTSA. Her ultimate goal is to earn a master's degree in professional writing that she will use to write about issues of importance. A non-traditional student, Pepping graduated from NLC with honors.

Alamo Colleges - St. Philip's College Community Garden Nets National Grant

Alamo Colleges - St. Philip's College's (SPC) Eastside Community Garden that is student-run under faculty leadership has received a $3,000 award from the signature program of a national organization that funds, with financial support from the National Science Foundation, initiatives described as "modest in scale but often bold in effect" to advance education and civic engagement.

The National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (NCSCE) awarded SPC one of its ten Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) Summer Institute 2016 Post-Institute Implementation awards for innovative projects addressing and advancing both the use and access of community gardens for the two-year term of 2017-2018.

Since 2014, SPC students and faculty members have led by example to help San Antonians go healthier and greener while they share knowledge as guests in a working community garden at 1715 N. Center St. The 13,000 square-foot East Side Community Garden, envisioned with multiple garden plots where gardeners will take produce home for meals, was initiated by a group of seniors who are assisted by volunteers and neighbors. In addition to increasing food resources for local seniors on fixed incomes, the college has found opportunities to give back by helping to improve the infrastructure and nutritional value of the garden. In the process of giving back, student success and college courses have been enhanced as the STEM program is being brought to scale, and capacity building support has been earned from such organizations as NCSCE.