Alamo Colleges District Roundup Newsletter January 30, 2017

January 30, 2017

Vol. 4, Issue 2

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 District - Palo Alto College Launches New Honors Program for Spring 2017


Palo Alto College is offering an Honors Program beginning with the spring semester to promote student success and leadership.

Alamo Colleges District - Palo Alto College's (PAC) mission to inspire, empower, and educate the community for leadership and success is expanding this spring with the launch of the new Honors Program.

The college began exploring the possibility of starting an Honors Program in fall 2015, and the program is launching this spring thanks to the efforts of over 40 faculty and staff members. The Honors Program consists of 15 hours of coursework, small classes, and mentorship from faculty. Included in the careful development of the writing-intensive curriculum, students will create e-portfolios containing all of their coursework, which they can use to advance their academic and professional careers.

Honors-level courses will be offered across a variety of disciplines, but all of the courses will be themed around "global citizenship." Students will fully engage with their courses, the college, their community, and beyond through opportunities to travel-both regionally and abroad-in an effort to extend the learning environment beyond the classroom.

Applicants to the program have to maintain a 3.25 GPA, but co-directors Thomas Murguia and Alba De Leon said that admission to the program goes beyond academic success into developing creative expression and a desire to give back to the community.

Alamo Colleges District - St. Philip's College and Palo Alto College Offer Free Tax Assistance


Community members can receive free income tax assistance at SPC and PAC.

As part of the Alamo Colleges District's mission to "empower our diverse communities for success," Alamo Colleges District - St. Philip's College and Palo Alto College both serve as sites for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA offers free tax assistance services for individuals and families who earn up to $60,000 annually.

SPC's student-operated VITA service is historically the number one producing site in San Antonio, processing a college and city-wide record $8.7 million in refunds and 4,568 returns in 2016. SPC is also one of several Military Return sites and offers a Virtual VITA service allowing customers to drop off tax information and have their returns processed within 72 hours.

Since 2012 (tax year 2011), PAC's VITA site has processed a total of 8,430 returns. This will be the sixth year PAC has offered the VITA service.


Students from the Judson ISD visit Northeast Lakeview College as they begin the Early College High School.

Judson ISD Students Begin Early College High School Program

This spring, 174 students from Wagner, Veterans Memorial, and Judson High Schools are part of the new Early College High School Program in a partnership with Judson Independent School District (JISD), Alamo Colleges District - San Antonio College and Alamo Colleges District - Northeast Lakeview College (NLC). These students are in their freshman year of high school and began taking two college courses this spring.

While the students in this program are currently taking college courses at their high school, they previewed NLC in late Fall 2016 to learn about college life, culture and services. Students will take college courses at NLC their junior and senior years of high school. Upon completion of the program, the students will graduate with an associate degree and a high school diploma.

Let us hear from you! Send your comments on our newsletter to khendricks@alamo.edu.

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.