PREP Program Going Strong at NVC

  July 7, 2015  |   

[image 1]For more than a decade, Northwest Vista College has served as a host institution and supported the San Antonio Prefreshman Engineering Program, also known as PREP.
This summer, the program – which was established by UTSA – had record enrollment at its 10 locations with more than 1,700 participants. 

PREP is designed to motivate and prepare middle and high school students for success in advanced studies leading to careers in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). The program has an emphasis on increasing the number of women and minorities in these career fields. 

[image 2]Students from 6th – 9th grade are completing their first summer of PREP at NVC (the program has a four-year curriculum and University PREP). The NVC PREP curriculum includes Logic, Introduction to Engineering, and Problem Solving. One special event took place on July 1, when the SAPD set up a mock car crime scene in an NVC parking lot. It was created to help the students understand how to use math and science to investigate a crime scene. 

The San Antonio PREP program has served the community since 1979. About 16,304 middle school and high school students have successfully completed at least one program summer component. During the summer of 2013, the PREP office conducted an evaluation of former participants. Here are some of the results:

  • 90% of all students who are of college age have attended (6,643) or graduated from college (4,574); 54% of the college attendees graduated from college.
  • 72% of the four-year college graduates are members of underrepresented minority groups.
  • 44% of the four-year college graduates are engineering, mathematics, science or computer science majors.
  • 66% of the engineering, science, computer science and mathematics four-year college graduates are members of underrepresented minority groups.

Thanks to Yvette Uresti for serving as the NVC PREP site director for seven years and her service to the program for more than 15 years.  As a former TexPREP student from the Rio Grande Valley, UT Pan American site in Edinburg, she understands and is committed to the purpose of the organization. Additionally, there are several NVC faculty and staff who were former PREP students and now some of their children have attended the program. To learn more about PREP, go here.