Guadalajara

We dream of travel; most people do, anyway.  Why?  Why is it that we want to take a step and voyage into a new world, culture, or dream?  Is it that we have a vision of another place being better?  Student’s that travel from other lands to live here in Colorado get to experience a new and different world.  Is it better?  Do they miss home?  Is this place what they thought it would be?

While I was in college I spent a semester in Guadalajara, Mexico.  Up until that point, I had not really spent much time out of United States, much less Colorado.  I spoke Spanish from text books, not real life. I definitely knew how to order a beer and say hello but I could not hold a clear conversation. Honestly, I struggled to acclimate to a new culture and daily life.  I missed some of the conveniences from the United States like drinking water out of the faucet or knowing that when using your tooth brush in the morning that the cockroaches did not feast on it while you slept.  However, there were new conveniences in Mexico that I began to appreciate, like dropping off laundry at the Lavanderia and picking it up in two days, cleaned and folded, for less than $3.00!!

My Senora traveled with us to a beach where locals frequented.  We got there by a very old school bus, baby blue and most likely missing struts and shocks. We stayed in a hotel that was not fancy and if there is an electrical code in Mexico, our lodging was definitely not up to code.  I imagined as I fell asleep in the twin bed I shared with my back to my dear friend, that my only hope was that we were not sharing the twin with the squirrel size cockroaches that we just jumped over on the uneven sidewalk outside.   It is not even fair to discuss the restrooms situation so I will not give detail to that aspect; however, as we sat on the beach and watched twenty kids playing and laughing hysterically as their parents watched and discussed life, you couldn’t help but admire the calmness, laughter and the moment of connection.    

Upon my return to the United States I had the unexpected struggle getting back into my old life.  The exposure to another world created a frustration in me when looking at, dare I say entitlements, from Americans’.   I wrestled with trying to understand why we do not have more gratitude for our blessings.  I did know now how grateful I was for the material gifts I experience as an American but was somewhat disillusioned by how whether the material rewards made us happy.  Every experience in my traveling was different, and therefore scary; yet when I reflect on my “globe-trotting” I feel so lucky to have been in another world for four months.  I learned the beauty of culture; another’s and my own, and gratitude for my experience and all of my blessings.  It is my intent to encourage students that I work with at the Community College of Denver if given the opportunity to travel, take it. 

TRIO ROCKS!

TRIO programs emerged out of the civil rights movement and Lyndon Baines Johnson’s War on Poverty. In 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act established an experimental program called Upward Bound. By 1968, the federal government had launched two additional programs, Talent Search and Student Support Services [TRIO SSS]. These three programs were grouped together and the title TRIO was born. The name remains, though TRIO now consists of eight programs, adding Educational Opportunity Center (1972), Training Programs for Federal TRIO programs (1976), Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement (1986), Upward Bound Math and Science (1990), and TRIO Dissemination Partnership (1998).

Currently, there are over 2800 TRIO programs throughout the country that support 790,000 students with college dreams, from the 6th grade through Bachelor’s degree completion. Specifically, TRIO programs work with students overcoming obstacles to education, including limited income, first generation to college, and disability.

Some famous TRIO alumni include:
• Patrick Ewing - Coach, Olympian and Former Professional Basketball Player
• Bernard Harris - First African-American Astronaut to perform a spacewalk
• Gwendolynne Moore - US Congresswoman
• John Quinones - Correspondent for ABC news
• Joe Rogers – Former Lieutenant Governor of Colorado
• Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – Music Producers
• Franklin Chang-Diaz - First Hispanic Astronaut
• Troy Polamalu - Professional Football Player

Access without support is not opportunity. At Community College of Denver, TRIO SSS supports students through the obstacles while challenging them to high goals. Toward this end, TRIO SSS provides a wide range of services, including comprehensive advising (academic, financial aid and financial literacy, transfer, career and personal); a Summer Bridge program; campus visits throughout the region; social and cultural activities; and academic tutoring. Within these services, the program utilizes data to track student progress and provide intentional guidance. Throughout, TRIO SSS creates a welcoming and personalized home on campus where each student feels valued and safe to grow as a student and career professional.

With our long history of advancing educational opportunity for underrepresented students, TRIO programs fulfill leadership roles at the institutional, state and national level. Throughout the country, TRIO spirals out innovation and best practices for student access and completion.

--
Contributor Imane Benjelloun is an alumna of TRIO SSS at both Community College of Denver and University of Colorado Denver. Currently she is professional staff with TRIO SSS at CCD and will soon be a famous alumna of TRIO.

The Rise of Women in Education

I have often read, heard and seen that women are indeed faring much better academically than their male counterparts. As someone who works for equality and access for all who seek higher education, nothing could make me happier than the fact that this particular gender gap has narrowed so substantially – although not completely (i.e. STEM). Growing up in a home where the struggles of women’s rights and gender equality were often dinner table conversations, I feel a twinge of guilt in wondering what is happening to all of the men and what can be done to ensure they find their place in a rapidly changing and evolving society.

Gender equality on many fronts, in addition to education, has certainly not been achieved. Women still make less than men for equivalent work and the executive glass ceilings are all too often encountered by women in many corporate boardrooms. Violence against women is still endemic and women are disproportionately left to economically and physically support children.  However, women have made historic gains in the workforce and have propelled even further in higher education by many accounts and I have often considered the possible reasons for this historic advance.  

A new book released this year entitled, The Rise of Women, conclude that women are more likely to attend college, perform better academically and choose other fields than STEM disciplines. The research conducted by the authors suggested one of the main causes for this disparity between gender achievements is due to school engagement in the primary schooling years - boys are less engaged and girls are more engaged. Additionally, the book discusses social and behavioral skill deficits experienced by boys that lead to lower educational readiness at multiple stages as compared to their female counterparts.

The authors also suggested that men are “overly optimistic” regarding their future income earning potential leading them to “under invest in education.” The book also discusses that the gender inequality gap most prevalent for those who attend college are the “lack of gender integration among various fields of study” – STEM fields are overly represented by men.  It is important to note that the book suggests that choice of college majors by men and women happen more at the K-12 level and less so at the college level.

As a student development practitioner, I wonder how we can better serve both men and women in the higher education environment and how to do our part to help ameliorate some of the social forces leading to gender inequality at the higher education level. I feel that CCD’s Urban Male Initiative (UMI) program is a very innovative and effective resource that helps promote male student engagement both at the educational and community level.  I also know of student groups and organizations that focus on exposing and encouraging women to explore STEM careers as viable career options.   

I would invite others to share, in the comments section, their thoughts and / or best practices regarding how to counteract any of the above mentioned social forces leading to gender inequality at all levels of education.  

Disequilibrium and the Teacher-Guide

In May, TRIO Student Support Services took a group of fifteen students on a Transfer and Cultural Tour. The student learning outcomes included: 1) Explore academic transfer opportunities beyond the Auraria Campus; 2) Experience cultural, geographical, and historical learning opportunities not otherwise accessible to TRIO students; and 3) Build communities of support among TRIO students and staff.

We know that the great majority of students that transfer out of CCD remain on the Auraria campus, with most ending up at Metro State. This in itself is not a problem; the tri-institutional arrangement of the Auraria Campus provides seamless transfer for our students, while maintaining local connections. Staying on the Auraria campus is the best value and fit for many of our students. The problem is that some of our students may be better off transferring elsewhere, but they simply do not know that.

The TRIO Transfer and Cultural Tour pushes students outside their comfort zone. We visit transfer institutions and communities that most of our students have never visited (or even heard of). Disequilibrium is pedagogy.

For example, at Western State Colorado University, a TRIO student was concerned that there were no campus police. "The Student Mountain Rescue Team once operated a safety phone line," the Admissions Rep told us, "But after two years they shut it down because not one emergency call was ever placed." (That is a bit different from the Auraria campus, where we hardly bat an eyelid at yet another person exposing themselves on the first floor of South.)

"Is there public transportation?" another student asked. "Well, there is no city bus, but it is not too hard to get around, since you can bike from one end of town to the other in ten minutes."

Certainly the small town campus was not for all of our students ("It is so quiet here...it is freaking me out"), but Western State ended up being the most popular campus we visited this year (in addition to UCCS and Colorado Mesa University).

The role of the teacher-guide is to bring our students into cognitive, cultural, social, even physical environments where they otherwise would not go, and to walk with them along the journey. With a bit of Socratic questioning and some structured time for reflection, the learning process moves along autonomously, as students synthesize new meaning and understanding from a direct and dynamic learning experience.

In TRIO, we firmly believe in the power of robust student support networks, and create opportunities for our participants to build and expand on their community of supporters. It is difficult to underestimate the significance that positive relationships with other students, faculty, and staff have on student success.

The TRIO Transfer and Cultural Tour puts students into new and different interpersonal environments. By intention, the Tour brings together a cross-section of our diverse student population, and puts everyone together in close quarters over four active and long days. As anticipated, the small scuffles and annoyances come about now and then, but when your choice is either to get back in the van, or walk 200 miles home, you make the necessary interpersonal adaptations quickly.

"It was interesting to meet and get to know people that I see at school for less than a minute.  When your traveling with 17 people for four days you get to learn how the person is like and who they are.  People can't hide who they are when traveling for so long with a group of people," noted one student.

Another student added, "I learned that when we build community we may have to work with diverse people who come from different backgrounds and beliefs. When we are working with the community, we need to be patient and we cannot expect that other people will perform like us because we come from different cultures, backgrounds, have different strengths and weaknesses, different personalities. It is important that we respect other people as well as ourselves."

"The trip gave me the ability to meet students whom I may not have otherwise interacted with. In doing so any of the other travelers can help to support the college experience and in return I can do the same for them. I told everyone on the trip that I work in our Office of Student Life and if they ever need books or any type of human services related help to come by. We can all support one another through our different background and experiences as college students. The camaraderie  is something that is priceless and can never be replaced," reflected a third student.

The role of the teacher-guide is not to control or direct or even inform. The teacher-guide creates intentional and thoughtful learning environments that challenge students to synthesize new experiences and understandings. Whether the student learning outcomes are purely academic, or more broadly developmental, disequilibrium is a powerful and engaging method to increase student learning and success.

Drop the Deficit

Though our intentions our good, we higher education professionals at times operate within the deficit model. Perhaps unaware, we use language such as low-income students, disability, non-traditional, and so on. Without thinking about it, we design programs to address academic deficiencies and to mitigate socioeconomic factors and to serve at-risk students. And in the assessment of our own contributions, we sometimes assume that we are doing pretty good if we can get a fair amount of our students to succeed, since they come to us with so many obstacles and challenges.

No doubt, there are circumstances and realities that disproportionately impact each of our life histories and trajectories. It is unfair to assume that we are all dealt the same hand in life, that  somehow if we just work hard enough, we can pull ourselves up by the boot straps. Certainly our role as an institution of educational access and opportunity is to work closely with those seeking to change their stars despite the challenges life has afforded them. But that does not mean that we define our students' future by looking into their past.

It is time to drop the deficit.

Let's take TRIO Student Support Services as an example. A description of our program using deficit language: TRIO SSS serves low-income, first-generation, and disabled students in order to increase the graduation and transfer rates of disadvantaged populations. Compare that to a description of our program using strengths language: TRIO SSS partners with students overcoming obstacles to higher education - such as limited income, first generation to attend college, or need for accessibility services - in order to achieve their high goals of graduation and transfer.

The language and thought models that we use have a huge impact on the climate of our programming and the energy of our students and staff. These impact how our students view themselves and how they construct their place in the world.

And so, TRIO SSS is a student development program involving a community of resourceful, creative, motivated, and committed students; the fact that our students have made it to CCD - given the cards many have been dealt - is nothing short of inspiring! We expect our students to work hard, to utilize a student support network, and to continually develop their potential. "Good enough" is not good enough for our students.

Learning Outside the Classroom

Each semester, TRIO Student Support Services completes a community service project. It is a great opportunity for students to develop leadership skills, explore career options, add to professional networks, and build community. In my view, it is also a great opportunity to strengthen the student-staff relationship, which is integral to supporting student success.

Strengths and Mindset

In terms of human development, I have gravitated toward the strengths-based approach over the last few years. Based in positive psychology, the strengths-based approach channels our energy and efforts through our natural ways of thinking, feeling, and doing (our "talents"). In short, the strengths-based approach is about authenticity: be who you are. I have found such an approach to be effective in developing potential, ours and our students.

But there is a certain dark side to the strengths-based approach, which I have come to better conceptualize through the excellent book Mindset by Carol Dweck. Dweck proposes a simple but effective model of human development. On the one hand, we may develop through the fixed mindset. The fixed mindset focuses on natural ability and talent; these fixed capacities by in large determine outcomes. On the other hand, we may develop through the growth mindset. The growth mindset focuses on learning and evolution; these growth-oriented activities by in large determine outcomes.

According to Dweck, the fixed mindset approaches intelligence as static and "leads to a desire to look smart and therefore a tendency to avoid challenges, get defensive or give up easily when facing obstacles, see effort as fruitless or worthless [since ability is inherent], ignore useful negative feedback, and feel threatened by the success of others” (245).

In contrast, the growth-mindset approaches intelligence as developmental and "leads to a desire to learn and therefore a tendency to embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery, learn from criticism, and find lessons and inspiration in the success of others" (245).

In my conception, the strengths-based approach must be integrated with the growth-mindset in order to maximize both strategies. The dark side of the strengths-based approach is a fixed mindset that validates our worth and potential by compartmentalizing our strengths versus our weaknesses. In this scenario, the strengths-based approach will lead to limited human development, constrained by a fear of failure and an incessant need for affirmation of natural strengths and talents. In contrast, a strengths-based approach grounded in an active mindset sees our strengths as tools for growth, as opposed to natural abilities. In this alternative scenario, we become who we are through constant growth, challenge, and a positive response to failure and criticism. In my view, this paradigmatic shift creates a huge difference in the development of human potential.

Success or failure: which is the enemy? How we conceptualize our response to this question goes a long way in determing whether our development is fixed or growing.

Further Reading
Dweck, C. (2008). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Ballantine Books.
Clifton, D., Anderson, E., & Schreiner, L. (2006). Strengthsquest. New York: Gallup Press.