"I-SEE COLLEGE" showcases Chicana & Chicano history to all ages
July 31, 2023 - Savannah Peat
When Lobos return to campus this fall, log in online, or some combination of the two, there will be yet another place University of New Mexico learning is taking place: 3rd period.
New Mexico high-schoolers across the state are getting the opportunity to enhance their schedules from calculus, literature and physics, with the vital, unique field of Chicana and Chicano studies.
“We realized as a faculty that it is important to provide a bridge from high schools to UNM in order to successfully recruit, and in order to successfully prepare and retain students in degree programs,” UNM Chicana and Chicano Studies Department Chair Irene Vasquez said. “We're trying to move further into the community in creative ways, so high schools are an important constituency for us. We’re supporting students and thinking of them as young scholars.”
Starting in 2016, UMM’s Department of Chicana and Chicano studies aspired to not only help high school students get a jump start on their higher education, but bring in a special perspective often missing in classrooms. That’s how the College Preparation Program (CPP), now known as Initiatives for Student-engaged Educational Ecosystems College (I-SEE COLLEGE) began.
“There were teachers at that time who were looking to the department for an academic partnership. They wanted to ensure that their students were college ready and that they were familiar enough with the university campus to feel welcomed. Students are in need of this type of academic preparation,” Vasquez said.
Read more in the UNM Newsroom
