The Napa Valley College Society for Advancing Chicanos and Native Americans in Science chapter was awarded one of eight 2011 Role Model Chapter Awards. The chapter will be recognized at the national organization’s annual Conference in late October as the Outstanding New Chapter for 2011.
Awards are based on chapter annual reports. Napa Valley College was selected based on the “unique and outstanding quality” of the report and “the types of activities accomplished as well as actual SACNAS membership.”
“We had a lot of students working really hard. It’s nice to be rewarded for doing a good job” said Dr. Forest Quinlan, professor of chemistry at NVC and SACNAS chapter advisor.
In addition to winning this award, the Napa Valley College chapter was also recently featured in SACNAS News, the national organization’s bi-annual newsletter. The article entitled “Building Confidence Through Collaboration: Tools for Increasing Student Success at Community Colleges” focused on the impact of leadership development and cooperative projects.
Throughout the academic year, the SACNAS chapter met on a weekly basis with the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement club and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers student chapter. Although each organization had an independent board of student leaders, officers from all three worked together to host events, organize socials, and travel to conferences.
“The collaboration between SACNAS, MESA, and SHPE has helped outreach a broader audience of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. Combined we are able to provide more resources and academic opportunities for members of each organization” said Jessica Blanco, president of the NVC SACNAS chapter for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Currently SACNAS and SHPE are fundraising to pay for registration fees and lodging at their respective national conferences. Both organizations fundraise year round. Although the NVC SACNAS chapter is traveling to San Jose this year, the registration fee per student is $300.
“SACNAS has helped me so much” said Enrique Mora, outgoing chapter president. Mora is one of the founding board members of the NVC SACNAS chapter who attended the 2010 national conference. Six students attended the conference with the purpose of networking with other chapters. “I have grown in leadership and in academics… not only has this increased my GPA, I have become a new student” said Mora about his involvement in SACNAS.
For more information about the national SACNAS organization visit www.sacnas.org.