Jason Williams, a Marine Corps veteran and UCLA chemistry doctoral candidate, and Angel Fulgencio, who works in domestic violence intervention, say programs that help former service members move from military life into higher education are increasingly vulnerable. Both participated in UCLA’s Veterans in STEM program, which connects student veterans with research training, faculty mentors and hands-on lab experience.

The transition from active duty to a college campus can be difficult, they said. Many veterans are older than traditional college students, carry different life experiences and may be dealing with combat-related trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Some also face financial instability, interrupted schooling or homelessness before reaching a classroom.

Those challenges make campus-based support programs especially important, Williams and Fulgencio argue. UCLA’s Veterans in STEM program, housed within the university’s Center for Developing Leadership in Science, helps veterans build research experience needed for jobs, graduate school and long-term careers in science and health fields.

Participants attend weekly training sessions, work in laboratories with faculty and mentors, and may take part in intensive summer research opportunities. Some later mentor other veterans entering the program.

But the program’s future became uncertain after federal officials froze millions of dollars in grant funding to UCLA, affecting research programs across the university. According to the veterans, the uncertainty forced a pause in admissions last spring, and students who completed the initial training were unable to move forward to the next stage.

The situation has drawn attention to Senate Bill 895, the California Science and Health Research Bond Act. The bipartisan proposal, sponsored by the University of California, would ask voters to approve $12 billion in funding for research grants, loans and facilities tied to medicine, science jobs and health-related innovation.

Supporters say the bond could help California maintain research programs and protect training opportunities while federal funding disputes continue. For student veterans, Williams and Fulgencio said, that could mean preserving access to programs that help turn military experience into academic and professional advancement.

Federal officials have described some university research cuts as an effort to eliminate “woke programs,” but the veterans say the impact reaches people who served the country and are now trying to build civilian careers. Although the National Science Foundation grant supporting the program has been reinstated for now, the broader legal fight remains unresolved.

Williams and Fulgencio argue that veterans strengthen higher education because they bring practical, real-world experience and different perspectives to research. Reducing support for those students, they said, ultimately weakens universities and undermines the nation’s broader interest in scientific progress.

California lawmakers would need to place SB 895 on the November ballot before voters could decide whether to approve the bond. For veterans pursuing higher education, supporters say the measure represents a chance for the state to reinforce both its commitment to former service members and its investment in research that benefits Californians.

Original source: CalMatters

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This year’s cohort includes five MSJC students: John Assadi, Tanner Garvin, Lauren Mole, Jake Olson, and Ana Noel, who will spend the coming year immersed in advanced stem cell and regenerative medicine research environments.

The program, funded through the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), provides students with access to cutting-edge research experiences that prepare them for careers in medicine, biotechnology, and scientific research.

For Jake Olson, the opportunity represents the next step in a journey that began unexpectedly.

“I was first interested in biology in high school,” Olson said. “I came here to MSJC, where a biology professor introduced me to the honors program. Through the honors program, I started a year-long project doing genetics research, and from there, I was introduced to the stem cell internship as an opportunity after MSJC.”

Olson, who plans to transfer to the University of California, San Diego after completing his studies at MSJC, hopes to pursue an MD-PhD in regenerative medicine. During the internship, he expects to conduct research involving vascularized neural organoids using advanced 3D-printed structures.

“My advice for incoming students, if you’re unsure of exactly what you want to do, is to take as many different kinds of classes as possible,” Olson said. “One of them you’re going to get interested in. And when you do, when you feel that, go for it.”

For Tanner Garvin, the program opened doors to possibilities she had never previously considered.

“I came into the college as a nursing major, but upon taking microbiology, I got really inspired by my professor,” Garvin said. “A research career didn’t really feel like an accessible path to me at first, but hearing about research made me realize this was something that I could do.”

Garvin credits MSJC faculty and the Honors Program with helping her discover new opportunities.

“I thought that I was just going to go into nursing,” Garvin said. “But because I allowed myself to think about other things, I was given this opportunity.”

Returning to encourage this year’s cohort was MSJC alumna Joia Miller, who currently works at a San Diego research laboratory focused on disease modeling.

“This program has been very rewarding,” Miller said. “I couldn’t be more grateful because now I’m marketable on the job market.”

Miller encouraged the new cohort to stay organized and embrace the experience.

“For students going into the program, stay on top of your lab notebook,” Miller advised. “If you start with your notebook, then everything should be okay.”

Dr. Roger Schultz, Superintendent/President of Mt. San Jacinto College, said the continued success of MSJC students in the program demonstrates the power of community colleges to create life-changing opportunities.

“Programs like CIRM Bridges demonstrate what is possible when talented students are provided access to mentorship, research opportunities, and pathways that connect education with real-world experiences,” Schultz said. “We are incredibly proud of these students and excited to see how they will continue transforming lives through science, research, and innovation.”

Through partnerships like CIRM Bridges, MSJC continues expanding opportunities for students to participate in research experiences typically associated with four-year universities while building pathways into high-demand STEM careers.

To learn more about this program, watch the students’ interviews: https://youtu.be/rSqqoF65JqE

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Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss, was born on March 2, 1904, and his first children’s book “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” was published in 1937. The author and illustrator, a favorite among young readers for his deft use of nonsense words, playful rhymes, and unusual characters, was celebrated by Soboba’s young students on Friday, March 1.

The preschoolers did crafts centered around “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” which was released in 1960. Pre-kindergarten students listened to a book edited by Dr. Seuss and written by Robert Lopshire called “Put Me In the Zoo” about a polka dotted leopard who could change his spots. Afterwards they broke into small groups to do crafts. One was to make their own spotted leopard. Another group make Truffula trees out of marshmallows, similar to the ones found in “The Lorax” and the final group colored red and white striped hats just like the one worn by “The Cat in the Hat.”

Kindergarten students were kept busy with many STEM activities that involved mathematics and building. There was a table full of outlines of characters from various Seuss books for the children to color and they had to cut out red and white rectangles of different sizes to create their own hats.

Snacks fit right into the theme as they enjoyed Dr. Seuss juice, Lorax oranges, green Grinch grapes, and Cat in the Hat kabobs made with layers of white bananas and red strawberry slices.

The Dr. Seuss Silly Week promises to be very entertaining as the students are asked to participate in the following ways. Monday, March 11, is “I Am Not Going to Get Up Today” where kids are encouraged to wear their pajamas to school.  Tuesday will celebrate “Fox in Socks” while kids wear whatever silly socks they want to wear. Wednesday will be “Wacky Wednesday” and kids can wear mismatched clothes, fix their hair in a crazy style or express themselves in whatever creative way they want. Thursday is all things “Cat In the Hat” and students are encouraged to wear something with stripes or a favorite hat. For “Green Eggs and Ham” Friday kids will wear something colored green and be treated to actual green eggs and ham by the school chef during their nutrition break.

For more information on the upcoming book fair, please visit, https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/content/fairs/home.html. More on the Soboba Tribal Preschool can be found at https://preschool.soboba-nsn.gov.

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Socrates would weep. The great philosopher of ancient Athens was among the first teachers of critical thinking, you might say, and he died for doing so. And now, college philosophy departments — along with the other humanities and the social sciences — are shrinking, with reduced fields of study, smaller teaching staffs and fewer courses.

Part of this shrinkage in many big universities and smaller colleges as well is the result of rising concerns about the cost of a college degree, which can leave graduates and parents in serious debt for years or decades. Students understandably want to feel that their investment of time and money will pay off in the not-too-far future.

A STEM degree — science, tech, engineering and math — often opens up more and better-paid career opportunities than those in other majors. As a result, fewer students are signing up for non-STEM majors and courses, and colleges, already wondering how they’ll survive declines in enrollment, are in turn shrinking those departments.

University humanities and social sciences departments also have been demonized by the far right as hotbeds of “wokeism,” fuzzy thinking and rampant liberalism, where some conservative students and professors say they’re made to feel unwelcome when they are not taking a progressive stance. In North Carolina, the Legislature passed a budget this year that provides funding for new distinguished professorships only in STEM fields at the state’s public universities. Apparently, the legislators also don’t care whether the state produces top-notch urban planners, crime solvers, social workers, psychologists and language translators, all of which fall within social sciences.

It’s a pound-foolish mistake as the colleges’ reputations are likely to slide, making it harder to attract top students or faculty unless the schools can come up with their own money for the high-level professorships. There’s nothing wrong with supporting STEM majors, which provide a path to well-paid, meaningful and fulfilling jobs. But universities were never meant to be merely career-prep schools. They also teach — or should teach — students how to think deeply and critically, analyze smartly, bring people together collaboratively, communicate articulately, as well as innovate and create. All of these traits are at the heart of humanities and social science studies.

They also happen to be traits highly valued by employers. According to a 2013 survey, more than 90% of employers agree that “demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important” than an applicant’s college major, and that ethical judgment, integrity, intercultural skills and the ability to continue learning also were key. Similar surveys a few years later showed the same: Employers were looking for workers who were great communicators and possessed “soft” skills such as critical thinking. If a good future awaits people with these abilities, why are the non-STEM fields often viewed as career dead ends? This is where colleges have let their students down.

Employers are looking for demonstrated capacity, which means they want applicants who have shown these abilities outside the classroom, in some mix of experience with campus organizations, volunteer gigs, internships and paid work. Relatively few colleges do a good job of providing students with those opportunities or guidance in how their studies might translate into rewarding careers. Colleges that want the liberal arts to continue as robust fields of study need to reconsider the status quo.

They should slim down tuition costs and ensure that students graduate with strong skills in critical and innovative thinking and in working with others. Those are abilities that are highly valued by employers in many different industries. At the same time, right-wing politicians (and left-wing, for that matter) should be keeping their fingers out of how universities run their academic programs. They aren’t experts, and their attempts to control colleges arise from personal biases and political interests rather than from sound academic thinking.

It seldom comes to good. Socrates was convicted of impiety and corrupting the youths of Athens, and sentenced to drink poison hemlock. Daring ideas taught by great thinkers have long felt like a threat to petty minds.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

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The annual American Indian Science and Engineering Society National Conference is a one-of-a-kind, three-day event focusing on educational, professional and workforce development. Attendees include Indigenous high school and college students, educators, professionals, Tribal nations and Tribal enterprises, universities, corporations and government agencies.

The conference works towards achieving the AISES mission by providing students and professionals access to career pathways, professional and leadership development, research and networking that also meaningfully incorporates Indigenous culture into its signature event. This year’s AISES conference was held Oct. 19-21 in Spokane, Washington and 10 participants, ages 12-17, from the Soboba Tribal TANF arrived Oct. 17. The conference kicked off a day early for middle to high school students with an array of interactive STEM booths to explore.

Students are hands-on with STEM themed ideas and have chances to win great prizes. “Our youth also attended the AISES college and career fair that attracts professionals and college recruiters from corporations, government agencies, and colleges and universities,” Soboba TANF Program Specialist II Angelica Crawford said. During the conference, chaperones were able to attend the Opening Ceremony, STEM Day activities and the student social dance that was held for the youth.

The STEM activities day included hands-on STEM-themed ideas and challenges. The full afternoon of activities and information was a great start to the conference. A marketplace was available for middle school and high school students and educators to learn more about AISES PK-12 opportunities. Chemistry, computer programming, water filtration, construction and cybersecurity were just some of topics covered with fun, interactive activities offered throughout the afternoon on Oct. 18. Students could choose from several workshops that were available throughout the conference.

These included “Resilience Strategies to Stay on the Path to Becoming a Physician,” “Data Science Career Networking and Panel Workshop,” “From Sci-Fi to Reality: How Places like JPL Make it Happen!” “STEM and Leadership Careers in the Forest Service” and “Brighter Future Through Solar Energy.” Seventh-grader Nowaniiki Resvaloso was at the conference for the first time and attended many of the business workshops that were offered.

A favorite for him, along with 14-year-old Kevin, was the session on Stickgames, also referred to as Handgames, presented by Kimberlee Blevins, a graduate student at Sitting Bull College. The traditional Indigenous game has been played since the beginning of time throughout North America. It has been referred to as a game of intuition, but requires skill, engagement and eagerness to learn. Handgames is still a practiced tradition throughout Indian Country across all levels. The traditional game is also used to teach probability.

Blevins holds two associate degrees in pre-engineering and Native American leadership, and a BS in Environmental Science. She is currently completing her master’s degree in environmental science with a focus on Atmospheric Science. Kimberlee enjoys working with Indigenous youth on STEM projects and her goal is to decolonize STEM spaces. Kevin, who is currently in eighth grade, said he plans to pursue engineering with the Army Corps of Engineers or become a Navy SEAL, both things he learned about at the conference.

The workshops he attended were, “Imagine working for the US Army Corps of Engineers, finding your people and a career” and “Indigenous Representation in the Navy: Honoring Warriors at Sea & STEM Opportunities.” Another interesting workshop was “The Future of AI and Indigenous People,” whose description read, “As AI continues to advance and permeate various aspects of our lives, it is essential to examine its implications for Indigenous People, considering our unique cultural, social and economic contexts.

This Accenture panel will explore the opportunities, challenges, and potential risks associated with the integration of AI technologies. By doing so, we aim to foster a better understanding of how AI can be harnessed to benefit Indigenous People while respecting our rights, traditions and sovereignty.” The session was facilitated by Mark Hunter, Managing Director with Accenture, one of the world’s largest consulting firms. He also serves on the AISES corporate advisory council.

He is a former AISES college chapter president and his current career journey started with a connection he made at an AISES National Conference. The variety of workshops covered social and behavioral sciences, engineering, health and medical sciences, life sciences, geoscience, computer and information science, biological science, art, architecture and design, as well as research projects in these areas. There were also those that focused on professional and workforce development, education and student success and college and career readiness.

This conference offers something for everyone and is a valuable opportunity for Indigenous youth to learn so much in one place. Crawford said the group was able to take some time out for sightseeing while in the area. “We were able to walk the Riverfront Park,” she said. Located in downtown Spokane, the 100-acre park is considered an urban oasis. The Spokane River winds through the park and cascades over basalt rock and two dams to create the largest urban waterfall in the country.

The group from Soboba was able to enjoy the Bloomsday Sculptures, the Looff Carrousel and the 15-minute Numerica SkyRide which descends over 200 feet across the river. “We did go on the SkyRide to get a better view of the falls,” Crawford said. Virginia, 12, is in seventh grade who said going to Riverfront Park was her favorite part of the trip but she did attend many of the workshops. “I learned that computer people are trying to make apps better,” she said.

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For more than two decades, AAUW San Gorgonio Pass Group of the Redlands Branch has hosted this invigorating conference to actively and strategically engage, influence, and motivate eight-grade girls to succeed in school and pursue careers in STEM fields.

The exciting day-long event kicked off with a keynote address from motivational speaker Amber Jazairi, who encouraged participants to set goals and find ways and work hard to achieve them. “Your mind will propel you in any direction you choose and it’s all your choice,” Jazairi said.

AAUW gathered professional women from various science, technology, engineering and math fields to participate by sharing their experiences and the opportunities available to girls interested in STEM careers. Among these is a veterinarian who demonstrated the process of how to treat a lame horse, using math to calculate the correct dosage of medicine for the animal based on its weight.

Participants attended sessions and had fun exploring different career paths and areas of study in the STEM fields, giving them a chance to explore careers they may not be familiar with. The conference also instills confidence in students through activities, networking, and collaboration amongst their peers and other local students.

MSJC’s STEM pathway is designed to create opportunities for students to become more informed about science-related careers. Programs help students succeed and prepare them for transfer and careers in STEM fields of study.

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Kindergarten teacher Sierra Vivanco had a training session this past summer with Stacy Smith Ledford, who is the PK-12 Student Success Program Officer for AISES. This enabled Vivanco to be able to introduce the STEM program to her students when the new school year began.

Ledford, who lives in Colorado, previously taught kindergarten, first, third and fifth grades before joining the nonprofit in January. She was in her element when she brought robotic cars to the Soboba classroom on Sept. 22 and worked directly with the students.

“As an educator, I was able to impact a small group of students on an annual basis,” she said. “In this position I have been able to give back to my Native community and reach hundreds of students and help them discover pathways to STEM.”

Ledford is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Through AISES’ SPRK-ing Interest in Computer Science program, she works with preschool through high school age students. There are additional programs that work with age groups from preschool to graduate students and workforce professionals.

“We do our best to communicate with the teachers and plan to differentiate accordingly,” she said. “Sierra has been a dream to work with at Soboba and provides the necessary information I need to facilitate my lesson. We were able to ‘launch’ the new indi robot with the Soboba preschool because of Sierra’s AISES partnership. We are so fortunate to have educators that are passionate about STEM and bringing these resources to their students.”

Vivanco is very impressed with the organization and its mission to introduce STEM to Indigenous schools throughout the country, providing all of the funding and tools needed for the students to learn. Her own class was introduced to the Sphero Indi car robots, the first school to experience them. Ledford said the great thing about the Sphero Indi is that it comes with everything needed in a class pack.

“After I leave, the teachers have the curriculum in hand and resources they need to continue the building blocks to coding. I offer virtual Zoom meetings to support educators if they need additional training,” Ledford said.

Vivanco said the car-shaped robots were embraced right away by her students.

“They were so excited about using robots; they thought it was the coolest thing ever!” she said. “It is also a bonus that Ms. Stacy was a teacher before she started working with AISES, so she works well with younger students.”

The concepts utilized to “program” the robots are things that this age group is regularly reviewing and learning about such as colors, directions, problem-solving skills, following rules and decision making. To make the cars react, colored tiles are laid out in a certain pattern. Green means go, yellow is slow and several different colors indicate directional turns. The students took turns starting the car at one end of a line of tiles to see how it would behave. They learned that multiple green tiles at the beginning would increase its speed and that the car’s trajectory could be changed by introducing a different color tile. They seemed most excited to have it land on the purple tile, which made it “dance” by spinning in circles.

After working together as an entire class to determine a path for the car, students were divided into teams to work with a car robot and their own set of tiles to make it perform the way they wanted. After much trial and error and negotiations on what to try next, the teams cheered when they successfully programmed their robot to complete the desired path. When it was time to go to the playground for recess, a few students asked if they could take the cars outside to play with them.

Vivanco said she loves that all of the AISES instructors are of Indigenous descent or Tribal affiliations. She is looking forward to attending the organization’s national conference in Palm Springs, Oct. 6-8 to meet with other Indigenous educators who are involved with AISES and receive more professional development on how she can incorporate additional STEM within her own classroom.

“We don’t often see other role models who come from the same ethnicity and work/educational background,” she said. “At the kindergarten level, the standards embrace a lot of STEM work and building concepts. The indi robots are great at capturing the coding and pattern-making skills for STEM.”

Vivanco is using the robots as an incentive to work towards each day, setting aside a certain amount of time at the end of the day for them to pair up and work with the robots. She hopes to be receiving more kits so that each student will be able to have one of their own to work with independently.

Preschool Director Donovan Post also serves as Principal at Noli Indian School on the Soboba Indian Reservation, where some of his 6-12 grade students are already familiar with AISES and robotics.

“We were introduced to the program through Soboba Tribal TANF. We knew this would be a great program for the middle school students at Noli.  We had a quick trial run during our summer school session and the high school students loved it,” he said. “Sierra came and we tried using the robots for the kinder class. We knew at the time that those robots (Sphero Bolt) were a little too evolved for that age level. We found out that they had different robots in the shape of cars that are geared for the lower grade levels.”

Post said he loves it when students do not even realize that they are learning math and other subjects and are just having fun in the classroom.

Soboba Tribal Council Chairman Isaiah Vivanco recently accepted an offer to be the Chair of AISES’ Tribal Nations Advisory Council, whose primary role is to advise the organization on issues of relevance and importance to Tribal Nations and assist AISES in creating opportunities for Tribal nations and their citizens. He was sent a letter from AISES CEO Sarah Echohawk asking for his participation on the voluntary board. After discussion with Soboba Tribal Council members, he accepted the offer to join. Ultimately, the offer turned into an offer to be the TNAC chair.

“I got involved with AISES because of the opportunity it can deliver to our Native youth,” he said. “At home here at Soboba, our youth have now participated in AISES programs for a couple of years and the excitement I see in their participation makes me want to do what I can to see that AISES reaches out to more Native youth.”

Chairman Vivanco, who is also Sierra’s father, added that he knows how important it is to get the youth involved early with STEM because now and in the future, technology is going to be at the forefront of the way we live. Introducing youth and getting them involved early helps to keep the interest there. He said that when Soboba youth began participating in AISES programs, he got to know some of the advocates and staff and that Soboba has helped support the nonprofit’s efforts.

“My role as chairman of the Tribal Nations Advisory Council is to assist AISES in addressing the growing needs for Tribal STEM workforce development needs. We also help AISES shape and guide STEM programming for Native youth,” Chairman Vivanco said. “I hope our youth here at Soboba can benefit from STEM education. This robotic car program is just a start in what I hope to be a more involved effort to bring STEM awareness to our youth. This will help prepare them for their futures.”

Ledford said the ultimate goal for AISES is to get students excited about STEM and see themselves as a scientist, computer programmer, engineer and similar careers and further develop Indigenous representation in these fields.

“By bringing resources to schools and introducing them to students in the preschool, elementary and middle school ages, we have the opportunity to help students find their strengths and a pathway to STEM where they are supported by an extensive community of Indigenous STEM professionals,” she said. “I would love to visit as often as possible, however our grant projects have limitations on travel. We are hoping that Tribes who appreciate and foster a love for STEM would invite us to future events so we can help them expand their resources and training for their students.”

Sierra Vivanco said she has high hopes that her students will soon be able to code and memorize the meaning of each of the color tiles and how they can utilize them to create paths for their car robots.

“I also hope that they will see STEM differently and use it more in their everyday lives, because STEM can be fun, too!” she said.

For more information, www.aises.org.

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