Local students enjoyed a unique hands-on experience through the Texas Southmost College Texas Afterschool Centers on Education (TSC Texas ACE) Summer Camp program. From June 2 to July 5, the five-week camp included three weeks of activities at their respective centers. Thanks to the continued support of Sarah Daly, Texas 21st CCLC State Coordinator, and Expanded Learning Project Manager from the Texas Education Agency, the program successfully brought together students from five middle schools and five high schools within the Brownsville Independent School District (BISD) for the final two weeks.
During this period, students visited the Texas Southmost College International Technology, Education, and Commerce (ITEC) Center and the TSC Recreation Center, where they participated in over a dozen themed sessions. This collaboration offered a unique opportunity for enhanced learning and engagement.
TSC Texas ACE offers free before- and afterschool activities for K-12 students in schools under Section 1114 of Title 1, Part A of ESEA, and the families of such students. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s 21st-century Community Learning Centers program, it aims to prepare students for college, careers, or military service.
Texas Southmost College is the only community college in Texas to have received a highly competitive grant. Remarkably, this is the second time Texas Southmost College has been awarded this grant, a testament to its success in meeting the stringent federal performance measures required from the first grant cycle. These grants are awarded in five-year cycles, with annual applications submitted contingent on meeting yearly performance measures, making this accomplishment even more noteworthy.
“Our program is a testament to the power of collaboration,” said Dr. Prisci Roca Tipton, Director of Texas Southmost College’s Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. “The success of our summer camps is mainly due to the strong partnerships we have cultivated across our community and institutional divisions of Texas Southmost College. Additionally, our collaboration with BISD’s Food and Nutrition Services ensures that our students receive nutritious meals, and BISD’s Transportation Department guarantees reliable transportation year-round. Additionally, the TSC Texas ACE Program Specialists, Site Coordinators, and BISD-certified teachers and paraprofessionals for life skills from the respective campuses collaborate with students and their families, further enriching the learning experience.
For this installment of the TSC Texas ACE Summer Camp, several TSC faculty members enthusiastically participated, sharing their knowledge and subject-matter expertise in their respective fields with the young campers.
“At the heart of our summer program are the exceptional faculty at Texas Southmost College,” said Dr. Tipton. “Their dedication and expertise are the backbone of our summer camps. We work closely with faculty from various disciplines, offering students hands-on experiences in Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STREAM). The program also includes contributions from the Division of Workforce Training and Continuing Education, offering forklift certifications to the students and their family members and the Criminal Justice Institute, which hosts a Law Enforcement camp. Additionally, the Division of Student Services offered wellness camps encompassing volleyball, basketball, dance, yoga and indoor soccer.”
Jaime Rodriguez, an instructor in Computer Information Systems and Cybersecurity, led an Everything I.T. camp, offering students a hands-on introduction to the essential skills needed in the field. “We begin with basic PC hardware,” Rodriguez explained. “I guide the students as we use tools to open up computers, examine the components and discuss their functions. As the week progresses, we move on to the fundamentals of computer networking, including exercises like building network cables, and eventually, we delve into the basics of cybersecurity.”
The scope of the overview given by Rodriguez to the students ties directly into one of the main purposes of the camp in the form of introducing them to several different pathways they can explore in any field in which they are interested. “Something like this can help them decide whether or not they feel that they identify more with the hands-on work of an I.T. technician or if they lean more toward the networking or cybersecurity aspects of the field.” Rodriguez added.
In addition to the available workforce-related sessions, students could participate in activities focused on more broad subjects like art, history, and mathematics.
“Ms. Jamie Saenz and I developed the Math in History TSC Texas ACE Summer Camp this year, and our aim was to take students on a journey from BCE (before the Common Era) cultures through World War II,” said Britnney Gillespie-Porter, a TSC Mathematics Instructor. “Each day, we began with an introductory lesson to the historical era or culture on which we were going to focus that day, and then we integrated a math-based activity that built on the historical knowledge.” The activities were designed to show students how much crossover exists in the Liberal Arts.
“When we, as educators, take the time to show how our fields are interconnected, students begin to see the importance of the different content areas and the skills developed within those areas,” Gillespie-Porter continued.
“Highlighting the STEM fields through the lens of Liberal Arts makes each of those subject areas less intimidating to students. When tying a subject like math to more approachable topics like art or history, the stigma and difficulty of the intimidating subject is minimized.”
A key objective of the camp is to introduce students to many academic and career opportunities across different fields. Through hands-on experiences with fundamental concepts in various disciplines, TSC Texas ACE is successfully achieving this goal, opening new possibilities for these young students as they plan for their futures.
