Lehman Awarded SEMILLAS Grant from Walmart Foundation

September 14, 2009

Lehman College has been awarded a $50,000 SEMILLAS grant from the Walmart Foundation to help Latino high school students prepare for college-level math courses by giving them the opportunity to earn college credit for algebra classes. Lehman is one of only twenty colleges and universities from across the nation chosen to receive the award.

"We are honored to receive the SEMILLAS grant," said President Ricardo R. Fernández. "This award acknowledges Lehman College's ongoing commitment to promoting Latino student success and creating a pipeline to higher education for young people in the community we serve, and beyond."

The SEMILLAS (Seeding Educational Models that Impact and Leverage Latino Academic Success) grants are part of Excelencia in Education’s "Growing What Works" national initiative. It aims to accelerate Latino student success by refining and replicating model educational programs that are proven to advance Latino achievement in two-year and four-year colleges. The long-term goal of the project is to increase the use of these effective programs for the country’s fast-growing Latino college-age population.

The grant to Lehman will fund a project, developed through CUNY's Bronx Center for Teaching Innovations, to implement an eleventh-grade algebra transition course in four partnering Bronx high schools. The course was developed by CUNY Bronx math faculty in collaboration with Bronx high school algebra teachers.

Students who successfully complete this one-year course will be invited to take college-level math courses through CUNY's College Now program. The idea is to bridge the gap between high school and college mathematics and prepare more students for college-level work. The funding will go toward professional development of the participating teachers, tutoring and counseling support for the students, and outreach to their parents on informed college choices.