FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2010
Danielle McNamara
(510) 987-0230
Press Release
Dr. Russell Hill, a teacher at Raymond Villa Fundamental Intermediate School, received the Middle School School Advisor of the Year Award from a nationally recognized math and science program.
Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) honored Hill for his outstanding work in assisting educationally disadvantaged students to excel in math and science. Hill was selected from among MESA teachers representing 160 middle and junior high schools in California. Hill, a sixth grade math and science teacher, has been a MESA advisor for eight years.
Hill’s son also teaches math at Raymond Villa. Hill’s MESA students are served by the Chapman University MESA center.
Almost 97 percent of Hill’s students are Latino; 87 percent participate in the free/reduced price meal program and 38 percent are English language learners.
MESA is an academic preparation program that serves more than 20,000 California pre-college, community college and university students who are educationally disadvantaged. Seventy percent of schools served by MESA are among the lowest-performing in the state. Almost two-thirds of MESA high school graduates go on to college as math, engineering or science majors.
In 2001, 14,000 California jobs requiring science or engineering degrees went unfilled, making award-winning programs such as MESA an imperative. MESA is administered by the University of California.
For more information about Mr. Hill, contact Vonna Hammerschmitt. For more information about MESA visit http://www.ucop.edu/mesa/