FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2016
Danielle McNamara
510-987-0230
Conference scholarship is Oracle’s latest effort to empower MESA students and teachers in coding and computer science
Sixteen middle and high school teachers from across California will gain coding skills and educational inspiration thanks to a generous scholarship from Oracle Academy.
Teachers will attend the Computer Science Teachers Association conference July 10-12 in San Diego with all expenses covered by Oracle. The endowment is in support of the White House’s Computer Science for All Initiative and Oracle’s continued commitment to MESA.
This scholarship builds on years of support and collaboration between MESA and the tech giant. Oracle Academy has also supported Java trainings for teachers, summer coding camps for MESA students and Alice and Greenfoot coding competitions.
Since 2013, Oracle has awarded MESA more than $100,000 and furthered the commitment to uplift computer science education for underserved students.
The continued focus on professional development for teachers in low-performing schools is a key tenant of MESA’s mission to provide high-quality science, technology, engineering and math curriculum to educationally disadvantaged students. Teachers take leading industry skills back to their classrooms to enhance computer literacy among all students.
The following MESA teachers representing their schools and MESA centers will attend the conference:
|
Name |
School |
Center |
|
Fema Bernido |
De Anza High |
CSU East Bay |
|
Howard Wilson |
Creekside JHS |
CSU Fresno |
|
Valentina Mascorro |
Los Banos JH |
CSU Fresno |
|
Alma Fernandez |
Orchard MS |
CSULA |
|
Joel Rizo |
Burbank Middle School |
CSULA |
|
Roy Marquez |
Franklin STEM |
CSULA |
|
Joyce Sullivan |
Southwest HS |
Imperial Valley |
|
Luis Garcia |
Calexico High |
Imperial Valley |
|
Mario Magallanes |
Calexico High |
Imperial Valley |
|
Brittany Ifergan |
Del Dios Academy |
SDSU |
|
Jeff Mellinger |
Hoover High |
SDSU |
|
Maria Aguilar |
California MS |
UC Davis/Sac |
|
Gloria Rodriguez |
Santa Paula |
UCSB |
|
Marlon Veal |
Alianza Charter |
UCSC |
|
Rebecca Ward |
Alisal High |
UCSC |
|
Jerry Coronado |
Bethune Middle School |
USC |
MESA is uniquely positioned to provide engagement and inspiration to the growing number of diverse STEM students and future STEM professionals. The program provides academic enrichment, counsel and support for educationally disadvantaged students who have an interest in pursuing degrees in STEM fields.
More than twice as many MESA high school seniors go to college compared to all California high school graduates (92% vs 41% respectively). Further, 56% of MESA high school graduates go to college in STEM majors. More than two-thirds of MESA students are Latino, African American, American Indian and Pacific Islander.
MESA’s success comes in part from industry collaborations such as Oracle’s scholarship awardees. MESA’s recent partners also include Cisco, SanDisk, Edison International and NVIDIA.