2008 Woodie Awards
Being heard
SGA members visit state Capitol to speak with area legislator Rep. David Swinford about issues affecting community colleges
Rachel Nelson
Issue date: 3/1/07 Section: Front Page
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Participants of the day include the TJCSGA, students enrolled in community college honors programs around the state, the Texas Association of Community Colleges and members of the Texas Community College Teachers Association. About 2,000 people participated, around 1,500 of whom were community college students.
"I thought Texas Community College Day was an excellent and interesting experience," said AC's SGA Secretary Gus Trujillo.
"I really enjoyed myself since I got to hang out with great friends and learned more about how the government works and how we as college students can have a strong say."
Each person participating in Community College Day was given a ribbon to wear that stated, "Community colleges are essential."
"It was really exciting to see how many community college students came together for one purpose, and that's to represent community colleges all across the state," AC's SGA President Elizabeth Bauman said.
Before students and faculty members engaged in the opportunity to speak with representatives from the 80th Texas Legislature, several state representatives gave speeches encouraging them to shed light on issues that are important to them.
"Are you going to tell them that community college education is a bridge for your future dreams? Because we need to hear that. This Legislature needs to hear from you. Share your stories with passion, with heart," state Rep. Michael Villareal urged students.
State Rep. Geanie Morrision made the same plea.
"Let them know how important community colleges are to you. Tell each legislator about your expenses and the needs that you have," she said. "We need you to be very honest with them. Community colleges produce more jobs than any other institutions in our state."
Texas JCSGA President Damian Tovar of El Paso Community College told students that community colleges, although essential to Texas' economy, "only receive 11 percent of federal funds."
"The support of our elected officials is essential for the 548,000 Texans now attending our community colleges," Tovar said, "We will remind our representatives and senators that an investment in our community college students is an investment for Texas' future."
The cost of textbooks is a hot topic among college students, and that was one issue addressed at the Capitol. State Rep. Scott Hochberg expressed his disapproval with required college texts costing as much or more than a student's tuition.
"I don't want to fix that by raising tuition," he said.
Hochberg also mentioned that required texts should not be changed every couple of years. That was one request presented to the legislators as the day progressed.
After lunch was served on the south lawn of the Capitol, students had an opportunity to speak with state Rep. David Swinford. Swinford's daughter, Melissa Bates, is assistant director of academic services for AC's Moore County Campus. She was in attendance at Community College Day.
"I think it's so great that he can be so kind of on our level. It may be very hard to understand some things, but he can say things in such a way that we understand what he's there for and who he's there for and what he's getting done for us," Bates said. "It's so important for students to have a voice, and it was wonderful to see that he could sit and ask questions and kind of see why some of the decisions are made."
Swinford addressed the textbook issue by informing students of proposed legislation.
"There will be a bill that removes taxes from textbooks," he said.
Another issue addressed was the rumors floating around about standardized tests being required for college students to graduate. Such exams would be comparable to the TAKS test that is required for students to excel in Texas public schools.
"The issue of standardized testing for community colleges is something that we discussed with our representative, and hopefully we made an impact," Bauman said.
According to Swinford, such tests "were originially designed to see how that child was doing according to the grade level they were in. Then everybody got stressed out, and we lost the identity of the child during that time."
As far as college students are concerned, Swinford said he would support some form of non-stressful test that holds the colleges accountable for what students learn, but he stressed that similar bills have died in the past.
Swinford also shared upcoming bills that will affect AC directly. He said AC's East Campus has an abundance of land the college doesn't really plan to use.
"There will be a bill laid out Monday (Feb. 26) that gives AC the opportunity to sell some of that land and give money back to the college," Swinford said.
Swinford also said he believes funding for community colleges in Texas will be increased rather than decreased.
Members of student government sometimes aspire to hold public office at some point in their lives.
"My major is pre-law, and in the future, after practicing law for a while, I plan to run for political office," Trujillo said. "So this experience was phenomenal for me since it's right up my alley. And just seeing the Capitol inside and out was fantastic.
"You know, when I went into that Capitol with everyone else and saw where the legislators worked, I thought to myself, 'Someday, I will be sitting in that chair or even standing at that podium for my career.'"
Students were appreciative of the time they had with Swinford.
"I do appreciate the Texas legislators letting us in and actually listening to our concerns about our community colleges and education," Trujillo said. "Many of them had very good points to consider and even some of them, I felt, experienced the same issues that we do in college. Such as publishers renewing books too much, high tuition, state tests and more."
Community College Day takes place at the Capitol every two years.
"I hope that Texas will continue having more Community College Days so that important issues can be heard and that they can be taken care of correctly with voices from actual community college students," Trujillo said.
When the clamor of Community College Day settled, Danita McAnally had another big chore to complete. McAnally is president of TCCTA, which began its annual convention in Austin that evening. She also is AC's director of institutional effectiveness and advancement.
McAnally kicked off the convention by speaking to the audience before introducing Marc Prensky, who gave a presentation to community college teachers who gathered from all parts of Texas.
Prensky stressed a vision for the future of technology in community colleges that would help all students learn and succeed in the 21st century.
Prensky separated students and teachers by referring to them as "digital natives" and "digital immigrants."
McAnally said she has been looking into Prensky's ideas for the past five years.
"He stressed why we have to change the way we provide instruction and support services because the student is different, and they are different in the way they process information because they grew up on computers," she said. "He's definitely helpful, because he's changed the way I think about how we do business in higher education."
Prensky suggested such methods to teachers as using text messaging, podcasts and vodcasts to present notes and lectures to students.
"I think that at times we want to do it the way we're familiar as those of us providing instruction or providing other services," McAnally said. "And what's different now is that we can't continue to do that and be sure that the student is engaged in actual learning when the way they process information is different than those of us who are involved in delivering the instruction and services. So we're going to have to design our instruction and the delivery of our services to the way that the students learn best."
For more information about Prensky, visit www.marcprensky.com.
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