CCC STEM Center

CCC STEM Center HSI Programs Best practices from these programs that lead to student success and community leadership will help inform institutional change and growth.

The Contra Costa College (CCC) STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) pipeline programs support students from Pre-K through Transfer to a 4-year College. These programs share a commitment to student success and building a strong community in STEM at CCC that is welcoming to all students, including Latino and low-income students who have been traditionally underserved in the STEM fields.

The philosophies of our programs include an emphasis on giving back to the community and on leadership development at all levels of our students’ academic trajectory. Check out our page to see program updates, events, seminars and tips and tricks for college success!

Official kick-off of MESA Program
08/09/2023

Official kick-off of MESA Program

Our new MESA Study Hub ❤️
07/11/2023

Our new MESA Study Hub ❤️

It’s the start of Undocumented Student Action Week! Check out todays speaker, Yosimar Reyes, at 3pm.Registration links a...
10/18/2021

It’s the start of Undocumented Student Action Week! Check out todays speaker, Yosimar Reyes, at 3pm.

Registration links and video links to previous events can be found on undoc4cd.org

10/16/2021

Looking to the Future
Thank you everyone for joining us during this Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month! We’ve had the opportunity to showcase so many amazing figures that have contributed so much to the betterment of the Latinx and Hispanic community.

Our final showcase, Kevin G. Ruano Hernandez, comes as a nomination from one of our community members. New on the scene, Kevin, has been making big splashes through his work on various groups and projects such as his junior environmental engineering role at Ramboll, his work as an organizer for The Listening Project, and research assistant work with the School of Public Health in Berkeley. Kevin has also been contributing to our own local community on the Contra Costa College campus with his roles as Student Ambassador for the Welcome Center, ASU VP of Club Affairs, and President position for the Puente Club.

Kevin hopes to return back to research by getting his BA in Environmental Engineering and Science and his master’s in public health soon after. With his current works, he envisions himself focusing his research on air quality in disadvantaged communities and hopes to accomplish Health Equity for all disadvantaged communities across California.

Thank you, Kevin, for your contributions and we hope to see more from you in the future!

10/13/2021

One of Us
Dean of Institutional Effectiveness and Equity, Metas Director, HSI Director, scientist, activist, mentor, student, grandmother, mother, or daughter – Dr. Mayra Padilla, an east bay native through and through, grew up in Richmond, after she and her family moved there from Mexico when she was six.

Dr. Padilla has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Davis, a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UC Berkeley, and has become a prominent pillar in the east bay community. A surprise to many, that she held little hope for going to college and facing a reality many in our community do not have a choice in making. After Dr. Padilla became a mother at 18, she thought college was forever out of reach, but credited her time at Metas and support from her lifelong mentor, Frank Hernandez, as key factor in her future success and passion for student equity and empowerment.

“When I walk into a room, the word ‘scientist’ is not what comes to mind when people see me,” Mayra explained with a laugh to CBS reporter in 2012 when she received the Jefferson Award for her work at Metas, a K-12 mentor and tutoring program on the Contra Costa College campus. Dr. Padilla has since worked tirelessly to increase equity and accessibility for all students on the Contra Costa College Campus. From daughter, mother, grandmother, student, mentor, activist, scientist, HSI and Metas Director, and now as Dean of Institutional Effectiveness and Equity—we thank Dr. Padilla for all her contributions to our community and can’t wait to see where her journey takes her.

Everyone from her extended Metas and HSI family wishes her nothing but positive vibes and good fortune today as she celebrates her birthday. Happy Birthday Mayra!

10/07/2021

Vida Afro Latin@
Miriam Esther Jiménez Román, professor, editor, archivist, curator, social theorist, author, and activist - she was also a pioneering architect of Afro-Latinx studies. She was born on June 11, 1951, in the coastal city of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Her mother was a factory and health care worker and a hospital coordinator, while her father was a factory worker after service as a US Army private. The family migrated to East Harlem in New York City.

In her youth, Miriam developed a love of reading, helping her become an analytical thinker and creative problem solver. She studied under internationally recognized Black sculptor John Torres at Vermont Academy, where she optimistically declared that she wanted “to make it on her own terms.” Miriam graduated from Manhattan’s High School for Art and Design, where she studied illustration and advertising art and published insightful short stories for her school yearbook. She attended the University of Vermont, spent a year at University of Puerto Rico, and completed her sociology BA in 1974 at Binghamton University - later completing coursework for a sociology PhD at Binghamton.

Miriam co-founded the feminist collective Encuentro de Mujeres and was assistant director of external resources at InterAmerican University. During her years there, she realized that the anti-Black attitudes she experienced growing up in the US were also present in the colony, albeit in different form. Influenced by the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Nuyorican Movements - her experiences as a Black Puerto Rican helped her to bring awareness of Afro-Latinidad and build coalitions with African Americans.

After returning to the mainland US in 1983, Miriam published dozens of foundational. Miriam taught innovative courses on Afro-Latinidad at Binghamton, Brown, Columbia, and New York University. She also co-founded and was executive director of the Afro-Latin@ Project, which was renamed the AfroLatin@ Forum.

Miriam died of cancer at age 69 on August 6, 2020, in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.

10/06/2021

No Place Where a Woman Can’t Venture
One of the most successful botanists and female plant collectors of her time, Ynes Mexia, was born in 1870 in Washington D.C. but would begin her career when she was 55 years old. She moved many times during her childhood, an introverted child, she spent much of her time reading, writing, and exploring the outdoors. After her schooling, she moved to Mexico to help on her father's ranch and took over the management when he died. Mexia spent almost 30 years living in Mexico, but with all the tremendous changes in her life she suffered from mental health challenges. She traveled to San Francisco to seek treatment and to make a new life for herself she would find work as a social worker but soon discovered her passion for environmentalism.

Mexia would soon not only be accomplished in the number of plants she collected, but also in how far she would travel during her time. She spent over 13 years traveling throughout the Americas, often alone or with a few indigenous guides, collecting thousands of plant specimens along the way.

She made many excursions to Ecuador, Peru, and more. Mexia became a prominent botanist as well as a lecturer and writer. Over her 13-year career she collected over 145,000 specimen. A new genius was named after her along with over 50 species and she "discovered" and categorized over 500 plants. On her last trip to Mexico in 1938 she became ill and was diagnosed with lung cancer. She died shortly after at age 68 in Berkeley, California, and left most of her estate to Save the Redwoods League and the Sierra Club.

Ynes Mexia's contributions to the field of botany and her part in preserving redwoods should not be overlooked or undervalued. Researchers still use her collections to this day, and they can still be seen in many museums and universities. There was no one like her in her field at the time; a woman of color above 50 traveling the world as a botanist.

10/05/2021

Fighting for Indigenous Rights
Rigoberta Menchú was born on January 9, and raised in the Quiche branch of the Mayan culture. In her early years she helped with the family farm work, either in the northern highlands where her family lived, or on the Pacific coast, where both adults and children went to pick coffee on the big plantations.

Rigoberta Menchú soon became involved in social reform activities through the Church, and became prominent in the women’s rights movement when still only a teenager. Such reform work aroused considerable opposition in influential circles. The Menchú family was accused of taking part in guerrilla activities and Rigoberta’s father, Vicente, was imprisoned and tortured for allegedly having helped in the ex*****on of a plantation owner.

In 1979, Rigoberta, joined the Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC). That year her brother was arrested, tortured and killed by the army. The following year, her father was killed when security forces in the capital stormed the Spanish Embassy where he and some other peasants were staying. Shortly afterwards, her mother also died after having been arrested, tortured and r***d. Rigoberta became increasingly active in the CUC, and taught herself Spanish as well as other Mayan languages than her native Quiche. In 1980 and 1981, she figured prominently in CUC strikes and demonstrations and would go on to educating the Indian peasant population in resistance to massive military oppression.

In 1981, Rigoberta Menchú had to go into hiding in Guatemala, and then flee to Mexico. That marked the beginning of a new phase in her life: as the organizer abroad of resistance to oppression in Guatemala and the struggle for Indian peasant peoples’ rights. In 1983, she told her life story to Elisabeth Burgos Debray. The resulting book, called in English, I, Rigoberta Menchú, is a gripping human document which attracted considerable international attention. In 1987, she performed as the narrator in a powerful film called When the Mountains Tremble, about the struggles and sufferings of the Maya people.

10/03/2021

Voices of the Latinx Community
The Latinx community is rich with culture ranging from books, music, film, traditional art, and so on. If you find yourself with some time, why not pick up a book/ebook. Below is a small selection of different books focusing on different parts of Latinx culture and by different authors for students of all ages and a small publisher summary.

You and your mental health matter!The Out of the Darkness Community Walks are particularly important events for the AFSP...
10/02/2021

You and your mental health matter!

The Out of the Darkness Community Walks are particularly important events for the AFSP Greater SF Bay Area Chapter. The Walks are our largest annual fundraisers and provide significant financial support to keep our programs and services free of charge to help individuals and families affected by su***de. COVID-19 has not stopped the mental health needs of our community and we continue to provide free programs every day through Zoom and Facebook Live.

The past year has taught us that “community” is not about being in-person, but about creating a space where people feel a sense of belonging.

This event is being spearheaded by Robin Lopez, one of our previous Alumni, tutor, instructor and all around science advocate. He took up this cause and changed his life for the better after the passing of his best friend, Mark Nawman, in 2010.

***de

10/02/2021

Visionary Ahead of Her Time
Sor Juana Inês de la Cruz was a crusader for women’s rights at a time when the issue wasn’t even on the public’s radar.

Born roughly around the time of November 12, 1651 in San Miguel Nepantla, Tepetlixpa, Mexico, Sor Juana showed early signs of extreme intelligence. She learned to read at the age of three and would go on to begin her life as a nun in 1667, mainly so she could devote her life to studying without the disruptions of a “fixed occupation.” After taking her vows, Sor Juana read tirelessly and composed poetry and prose in a variety of genres.

Sor Juana would spend the majority of her life in Mexico City in the Convent of San Geronimo and wrote, perhaps her best known work, Respuesta a Sor Filotea, which argued for educational access for women. Sor Juana died in Mexico City, Mexico, on April 17, 1695.

Today, Sor Juana stands as a national icon of Mexican identity, and her image appears on Mexican currency. She came to new prominence in the late 20th century with the rise of feminism and women's writing, officially becoming credited as the first published feminist of the New World.

10/01/2021

An Unforgettable Latina Trailblazer
Sylvia Rivera is a Puerto Rican and Venezuelan trans woman and was born in New York City in 1951 to a father from Puerto Rico and a mother from Venezuela. A veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising, Sylvia Rivera was a tireless advocate for those silenced and disregarded by larger movements.She is most known for fighting alongside Marsha P Johnson for q***r rights and the violence trans people faced from the public and by the police.

Throughout the 1970s, she frequently tangled with gay rights leaders who were hesitant to include transgender people in their advocacy work. The Gay Activist Alliance (GAA), which formed in response to Stonewall, frequently rejected the role transgender people—the majority of whom were people of color—had played in the uprising. Rivera also fought against the exclusion of transgender people from the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act in New York.

She helped establish STAR. An organization that helped housed q***r youth. She was born in New York and continues fighting there till 2002 when she past.

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