McHenry County College's STEM Scholar Program provides scholarships for first-year students

Woodstock High School graduate Rafael Cabrera aspires to pursue a career in computer science, where he can apply his strong math skills. Living with his parents and two younger siblings in a single-income household made attending college a pipe dream, but this fall, he received a full-tuition scholarship to attend McHenry County College. Lifting the financial burden from his parents enabled them to buy Cabrera a car to get back and forth to school.

Cabrera is one of seven first-year college students who have been accepted into the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Scholarship Program at MCC with each student eligible to receive up to $10,000 as part of a $650,000 federal grant sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Awarded to the college last spring, the STEM grant aims to increase the number of academically talented, financially needy students who obtain STEM degrees. The end result of the grant is to improve the education of future scientists, engineers and technicians through innovative partnerships and student programs.

Cabrera plans to earn his associate in science degree from MCC in two years and then transfer to a four-year university to pursue a bachelor's degree in computer science. Outside of class, he works part-time in the Sage Learning Center and is involved with the Latinos Unidos multicultural club and the Video Game Club.

"This is helping me financially," Cabrera said. "My parents would otherwise be struggling with payments, so it's relieving a big burden off them."

Fellow STEM scholar program classmate Jissel Rangel of Crystal Lake aspires to be a neurology researcher.

"I'm honored to be the only girl in the program," said Rangel, who heard about the program from her anatomy teacher at Prairie Ridge High School. "I want to go into neurology research because the brain is the 'black box' of the human body, but yet there's little known about it. I want to work toward finding out the unknown of the brain," she said.

Rangel added that many of her peers who went away to a four-year school for their freshman year this fall are already struggling with paying for tuition, housing, books and food.

"The STEM scholarship helps me save a lot of my money," Rangel said. "My sister and I are first-generation college students. I don't want to put my family in debt," she said, adding that only one of her parents graduated from high school in Mexico.

Another Crystal Lake South graduate, Mohamed "Momo" Elmeligi aspires to become a neurosurgeon or neuropathologist.

"I feel very honored to receive the STEM scholarship to help negate future debt that I'll accumulate," Elmeligi said. "I'm planning to go to medical school, so every little bit helps."

He said he wants to go into the neurology field because there's much opportunity for breakthroughs in brain research and he wants to be part of it.

For Crystal Lake South graduate Ryan Yazel, the STEM scholarship helps him focus better on his career goal of becoming a meteorologist.

"I think it will help me focus on my classes for my intended major and expose me to new ways of thinking and network with others in the STEM field," he said.

Yazel is a member of MCC's Meteorology Club. After he completes his associate degree at MCC, he plans to pursue his bachelor's degree in atmospheric science and possibly a doctorate.

This federally-funded project is the second largest grant the college has received in his 50-year history. The college also received a five-year, $1.29 million Upward Bound grant last year from the U.S. Dept. of Education to prepare high school students for a college education.

"This grant is fabulous because it gives students a great opportunity - including scholarship money - to help each student develop their identity as a scientist or engineer," said Maria Taydem, MCC dean of Mathematics and Sciences. "We do this by offering courses with a STEM theme, along with partnering with a faculty mentor and an industry mentor, field trips and job shadowing," she said.

This project not only integrates a variety of supports to assist the students in succeeding in STEM, but the students are part of a study that examines how such efforts work and why. MCC is partnership with professor Xueli Wang from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is compiling the research on this cohort.

The seven MCC students took a college orientation class together last summer, taught by Taydem, and now are all in the same English class together, where they write essays on robotics and artificial intelligence themes. Next spring, they will be together in the same philosophy class. All of their other classes are in their individual areas of study, including biology, chemistry, computer science and earth science.

Each student meets with a faculty mentor about four times during the semester for one-on-one support, to discuss and plan for their collegiate goals or just to have someone to talk to. Earth science and geology instructor Kate Kramer said she's excited to serve as a mentor for the STEM Scholar program.

"Faculty mentors provide an extra layer of accountability, advice and encouragement for the student," Kramer said. "These students have the opportunity to work with mentors who are passionate about STEM and I hope this inspires the students to cultivate their own excitement in STEM careers."