October 2013 Education


Duncan Speaks on Vitality of Historically Black Colleges


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


The Hampton Roads Messenger 11


NASA Chooses Hampton Roads School Team to Design Microgravity Experiment


HAMPTON, Va. -- Students at


the New Horizons Governor's School for Science and Technology (GSST) in Hampton, Va., will have the chance to design a microgravity experiment that may some day fly on board the International Space Station (ISS).


GSST was one of 14 schools


across the country picked for the opportunity by the High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) Extreme Science Program, based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The first step in the process is to determine what sort of experiment might meet the needs of the ISS.


BY CAMERON BRENCHLEY Historically Black Colleges and


Universities (HBCUs), “must not just survive but thrive,” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told those gathered at the HBCU National Conference in Washington last month. Duncan spoke of the enduring contributions HBCUs have made to the country and said that the tremendous historic role of HBCUs must endure as well as evolve.


Historical Role of HBCUs "Too many Americans are


unfamiliar with the staggering ac- complishments of HBCUs. Most of America’s civil rights giants were educated at HBCUs—Dr. King, W.E.B. DuBois, Rosa Parks, Booker T. Washington, and Thurgood Marshall.


"In our time, Jesse Jackson, Andy


Young, Barbara Jordan, Congressman John Lewis, Marian Wright Edelman, and Doug Wilder all earned their degrees at HBCUs.


"Legendary artists and authors


came out of HBCUs—Ralph Ellison, Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Toni Morrison.


"Yet what is most impressive


about the HBCU record is not just your famous alumni. It is that HBCUs, working with meager resources, almost single-handedly created an African-American professional class in the face of decades of Jim Crow discrimination."


College Completion Rates "The math here is pretty simple.


To reach the President’s 2020 goal, student populations with high dropout rates—especially minority


students—will have to exponentially increase their college graduation rates.


"This is not just about access—this


is about attainment. Nationwide, only about one in four—28 percent—of young black adults have received a college degree.


"But we know that African


Americans have the highest proportion of adults who have some college but not a degree of any major racial group. Almost 18 percent of African Americans aged 25 years and older—nearly one in five adults—went to college but left without their degree.


"That college completion shortfall


is both a tragic squandering of talent and an unprecedented opportunity to do better.


"So, in the years ahead, we want


HBCUs to continue to be known not just for their storied alumni but for leading the way for all institutions in educating and graduating African American college students."


Innovation at HBCUs "I want to be absolutely clear:


Support for innovation at HBCUs should be government-wide, and not just from the Department of Education. I’m excited that the Department of Energy awarded $9 million to nine HBCUs in South Carolina and Georgia to develop academic programs that promote minority involvement in STEM fields, especially in environmental management.


And just last month, the National


Institutes of Health announced it has awarded planning grants to five HBCUs, totaling almost one million dollars in its new NIH BUILD initiative.


After they come up with the


concept local students will design, fabricate and document their idea. Then comes the real exciting part - to help make sure their experiment works in space's weightless environment, three of the students and a teacher will fly with their project onboard the Zero Gravity Corporation's G-Force One plane. That is scheduled to happen in April of next year at Ellington Field in Houston.


The local HUNCH program,


which is run by the Engineering Directorate at NASA's Langley Research Center also in Hampton, has partnered with more than a half dozen local schools to fabricate real-world products for NASA and put students' science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills to good use.


The Governor's School for


Science and Technology serves the approximately 490,000 residents of the Virginia peninsula, from the Chesapeake Bay to Williamsburg.


Heart Disease and Stroke FROM PAGE 6


likely as Hispanic women to die from preventable heart disease and stroke.


Location: By state, avoidable


deaths from cardiovascular disease ranged from a rate of 36.3 deaths per 100,000 population in Minnesota to 99.6 deaths per 100,000 in the District of Columbia. By county, the highest avoidable death rates in 2010 were concentrated primarily in the southern Appalachian region and much of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. The lowest rates were in the West, Midwest, and Northeast regions.


The overall rate of preventable


deaths from heart disease and stroke went down nearly 30 percent between 2001 and 2010, with the declines varying by age. Lack of access to preventive screenings and early treatment for high blood pressure and high cholesterol could explain the differences among age groups. Through the Affordable Care Act, more Americans will have access to health


coverage and preventive care, including young people and other medically underserved groups.


To save more lives from these


preventable deaths, doctors, nurses, and other health care providers can encourage healthy habits at every patient visit, including not smoking, increasing physical activity, eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, and taking medicines as directed. Providers should track patient progress on the ABCS of heart health — aspirin when appropriate, blood pressure control, cholesterol management, and smoking cessation. Health care systems can adopt and use electronic health records to identify patients who smoke or who have high blood pressure or high cholesterol and help providers follow and support patient progress.


Communities and health


departments can help by promoting healthier living spaces, including tobacco-free areas and safe walking areas. Local communities also can ensure access to healthy food options, including those with lower sodium.


Scholarship Watch Coca-Cola Scholars Program Scholarship


The Coca-Cola Scholars Program scholarship is an achievement-based scholarship awarded to 250 high school seniors each year. Fifty of these are four-year, $20,000 scholarships ($5,000 per year for four years), while 200 are designated as four- year, $10,000 scholarships ($2,500 per year for four years). The scholarships must be used at an accred- ited U.S. college or university. High school seniors can apply online through the website (www.coca-colascholarsfoundation.org/) until October 31st, 2013 All online applications must be received by the deadline of October 31st of the applicant's senior year of high school. Up to 2,000 semifinalists, dispersed proportionately across


the nation, are selected. Only semifinalists are noti- fied of their selection by mail and email. Semifinal- ists return supporting application documents to the Foundation by January 15th. An independent selec- tion panel then determines the 250 finalists. At the expense of the Foundation, the 250 finalists attend a Scholars Weekend in Atlanta in the Spring. The National Selection Committee, which is composed of leaders in business, education, government and the arts, interviews and evaluates each candidate. The top 50 finalists, designated National Scholars, receive awards valued at $20,000. The remaining 200 finalists are designated Regional Scholars and receive awards valued at $10,000.


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