March 11, 2005

National Hispanic University reaches out to needy students

School obtains $9.6 million in financing for Sobrato Hall from San Jose non-profit

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

At the corner of Story and White roads, just north of the Evergreen border, the National Hispanic University stands as a symbol of hope and opportunity in this East Side Alum Rock barrio.

Dr. David P. Lopez assumed the post of president of the National Hispanic University in September of 2003. He’s a former university trustee with 25 years of experience in higher education. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

Here, many Mexican American residents who have nothing to do with the campus or its mission say it’s helping revitalize their old and dirty neighborhoods by making people believe that “Si se puede,” which translated means “Yes it can be done.”

One woman comments that her nephew is now attending the adjacent Latino College Preparatory Academy and has traded his traditional “Sureno” blue-colored gang attire for black plants, a while shirt and a black tie. His head is shaven and he’s now talking about “respeto,” or respect.

Making a difference
Michael Mooney began teaching at San Jose’s National Hispanic University more than 15 years ago enamored with the idea that he could make a difference in the lives of vulnerable Latino students.

The former California State University-Hayward professor greeted the challenge of working with young people often typecast as under-achievers and low performers because he was disillusioned with the way traditional higher education institutions were treating them.

“My first boss told me that I couldn’t like my students, that I wasn’t teaching students but that I was teaching English,” recalled Mooney, in front of a group of about 20 Hispanic students from the Latino College Preparatory Academy. These are students whose parents and teachers had given up hope that they would ever earn a high school diploma.

Today, the students are three months away from graduation. They are taking Mooney’s English class at the university’s new Sobrato Hall, a 65,000 square foot state-of-the-art learning center that is the centerpiece of the new campus on Story Road.

Accreditation
Mooney, 48, said he was attracted to the 24-year-old NHU because of the university’s founding father—the late Dr. Roberto Cruz, who died in September of 2002 after battling cancer. His hard work earned the NHU the prestigious
Western Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation in June of 2002.

Cruz instilled in teachers like Mooney a genuine love and concern for underdog students. This forced them to look at their teaching methods when students were not learning, instead of focusing on students when they were failing.

“There was a strong match right away with my own philosophy about learning and Dr. Cruz’s philosophy,” said Mooney. He also taught English at Chabot Community College in Hayward and at Ohlone Community College in Fremont for many years.

Teachers like Mooney remain at NHU because they like being a part of building something larger than themselves. They like the notion of creating the first Hispanic university in the country. A school that provides an affordable quality education to students who are defying the odds and proving to those who gave up on them that they have the brain power to learn and to work hard to become productive members of society.

“When I get ready to die, I will smile knowing that I laid a couple of the bricks around here,” Mooney said.

Founding father
Dr. Cruz, a Stanford University education professor, founded the university in 1981.

From two small classrooms in Oakland, Cruz wanted to provide a college education to working class people by giving them more options.

He knew the African-American community had created black colleges with success, so he emulated their model with the basic ingredient that educators say makes NHU and other ethnic colleges special—personalization.

Cruz envisioned a K-16 education pipeline, complete with a child development center, where working mothers and full-time homemakers could study and not worry about the care of their children. He also dreamed of such educational opportunities being affordable and accessible to those living below the poverty level. He coined the university’s motto of “Si se puede.”

In 1991 the institution moved from Oakland to San Jose, and three years later, it began operating from a one-story former grammar school built in 1958 on Story Road. In the late 1990s, the university launched a fundraising campaign to build a new campus.

The university collected $10 million in donations. In 2002, it obtained an $11.3 million construction loan from the San Jose-based Lenders for Community Development, a non-profit financial institution founded in 1995 to serve low-income individuals, families and communities.

Last month, the university again received $9.6 million in permanent financing from Lenders for Community Development.

The university demolished more than 40 percent of its old campus to make room for Sobrato Hall, completed in July of 2004.

Creating the charter high school was discussed for years. Mooney said the university began a pilot high school about six years ago working with the Santa Clara County Probation Office and about 30 students. That effort became the springboard for the high school now located next to the university.

Mooney remembered testifying before the East Side Union High School District board of trustees to convince them to approve the high school, as in the beginning, they weren’t sold on the idea of opening up a charter school.

‘Respeto’
“I’ve watched these students since they were little. I always tell them, “con respeto,” which translated means with respect. I tell them that this is their house.”

The three-story Sobrato Hall, the National Hispanic University’s new 65,000 square foot state-of-the-art learning center is the centerpiece of the new campus on Story Road in East San Jose. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

Mooney has been looking forward to teaching the group sitting in his classroom for four years. The students taking Mooney’s class are part of the 68 who will become the first graduating class of the Latino College Preparatory Academy in June.

The high school serves as a lab to train teachers, pilot-test curriculum and observe the learning habits of English language learners. The students entering the high school come from the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District. To attend the school, they must be functioning at the lowest academic levels.

NHU President Dr. David P. Lopez said educators across the country are praising the university’s faculty and staff for creating a culture of learning in a handsome campus with young people who respect others because they’re being respected.

“It’s all about respect,” he said. “We’re serving as a model not only academically, but we’re also showing that respect goes a long way in instilling honor and esteem—which are necessary to learn—in students.”

The students
“I like being in a small school,” said Juan Cuevas, 17, a senior at the Latino College Preparatory Academy. “They give more attention to you academically and when you have personal problems. It’s different from other high schools.”

Edgar Acebedo, 17, said he likes interacting with university students and professors. “The teachers know us here. That makes us look forward to attending the university,” he said.

Similarly, Cristina Gonzalez, 17, said she liked attending the high school because, “at other high schools, students complain about not being noticed or looked at. But here we get to interact with more people, and the teachers actually greet us and say hello.”

NHU Director of University Relations Randy Belcher-Torres brags about the students’ accomplishments as if they were his own children. “They’re very special. They were all at-risk kids who weren’t supposed to succeed. They’re now graduating from high school,” he said.

Personalization
“When students come to the university we personalize the experience,” said Lopez. “We’re going to work with them one on one. We discover their strengths, areas needing improvement and what their interests are.”

Once enrolled, teachers are encouraged to treat students with the same personal touch.

Lopez, who served as a university board of trustee member before becoming president of the university in September of 2003, said NHU has a high academic success rate because teachers have high expectations from students.

Thirty years ago, students were better prepared to enter college, Lopez said. Today, however, studies show students aren’t as ready.

“We’re facing and taking the challenges of educating Hispanics head on,” he said.

At NHU, Lopez said faculty and administrators take those factors into consideration and help them transition into higher education.

Alarming statistics reveal that 50 percent of Hispanic students drop out of school, compared to the national average of 33 percent. By the time Hispanic students get to high school, on average, they’re three grade levels behind their Anglo counterparts in reading skills.

Those statistics also show that Hispanic students who enter college are, on average, four to five grade levels below in reading. Sixty-five percent drop out before earning a college degree; only 1 in 10 receive a college degree and many lack the financial resources and academic preparation to enroll and complete degrees.

Students from the Latino College Preparatory Academy charter high school receive college credit by attending an English class at the National Hispanic University’s Sobrato Hall. Photo by Sheila Sanchez

“The system has not addressed the needs of Hispanics,” Lopez said. “The whole idea is for the high school kids to think early on that they’re going to come here to the university.”

Coming from a family of five children, Lopez remembers it was his brother, Frank, who first opened the doors to the possibility of higher education for he and his brothers and sisters when he entered college.

“Many of these kids don’t have an older brother or sister being a role model,” Lopez said. “It’s important to have those experiences and to think that they can go to college. I wouldn’t have made it without mentors and people helping me and trying to personalize big traditional institutions.”

Lopez said Hispanic students who come from immigrant families are also hampered by culture shock, limited English and not knowing how to ask for help or being too shy to ask for help. “They don’t understand how to do that,” he said.

Catering to Hispanics
NHU alumni Jeffrey D. Villarreal, 40, university special projects coordinator, said the university caters to the individual needs of Hispanic students.

Villarreal spent 20 years trying to complete his bachelor’s degree without success after attending every junior college in the South Bay. “At these institutions you’re just a number. You don’t get any kind of service. It’s a bad experience.”

In May of 2000, Villarreal’s luck was about to change. While taking the bus home from work he noticed the university’s sign along Story Road.

He remembers walking into the old campus and immediately being drawn by the personal service he received along with explanations about enrollment and educational services offered.

“When I walked through those doors they remembered my name. They knew who I was. I felt like they were talking to me as Jeff and not as the potential student. I see us meeting a need for folks out there just contemplating or barely thinking about entering college,” he said.

He graduated in June of 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from NHU. He’s now enrolled in the university’s teacher credential program to become an elementary school teacher.

NHU is considered the only institution in the West designed to serve Hispanics. Boriqua College in New York and the small private Catholic St. Agustin in Chicago, have similar missions, but none zero in on society’s most underprivileged.

The university has an enrollment of 700 students, but it can have up to 1,250 students thanks to the new Sobrato Hall. It provides degrees in education, business and technology. It also offers other certificate programs. It has 15 full-time faculty members and many adjunct faculty members.

With almost a million residents in San Jose, Lopez believes NHU will continue to grow. It’s only one of two four-year institutions in the city, besides San Jose State University.

Counting the enrollment at San Jose State University and the South Bay community colleges, Lopez wonders where the rest of students are going to college. “Where are they getting their four-year degrees? They’re either leaving or not getting a higher education,” he said. “NHU is a viable option for these students who don’t want to leave the area.”

Admission requirements are similar to those at other higher education institutions. Tuition is the lowest in the country for a private four-year university—$3,800 a year. Students must have a 2.0 grade point average and must take the required standardized tests to be admitted.

“We can help them. If they have ‘ganas’ (desire) and a willingness to learn, we can,” Lopez said. “We have graduated thousands of students who would not otherwise have gone to college.”

Belcher-Torres explains he’s working hard with corporations and foundations to get money for scholarships to help low-income students attend the university who don’t qualify for state or federal aid. “They represent the future for this country,” Belcher-Torres said. “We’re their university.”

For more information on the university, 14271 StoryR oad., San Jose, Calif., 95127, log onto www.nhu.edu or call (408) 729-2205. For more information on the Latino College Preparatory Academy, 14271 Story Road., San Jose, Calif., 95127, call (408) 273-2724 or log onto www.nhu.edu/lcpa.