Juan Sepulveda, director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, met with an enthusiastic audience of more than 100 people at Mountain View College on Sept. 11.
 
Sepulveda has been engaging in town hall-style “community conversations” with local leaders, elected officials and educators to discuss Hispanic communities in the region and to explore higher education opportunities for Hispanic Americans. Sepulveda and his staff are attempting to obtain vital feedback to be utilized in updating the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, an executive order signed Sept. 24, 1990, which was created to improve federal efforts to promote quality education for Hispanic Americans.
 
Sepulveda’s visit to Dallas on Sept. 11 included stops at both Mountain View College and El Centro College, both of the Dallas County Community College District. During his visit at Mountain View College, Sepulveda provided background on existing initiatives for excellence in Hispanic education and then described goals and objectives pertaining to upcoming initiatives.

 

“The president would like to introduce initiatives, seek feedback on those initiatives, and also invite actual involvement in the development of those initiatives from citizens like you,” Sepulveda explained.

 

Broad objectives as stated by Sepulveda included achieving uniformity in skills assessment testing, addressing teacher performance and leadership within existing educational institutions nationwide, improving struggling schools and tracking students’ performances in the classroom to prevent them from falling too far behind academically.

 

“President Obama wants the United States to be the world leader in the number of people who have college degrees, and currently we rank tenth,” Sepulveda said.

 

Sepulveda added that President Obama has earmarked $100 billion for the purposes of education reform and has freed up about $6 billion to help with student loans. Some financial aid forms have been simplified, and the number of questions on those forms has been reduced by about seventy percent, according to Sepulveda. Sepulveda also announced that initiatives are in place to ensure that financial aid forms are produced in both English and Spanish. Following his presentation, Sepulveda asked volunteers to come forward and discuss their own ideas and experiences with regard to improving Hispanic education. Special guests and dignitaries at the event included Texas State Representative Roberto Alonzo, as well as representatives from the offices of Senator Royce West and Congressman Pete Sessions.

 

A number of top administrators and educators were present, many of whom addressed the audience. Representatives from more than six colleges and universities, as well as representatives from several school districts were also present. Dallas County Community College Chancellor Wright Lassiter, Dallas County Community College Board of Trustee member Diana Flores, and

Mountain View College President Felix A. Zamora each gave brief opening remarks at the event.

 

Mountain View College is the largest of four Hispanic Serving institutions within the Dallas County Community College District, and currently serves a student body compromising of more than 8,000 credit students. Mountain View College is located at 4849 West Illinois Ave. in Dallas