Making a Difference

I would like to take credit on behalf of SHPE-TC and all the other SHPE organizations in Minnesota. We are indeed making a difference. From an article in the Pioneer Press, dated 2/19/2014 we can read : "That [high school graduation] gap has closed in the past three years with black and Hispanic students making the most progress, improving their graduation rates more than 10 percentage points since 2010."

But the gap is still large: "The difference between white and minority students remains stark. The white student [high school] graduation rate is 85 percent, while the rate for most minority students is less than 60 percent".

Should we deem this a mere coincidence that since 2010 there has been much progress in the Twin Cities graduation rates?  Between 2010 and 2013 we have had the first two Noche de Ciencias in Minnesota history, reaching out to a combined audience of 200 students and parents.  We have also been more consistently holding networking events and our chapter has grown since 2011 about 200% in membership.  I would also like to congratulate organizations like Navigate which work with the undocumented since that is an inescapable reality affecting our community.  Their work is inextricably linked to these statistics and this gap that still appears dismal but I believe that is not an insurmountable task.  Just because something never happened before does not make it impossible.  Believe.

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