SLCC awarded for minority access

Robert Polanko keeps all of his receipts alongside his old school papers and other important documents, and he knows just where to find them if he happens to need them. Organization is one of the many skills he credits to learning as a member of Salt Lake Community College's MESA program.

He's also a much better student now that he has direction and support from other students and professor mentors.

As a first-generation college student, Polanko knows that his friends and family might call on him someday for advice or help, and for that reason, his college education has come to mean so much more.

"At first you think it's all about money, but choosing a career is about what makes you happy and what fits your character," he said. As a troubled teen, Polanko barely graduated high school and wasn't interested in college at all. He attended LDS Business College but found he "didn't fit in with the normal crowd." He transferred to SLCC and discovered the school really worked to fit in with the community it serves.

He wants to be a computer network engineer and still has a couple of years until that goal is realized, but being a member of SLCC's Math Engineering, Science and Achievement program has helped the 26-year-old keep an eye on the prize.

MESA provides opportunities for all students interested in technology and science — specifically minorities and women — to get acquainted with jobs in the field and see what goes on in the real world. It is one of the reasons SLCC recently earned national acclaim for its efforts to inspire and include minority students.

"It gave me more confidence to succeed in life," Polanko said, adding that being part of something gave him a desire to learn even more.

SLCC and Michigan State University were the two schools nationwide that were honored for their commitment to minority student success in the sciences. The award, says Clifton Sanders, dean of SLCC's department of computational science, came after a long-committed effort to serve diverse populations at the community college.

"Creating the conditions Utah's students need to be successful in the sciences is one of the most vital aspects of what we do. Ensuring that students of all backgrounds find here a climate in which they can flourish is an essential part of that charge," he said. "The reason this award is so significant and gratifying is because it reflects that we've been successful in achieving what's really important: our students' success."