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On the Job MESA

The Bulletin spoke with Jean Crowder, director of the Sacramento State/UC Davis Mathematics, Engineering, Science, and Achievement Program

What do people think you do?
People think I am a math genius or a person who knows everything about science and technology. They also tend to shy away because the title has science and technology in it. Fortunately, they realize that the program is an academic endeavor that fits in perfectly with the Sacramento State educational environment.

What do you really do?
MESA provide academic support to educationally disadvantaged students in elementary, middle and high school to help prepare them for admission into the CSU and UC systems or other four-year colleges and universities. We also help prepare them for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematic) careers by providing academic enhancements and hands-on opportunities for career exploration in STEM-related areas.  We have a group of dedicated advisors who work weekly with students to expose them to college programs, and expose them to STEM-related programs.

Describe your office?
Until recently, we had a very, very small room in the back of the Engineering and Computer Science student study center, but we’re now in a new center which is absolutely gorgeous and very student friendly. We’re located in Santa Clara Hall, Room 1204, and we’ll have an open house over the holidays. The keynote piece is our academic resource center. There, you’ll find support materials and state of art computers to help student prepare scholarship applications, college applications and research papers.

What surprises people?
The high level of scholarship that occurs with the student body population we serve. MESA has several Frank and Eva Buck Scholars, a Bill and Melinda Gates, Scholar, a Voula Steinberg scholar and other scholarship award recipients. People are also a little surprised at the college pennants we have from MESA alumni who are attending colleges and universities across the country.

What’s your biggest challenge?
Using our limited resources to reach the 1,000 of eligible college-bound disadvantaged students, and providing support to their teachers and parents.

What do you get asked the most?
“What do I need to get into college?” and “how do I pay for college?”