While San José City College can be thought of as one big community of learners, you will also find that SJCC is comprised of a growing number of individual designated Learning Communities dedicated to helping traditionally underserved students succeed.
One of SJCC’s newest Learning Communities is Leveraging Education for AAPI Progress (LEAP), serving Asian American and Pacific Islander Students.
LEAP is part of President Rowena Tomaneng’s vision to provide SJCC students equitable access to resources, services, and opportunities. As a result, the Sobrato Family Foundation awarded SJCC $250,000 to establish a cohort program centered on building a community of students who identify as AAPI.
“We are laser-focused as a campus on a student-success model that has an equity and social justice framework that guides our path toward removing barriers to equity and deepens our students’ sense of belonging,” Tomaneng said.
SJCC has a growing number of AAPI students that mirrors the ever-increasing AAPI population within Santa Clara and San José. SJCC’s AAPI students constitute 27% of the student body. The largest Asian American population within the College and the community is the Vietnamese American community. Historically, Vietnamese Americans and other Southeast Asian American communities have lower student success rates.
SJCC is also designated as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI), a federal designation given to colleges and universities with an AAPI student body over 10%. While not a federally funded AANAPISI, SJCC is implementing AANAPISI-recommended best practices to achieve student success.
“We are laser-focused as a campus on a student-success model that has an equity and social justice framework that guides our path toward removing barriers to equity and deepens our students’ sense of belonging.”
Rowena Tomaneng, SJCC President
“We want to build our capacity to be culturally responsive to our diverse AAPI student body,“ said Rene Alvarez, SJCC Dean of Academic Success and Student Equity. “We’ll do this by meeting the growing academic and career needs of our underserved and low-income AAPI students.”
LEAP joins Umoja, which serves Black students, and Puente, which serves Latinx students in SJCC’s Learning Community mix. Trained faculty members lead the learning communities and teach courses linked together to make learning more accessible and relevant for the student.
For example, a learning community can link English, Guidance, and Ethnic Studies classes over three to four semesters to ensure students are ready to transfer to four-year colleges and universities. LEAP has a particular emphasis on healthcare-related studies. Teams of students share the same classes with the support of their instructors and counselors. Students also benefit from cost-free textbooks, tutoring, and activities such as workshops and field trips.
As learning communities flourish, SJCC will fine-tune how they can most effectively serve students in preparing them for what lies, whether at four-year colleges or in the workplace.
