TITLE V PROJECT EXITO 2004-05 ACHIEVEMENTS

In 2000, the U.S. Department of Education awarded a five-year grant to the Miami Dade College under Title V of the Higher Education Act to implement specific programs and services at the InterAmerican Campus (IAC). The Title V Project EXITO (EXcelencia nos Inspira a TOdos) comprises five components: Student Services, Technology, Outreach, Diversity, and Research. What follows is a summary of the achievements for year four (2004-05) of the grant.

Project EXITO provided free one-to-one scheduled academic tutoring to 1,458 students and study skills workshops to the students that most needed them. To meet the increased demand for students for tutoring, Project EXITO hired 21 additional tutors. EXITO has contributed to the technological advancement of the campus by helping faculty and students create and use Web-based student electronic portfolios. More than 382 students received training and are using E-portfolios to document their courses. Also, Project EXITO’s technology staff kept faculty abreast of the technology divide by sharing with them pertinent articles and information on that issue.

Project EXITO provided opportunities to faculty and students to participate in service-learning and other community activities. Twelve faculty members incorporated service learning projects into 26 courses. Service learning projects implement activities in which the students work in other classrooms to teach younger children to read, write or other educational ideas. Our college students are practicing what they learn, and this benefits the community. Of the 540 students enrolled in these courses, 399 chose to do service learning. They contributed 5,343 hours to 177 community agency partners. Project EXITO helped bring the Wachovia Bank/FDIC Money Smart Curriculum to the IAC. Two professors from the School of Business coached seven students who, in turn, taught five of the 10 modules of that Money Smart curriculum to 294 students. In its February 4, 2006 edition, The Miami Herald published some personal stories about the benefits of these financial workshops from some of the students.

One of Project EXITO’s objectives is to provide faculty and students opportunities to interact with and learn from people of non-Hispanic heritage. Project EXITO partnered with the Communication, Arts and Philosophy Departments and the Haitian Arts Alliance to organize month-long Haitian arts exhibit on campus. Five Haitian artists contributed 25 works of art to that exhibit. In addition to the artwork, four of the artists shared their experience with students and faculty at the opening evening and at a subsequent panel presentation. Project EXITO invited Dr. Louis Noisin, a well-known Haitian scholar, to share his knowledge of Haitian history and culture with students and faculty during the 2005 Black History Month. Project EXITO’s staff also worked with the ESL and Foreign Languages Department at IAC to add the Haitian-Creole Track to its Translation and Interpretation Program. This Haitian-Creole Track will draw students from the Haitian-Creole speaking population and the result will be a more diversified population at IAC.

In 2004-05, Project EXITO helped the InterAmerican Campus form 56 additional community agency partnerships. It organized two grant proposal writing workshops for these community-based organizations. The workshops were attended by 163 people. Based on participant’s feedback and requests, Project EXITO will offer the same workshop to another group of participants and two level-two workshops for participants of last year’s workshops.

Faculty and students at the IAC have recognized and continue to take advantage of Project EXITO’s programs and services and think of them now not as services provided by a federally funded entity, but as part of the College’s institutional branches.