Engineering program receives national award
By Jessica Alway
A lesser known section of the Santa Clara engineering department recently received national recognition for its excellence and dedication to the community.
The Chicanos and Latinos in Engineering and Sciences, also known as ChALESS, was recently honored as the Most Outstanding Medium Student Chapter in the nation at the National Technical and Career Conference in Minneapolis.
ChALESS, a local chapter of the national organization, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), is a nonprofit academic organization that promotes the enrollment and retention of Latinos in technical fields. As an organization, ChALESS is dedicated to promoting education, professionalism and unity among its 46 members, and throughout their surrounding community. They devote much of their time to service, mentoring at-risk youth and traveling to local high schools to testify to the importance of higher education.
The organization, founded in 1988 by Michael Valencia, a staff member in the Admissions Department, along with the five lone Latino engineers, was originally called the Society of Hispanic American Scientists and Engineers (SHASE). After eight years and three name changes, SHASE became ChALESS.
Under of the leadership of then-president Jose Alverez, the organization began to grow at an astonishing rate, increasing their numbers every year. It established an Internet presence and won regional honors for its work.
The organization's outreach also grew as ChALESS expanded their visits to numerous elementary, middle and high schools.
"Many of our members are from underprivileged areas themselves," ChALESS Secretary David Duran said. "We return to the schools similar to those our members grew up in to tell the kids how important college can be. It is by far the most rewarding part of the job."
President of ChALESS and a three-year member, junior Alvero Nevarez, agrees.
"My favorite part of working with ChALESS is the outreach portion of the organization," he said. "We have actually gone back to my high school. It is nice to see old teachers and talk personally to the students who might be thinking about college as an option."
The award is generally given to the chapter with the largest majority of members who actively participate in community service activities, educational outreach, in addition to displaying interests in engineering and sciences. Runners up for this year's award included Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and Carnegie-Mellon University.
"Enriched by a unique Jesuit education, ChALESS relishes the opportunity for national recognition, and will continue to work to encourage underrepresented students to study engineering and science at Santa Clara, where diversity will play a key role in driving technology in the Silicon Valley," Duran said.