Jury Medrano Jimenez with her parents, sister and Interim Vice President and Provost Eric Benjamin at Montgomery College graduation, May 17, 2024. Photo by Gustavo Minaya.

Latinos are enrolling in greater numbers than ever before at Montgomery Community College, but are also the group with the lowest completion, graduation and transfer rates, according to a new report by the college’s Hispanic Serving Institution Task Force.

At 29%, Latinos represent Montgomery College’s largest student demographic, a fact that in 2021 helped make it a Hispanic Serving Institution, a U.S. Department of Education designation, meaning its Latino full-time enrollment had reached 25%.

As the first – and so far the only – HSI in the state, Montgomery College joined 600 others, and opened the door for federal grants to advance educational opportunities.

Triggered by that designation, Montgomery College President Jermaine Williams, set up a task force to research all aspects of the Hispanic student experience, from access, completion and post-graduation success, to grant and funding opportunities. The task force was also told to gain perspectives from the larger community, or as Williams stated, “How can we advance data informed equitable approaches to really serving our students who identify as Hispanic or Latino?”

Disturbing, informative findings

Glenda Hernandez Tittle headed the 25-member collegewide team that produced the report.

“So much of my lived experiences drives my passion for this work,” she said. An immigrant from El Salvador, she attended Montgomery County Public Schools, Montgomery College and the University of Maryland, and is a 20-year veteran of Montgomery College both as a teacher and a senior director of teacher education.

Hernandez Tittle says the 18-month study revealed some unsettling findings.

Not only are Latinos the poorest-performing compared with all other ethnic groups at the college, but Latino faculty and leadership are deeply underrepresented, with Hispanics accounting for 6% of the faculty and 3% of leadership.

“Those are the big data points that stood out to us. We couldn’t run away from it no matter how much we don’t like it,” she said. “That informs us in terms of what we can do and where the opportunities are.

“This report clearly outlines who we serve. And, now we have this information, and [we ask] what does this mean in terms of immigration status, in terms of translation support? In terms of all of the access-related issues, that we can address?” Hernandez Tittle asked.

Latina student’s life transformed

A few years before she was born in the early 2000s, Jury Medrano Jimenez’s parents fled El Salvador for the United States, leaving two small children behind. The family wouldn’t be reunited for more than a decade, and they continue to face legal challenges.

Medrano Jimenez, who was born in the U.S., enrolled in Montgomery College after high school. But it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she hated that all her classes were online.

“It was definitely taking a toll on my mental health,” she said, and she became more despondent. “I really thought college was pointless. Like my friends are out making money, and I’m wasting my time in school.”

Like many of her Latino peers at the college, Medrano Jimenez was headed for failure. That first semester she failed all of her classes. She was put on academic probation, which allowed her to take only two courses. Luckily, one was Mi Gente, Spanish for “my people,” a hands-on business class that promoted Latino enrollment, with a professor who kept students engaged.

“I really enjoyed her class,” Medrano Jimenez said. “She brought in guest speakers from the Latino community, and that was something I had never seen before.”

As her grades began to climb, other opportunities surfaced. She got a job with the Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES) at Montgomery College, a program that mentors at-risk high school students to the completion of a bachelor’s degree. She became an ambassador with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) on campus, where she initiated information sessions for Latinos on collegiate matters. And last year, she was given a scholarship to attend the HACU annual conference.

“Just being in such a community where I saw people just like me, with the same story as mine, all of us, we’re all going through this together, trying to achieve the same goal,” Medrano Jimenez said. “And that’s what I really needed to keep me motivated and pushing forward to continue my education.”

Pushing her GPA to 3.4, Medrano graduated in May with an associate of arts degree in business. This summer she has an internship with the Export-Import Bank in Washington, then she’s off to the University of Maryland, College Park to study marketing.

Medrano Jimenez says she will continue to promote the value of higher education among Latino students.

“By sharing my story, I [hope] I can make a difference in their lives,” she said. “That they can take what I’ve learned and apply it to themselves to achieve their goals, to become someone [who] represents our community as well.

Recommendations target access, completion and community

The things that worked to help Medrano Jimenez succeed are among the many dozens of recommendations in the task force report. The report calls for measurable data to put in place evidence-based strategies, recruitment of Latino faculty, administration and staff, and a strong leadership structure to follow up and assure coordination and accountability.

Williams says he’s excited about moving that agenda forward.

“The next step is to digest this information and create an action plan,” he said. “What is going to move now? What is going to create transformation at scale? And, that’s where I’m going to encourage, invite and expect our efforts to be placed.”

Montgomery College could also serve as a model for other emerging HSIs in Maryland near the 25% Hispanic enrollment required for designation, including Frederick Community College (16.7%), Johns Hopkins University (20%), Prince George’s Community College (19.8%) and University of Maryland Global Campus (16.5%).

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