[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 147 (Tuesday, November 29, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
          TEXPREP FOUNDER, AWARD WINNER DR. MANUEL BERRIOZABAL

                                 ______


                         HON. HENRY B. GONZALEZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 1994

  Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and commemorate 
the accomplishment and dedicated service of a dear friend and truly 
outstanding member of the community from my hometown of San Antonio, 
Dr. Manuel Berriozabal.
  Over the years of my association with Dr. Berriozabal--Manny, as I 
know him--he has strived to make a contribution to the betterment of 
the community by helping young people realize that they can attain 
their goals and dreams. While teaching at the University of Texas at 
San Antonio in 1979, he established the PreFreshman Engineering Program 
[PREP] to help encourage junior high and high school students with a 
proclivity for math and science to pursue careers as scientists and 
engineers. The success of this effort led to its expansion statewide in 
the TexPREP Program. Funded through the Dwight D. Eisenhower 
Mathematics and Science Education Act, PREP allows students to 
participate in an 8-week intensive academic enrichment program based 
both on mathematical theoretics and hands-on experience. Thanks to Dr. 
Berriozabal, it is is one of the best and most successful math and 
science preparation programs available to secondary school students 
anywhere in the country.
  The program is especially important in San Antonio, where PREP has 
given so many Hispanic youths the opportunity and encouragement to 
achieve what they might not have thought possible otherwise. In this 
way, Dr. Berriozabal has helped literally thousands of young students 
in San Antonio and throughout the State attain educational and career 
achievements that will profoundly enhance the rest of their lives and 
the community as a whole.
  Manny has always shown a deep caring for the young people in his 
program. And in the face of the naysayers who said that PREP would not 
succeed, Manny and his students have persevered.
  This past September, Dr. Berriozabal received the Hispanic Award for 
Excellence in Education. This honor is much deserved for all of his 
dedication and hard work. At a time when many at the national level are 
trying to find easy answers to the challenges we confront today and 
when they are targeting worthy programs in the process, I say we need 
only look to Manny and his PREP Program for the answers and to witness 
the importance of these efforts. One by one, Dr. Berriozabal has 
touched the lives of many individuals. We can all take a lesson from 
his hard work, thoughtfulness, service, magnanimity, and steadiness of 
purpose.
  I am enclosing here for the Record further material on Dr. 
Berriozabal, his achievements and his continuing efforts.

                    Berriozabal Gets National Honor

       Manuel Berriozabal, professor mathematics, received the 
     1994 Hispanic Heritage Award for Excellence in Education last 
     week for initiating, developing and expanding the San Antonio 
     Pre-Engineering Program (PREP).
       The eighth annual awards ceremony, sponsored by Dr Pepper/
     Seven-Up Companies, Inc., took place at the National Building 
     Museum in Washington, D.C. Also receiving awards were band 
     leader Tito Puente, professional basketball referee Tommy 
     Nunez, children's author Hilda Perera and labor activist 
     Baldemar Velasquez.
       PREP is a summer math and science enrichment program for 
     middle and high school students.
       ``All kids need encouragement to succeed,'' Berriozabal 
     said in a story that appeared in the Express-News. ``PREP 
     breaks the ice for them and gives them what they need to 
     compete.''
       Working with San Antonio colleges and universities, school 
     districts, corporate sponsors and volunteer instructors, 
     Berriozabal established PREP in 1979 for high-achieving 
     students in the 6th- through 12th-grade. Its goal is to 
     identify students who have an aptitude for mathematics and 
     the sciences and to encourage them to pursue careers as 
     engineers and scientists.
       Since PREP's founding, nearly 5,000 students in the San 
     Antonio area and more than 8,000 students statewide have 
     completed at least one summer of PREP. Minority students 
     comprise 80 percent of the participants, and 53 percent are 
     young women.
                                  ____


          [From the San Antonio Express-News, Sept. 20, 1994]

            UTSA Professor Receives Hispanic Heritage Award

                          (By Dan R. Goddard)

       Washington.--Students, especially minority students, must 
     excel in math and science if they want to be the masters and 
     not the slaves of future technology, Manuel Berriozabal, a 
     mathematics professor at the University of Texas at San 
     Antonio, said upon receiving the 1994 Hispanic Award for 
     Excellence in Education.
       ``When I first started TexPREP 16-years ago, I was advised 
     that the program was doomed to failure because middle school 
     and high school students would never want to spend eight 
     weeks during the summer in the study of mathematics and its 
     applications,'' Berriozabal said at the eighth annual 
     Hispanic Heritage awards presented Monday at the National 
     Building Museum in Washington.
       Thousands of students have benefited from the programs 
     created by Berriozabal, the Prefreshman Engineering Program 
     (PREP) and the extended TexPREP, designed to encourage sixth- 
     through 11th-graders with strong science and math skills and 
     the potential to be engineers and scientists.
       Critics said minority students, especially Hispanics, would 
     not succeed in such a structured and disciplined environment.
       ``Now, 16 years of operations have belied those 
     predictions. Nearly 10,000 students have pursued PREP; over 
     6,500 participants have been Hispanic,'' Berriozabal said. 
     ``The high school graduation rate is 100 percent, and the 
     college graduation rate is 80 percent. Nearly 60 percent of 
     the college graduates have majored in science or 
     engineering.''
       In presenting the award to her husband, Maria Antonietta 
     Berriozabal said, ``Dr. B is my husband, my collaborator and 
     my hero.'' She added in Spanish, ``You are a man and you have 
     the soul of a child,'' noting that he can speak to his 
     students with empathy and understanding.
       ``The Mambo King'' Tito Puente, jazz percussionist, band 
     leader and influential purveyor of the Caribbean sound; Tommy 
     Nunez, the only Mexican-American ever to referee for the 
     National Basketball Association; Hilda Perera, a scholar and 
     author of popular children's stories such as ``Kike''; and 
     Baldemar Velasquez, who established the Farm Labor Organizing 
     Committee in 1986, are the other Hispanic Heritage award 
     winners.
       The Washington Post has called the awards ``the glitziest 
     and hippest event of Hispanic Heritage Month.''
       The 600 guests, including many Latin American dignitaries 
     based in Washington, wore tuxedoes and glittery gowns.
       The event was staged in the grand hall of the National 
     Building Museum.
       Established in 1987 and supported by 29 national Hispanic 
     organizations, the awards honor individuals who personify the 
     best in Hispanic culture, tradition and achievement.
       Sponsored by Dr Pepper/Seven-Up Companies Inc., previous 
     award winners include Emmy winner Luis Santerio, singer and 
     producer Gloria and Emilio Estefan, boxer Jose Torres and 
     actress Rita Moreno.
       Prior San Antonio winners include Housing and Urban 
     Development Secretary Henry Cisneros, Archbishop Patrick 
     Flores and visual artist Jesse Trevino, who has an exhibit at 
     the National Museum of American Art in conjunction with this 
     year's Hispanic Hertiage awards.
                                  ____


          [from the San Antonio Express-News, Sept. 20, 1994]

      S.A.'s Berriozabal Recognized for College Prep Math Program

                            (By David Uhler)

       When Manuel Berriozabal created a special mathematics 
     program for college preparation of high school students, 
     several people told him it was doomed even before it started.
       Berriozabal's critics claimed the students weren't mature 
     enough to study on college campuses. They also felt women and 
     minority students couldn't--or wouldn't--learn the math 
     skills they needed to major in science and engineering in 
     college.
       That was 15 years ago.
       Since then, thousands of graduates from the program have 
     succeeded in college and professional careers. The 
     Prefreshman Engineering Program, known as PREP, also has 
     earned an armful of national and international honors for 
     Berriozabal, a mathematics professor at the University of 
     Texas at San Antonio.
       On Monday, Berriozabal received the 1994 Hispanic Heritage 
     Award for Excellence in Education at a ceremony in 
     Washington.
       ``All kids need encouragement to succeed,'' he said. ``PREP 
     breaks the ice for them and gives them what they need to 
     compete.''
       Berriozabal has taught at UTSA for 19 years. Raymond T. 
     Garza, the provost and vice president for academic affairs at 
     the university, said he's proud of Berriozabal.
       ``He has made a contribution to education in a significant 
     way be reaching out to so many deserving students and 
     instilling in them the desire to attain their highest 
     potential,'' Garza said.
       Since 1979, more than 3,400 students in the San Antonio 
     area have completed one summer or more in the Prefreshman 
     Engineering Program. Seventy-nine percent of the students 
     were minorities; 58 percent were women. In 1986, the program 
     was extended throughout the state. Today, it is taught in 12 
     cities on 22 college campuses.
       The program also has received lots of national and 
     international attention. In 1986, it was recognized by the 
     U.S. Department of Education. Three years later, Berriozabal 
     received an award from the Hispanic Engineering National 
     Achievement Awards Conference.
       In 1991, the Mexican American Engineering Socity awarded 
     the state program its award for education engineering program 
     of the year. The U.S. Department of Energy also presented 
     PREP its Mathematics/Science Leadership Development and 
     Recognition Award.
       So how does PREP work?
       Berriozabal said the course ``is a combination of minds-on 
     and hands-on instruction.'' Abstract mathematical concepts 
     account for the mind exercises; the hands-on section is 
     covered in physics and computer science instruction.
       Most importantly, however, students in the eight-week 
     program are taught they can succeed in math and science if 
     they have a positive attitude and stick with it.
       Berriozabal, 68, is a native of San Antonio. He received 
     his bachelor's degree from Rock-hurst College in Kansas City, 
     Mo., his master's degree from the University of Notre Dame 
     and his doctorate from UCLA. His wife, Maria, is a former San 
     Antonio city councilwoman.
                                  ____


            How Successful Can Intervention Programs Become?


                         Manuel P. Berriozabal

       Since 1979, I have conducted each summer, the San Antonio 
     PreFreshman Engineering Program (PREP), and eight week 
     mathematics-based academic enrichment program for high 
     achieving middle school and high school students. The 
     participants develop abstract reasoning and problem solving 
     skills through courses and laboratories in mathematics and 
     mathematics related areas normally not offered to students at 
     the middle school or high school levels.
       3,400 students have completed at least one summer of PREP; 
     79 percent have been minority and 51 percent have been women; 
     53 percent come from low income families. The high school 
     graduation rate has been 100 percent. The college entrance 
     rate is 94 percent. The college graduation rate is 80 
     percent. The rate for science or engineering majors is 56 
     percent.
       Program participants are expected to maintain a 75 percent 
     plus average to stay in the program and the program retention 
     rate each summer is normally at least 85 percent. Through 
     hard work and commitment, program participants realize that 
     they can successfully negotiate studies in a college setting. 
     Participants may return for second and third summers.
       PREP has been conducted on various college campuses in San 
     Antonio. In 1992, because of the high enrollment of over 
     1,300 students and inadequate space on the college campuses, 
     first year sixth-grade participants met on two high school 
     campuses. The PREP staff consists of college and high school 
     mathematics, science, and engineering teachers, Air Force and 
     Navy Officers, and industrial scientists and engineers. 
     Undergraduate engineering and science majors serve as program 
     assistants.
       The cost per student is approximately $1,200. PREP 
     operational support through in kind and financial 
     contributions comes from local, state and national public and 
     private sector agencies. Support in the way of wages, 
     stipends, and lunches for low income students comes from the 
     local Private Industry Council Summer Youth and Employment 
     Programs and the National Science Foundation.
       Through the sponsorship of an NSF grant. PREP has developed 
     a kit consisting of an operational manual and PREP curricular 
     materials. This kit is available to any institution of higher 
     education interested in starting an intervention program and 
     the materials can be freely reproduced for non-commercial 
     purposes.
       San Antonio PREP has been replicated since 1986 throughout 
     the State of Texas as the Texas Prefreshman Engineering 
     Program (TexPREP). TexPREP statistics are similar to those of 
     San Antonio PREP. The population of Texas is 35 percent 
     minority. Yet, only 12 percent of the engineering and science 
     college undergraduates are minority. This underrepresentation 
     reflects the drain of minority talent somewhere between 
     elementary and college years. TexPREP has a goal of at least 
     achieving parity for minorities in the annual output of 
     engineering and science college undergraduates.
       Currently, the annual output of minority college science 
     and engineering graduates is 16,000. The National Science 
     Foundation has set an annual output goal of 50,000 minorities 
     by the year 2000 and beyond.
       I propose that successful intervention programs be 
     replicated or adapted nationwide so that 250,000 minority 
     students can be reached annually. If the current results of 
     existing programs were to continue, then a steady State 
     annual output of at least 50,000 minority science and 
     engineering graduates would be achieved. An element of 
     accountability must be present if this undertaking is 
     successful. Consequently, I propose that an oversight 
     committee consisting of minority members of mathematics, 
     science, and engineering professional organizations be 
     established. This committee will work with other minority 
     advocacy groups to secure long-term, in kind support and 
     financial funding from the Federal, State, and other public 
     sectors, and private sectors for the support of this effort.
       I estimate the annual direct operational costs for this 
     undertaking in today's dollars would be approximately 
     $300,000,000. This cost would include the operation of a 
     summer intern program for prospective directors. this amount 
     would be a small price to pay if this Nation is genuinely 
     interested in providing access for minorities to careers in 
     science and engineering and at the same time preparing a 21st 
     century high technology work force among our citizenry.

                          ____________________