Corporate/Education Partnership
CPS Energy Distinguished Fellows Program, CPS Energy, Inc.
Anthony Edwards, Retired Vice President
In San Antonio, Texas, students at Sam Houston High School received a big boost from CPS Energy in 2006. The school had received an unacceptable rating from the Texas Education Agency, based on the low performance of its students on math achievement tests. Sam Houston, which did not offer physics, calculus or college-level courses in science, had little to offer aspiring engineers or scientists.
So CPS Energy engineered an educational merger. It partnered with the University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA) to provide instructors in advanced math courses for students in the top 10 percent of their classes at Sam Houston High. Instruction takes place at a CPS Energy high-tech training facility near the school.
“There is a professor from UT San Antonio who comes over to the training facility early in the morning to meet the students before their normal school day starts,” says Anthony Edwards, retired CPS vice president. “They take the pre-calculus course before regular classes start. We provide the supplies the professor needs and the tools; the University provides the professors. We also provide engineers to come and speak to the students in mentor roles. We try to put minority folks in front of these students so they can learn about life in the industry. And they have the experience of doing actual college-level work.”
The courses provide six semester hours of college credit. Students can also take an exam at the end of the final semester for an additional three semester hours.
The partnership with UTSA on behalf of Sam Houston High School has been a major success. Of the first 50 students enrolled in the program, all have gone on to college. For those who chose to enroll in UTSA, CPS has provided more than $60,000 in scholarships. And the program has now been expanded to include students from five additional high schools.
Roger Witherspoon is a journalist and author based in New York.