Equipando Padres: Apoya el éxito de tu estudiante (Empowering parents to make a difference.)

Esther Gonzalez; Dayna Martínez; Kimberly Douglas

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Minorities in Engineering Division Technical Session 2
Page Count: 17
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41019
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41019
Download Count: 335

Paper Authors

biography

Dayna Martínez Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

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Dayna currently serves as a Director of Research & Innovation at SHPE. In this role, she oversees the Equipando Padres program, Noche de Ciencias, as well as different aspects of research and data analysis.

An industrial engineer by training, before joining SHPE, Dayna was a faculty member in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at Northeastern University in Boston, MA after working at their Healthcare Systems Engineering Institute (HSyE) as a post-doctoral research fellow.

Native from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dayna graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (¡Colegio!) and then she completed a master’s and PhD degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Being Hispanic and an engineer herself, Dayna has a passion for increasing Hispanic representation in STEM. She currently lives with her husband Andrés, their two sons David and Sebastián, and their miniature schnauzer Lucca in Winter Garden, Florida.

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Esther Gonzalez Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Inc.

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Kimberly Douglas Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Inc.

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Abstract

Current parent programming focuses on helping the parents of college students navigate their educational journey, but does not meet the needs of Hispanic parents of first-generation to college (1st-gen) engineering students. The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers’ (SHPE’s) parent program, named Equipando Padres (Equipping Parents), was created in collaboration with Raytheon Technologies, SHPE’s Academic Partnership Council members, and the United Engineering Foundation as a supplemental funder to fill this gap. The purpose of this program is to equip parents of Hispanic first-generation engineering students with the tools, knowledge, and skills necessary to empower them to better support their children earning STEM degrees, and position parents and familia as active contributors of their student’s success.

Engineering faculty today often experience the phenomenon of “helicopter parents” – parents who hover over their child while they attend college and do things like enroll for them or speak for them when they arrive on campus for orientation events. Parents of students who are the 1st-gen in their family to attend college are the opposite of this – often retreating, withdrawing, and observing their child’s college experience from a distance with little understanding of what college entails. Further, 1st-gen parents may encourage behaviors that make it less likely for their child to succeed in engineering (e.g., working too many hours, traveling home often). Even though these parents give their children all the emotional support needed to make it through college, they can’t provide the equally important instrumental support. This program seeks to build awareness, understanding, and skills for 1st-gen parents to actively engage in empowering their students to be successful in their engineering education.

In this paper we present preliminary findings which include findings from a robust literature review and inventory of existing programs to understand and document what parent programming is currently available for Hispanic parents of 1st- gen students pursuing engineering degrees, their results, and generalizability. In addition, we sought to understand and document the major challenges faced by Hispanic 1st-gen to college students and how family dynamics affect their higher education journey.

Citation
Format

Martínez, D., & Gonzalez, E., & Douglas, K. (2022, August), Equipando Padres: Apoya el éxito de tu estudiante (Empowering parents to make a difference.) Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41019

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Current parent programming focuses on helping the parents of college students navigate their educational journey, but does not meet the needs of Hispanic parents of first-generation to college (1st-gen) engineering students. The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers’ (SHPE’s) parent program, named Equipando Padres (Equipping Parents), was created in collaboration with Raytheon Technologies, SHPE’s Academic Partnership Council members, and the United Engineering Foundation as a supplemental funder to fill this gap. The purpose of this program is to equip parents of Hispanic first-generation engineering students with the tools, knowledge, and skills necessary to empower them to better support their children earning STEM degrees, and position parents and familia as active contributors of their student’s success. 

Engineering faculty today often experience the phenomenon of “helicopter parents” – parents who hover over their child while they attend college and do things like enroll for them or speak for them when they arrive on campus for orientation events. Parents of students who are the 1st-gen in their family to attend college are the opposite of this – often retreating, withdrawing, and observing their child’s college experience from a distance with little understanding of what college entails. Further, 1st-gen parents may encourage behaviors that make it less likely for their child to succeed in engineering (e.g., working too many hours, traveling home often). Even though these parents give their children all the emotional support needed to make it through college, they can’t provide the equally important instrumental support. This program seeks to build awareness, understanding, and skills for 1st-gen parents to actively engage in empowering their students to be successful in their engineering education. 

In this paper we present preliminary findings which include findings from a robust literature review and inventory of existing programs to understand and document what parent programming is currently available for Hispanic parents of 1st- gen students pursuing engineering degrees, their results, and generalizability. In addition, we sought to understand and document the major challenges faced by Hispanic 1st-gen to college students and how family dynamics affect their higher education journey. 
AU  - Dayna Martínez
AU  - Esther Gonzalez
AU  - Kimberly Douglas
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Equipando Padres: Apoya el éxito de tu estudiante (Empowering parents to make a difference.)
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41019
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41019
ER  -