00:00:01 from the dark led to your radio dog you
00:00:05 were listening to cyber talk radio on
00:00:07 news 1200 the welcome to cyber talk
00:00:13 radio
00:00:14 I'm your host Brett Hyatt a 20 year
00:00:16 Internet security veteran I'm joined
00:00:18 this week by dr. Mike Flores from Palo
00:00:20 Alto college here in San Antonio thank
00:00:22 you for joining us Mike oh it's great to
00:00:24 be here Brett thank you so would the
00:00:27 help our audience if you could share a
00:00:28 little bit of your background on how you
00:00:30 got to where you're at and then what
00:00:33 we're going to talk about today sure
00:00:35 thank you very much actually I am am a
00:00:37 native Texan graduated from Holmes high
00:00:40 school here in the north side and went
00:00:43 to UT San Antonio as an undergrad wanted
00:00:46 to experience something different ended
00:00:47 up getting my masters in Illinois and
00:00:49 then missed summer heat in Texas and
00:00:52 went to UT Austin for my PhD I ended up
00:00:56 in Palo Alto college in 1999 and loved
00:01:00 it so much that I've been there ever
00:01:02 since so with both Palo Alto and the
00:01:04 Alamo colleges district for close to 18
00:01:07 years and I think one of the nice things
00:01:09 is seen both the system evolve but
00:01:11 definitely seen San Antonio evolve is
00:01:14 more of an urban and cosmopolitan city
00:01:16 yeah so as you say you're affiliated
00:01:20 with the Alamo colleges so how does all
00:01:22 of that come together on under in an
00:01:24 umbrella and if you if you look at and
00:01:27 think of it it's a constellation of
00:01:29 colleges there's five colleges Palo Alto
00:01:32 is one of those our sister colleges
00:01:34 include San Antonio College st. Philip's
00:01:36 college Northwest Vista and then the
00:01:39 newest is northeast Lakeview together we
00:01:42 have over 60,000 credit students and
00:01:45 then another 30,000 students are engaged
00:01:48 in some sort of workforce training and
00:01:51 that may vary so we are actually the
00:01:54 largest provider of higher education
00:01:56 within our metropolitan area yeah so in
00:02:00 one of the larger more well organized
00:02:02 districts I've seen nationwide even yeah
00:02:05 yeah ranked there but I've lived all
00:02:07 over at my time and
00:02:09 this district here is set up and very
00:02:12 very well structured between the
00:02:13 campuses yeah I definitely agree I'm a
00:02:15 little biased right but when you look at
00:02:18 it and you compare the Alamo colleges
00:02:20 towards other districts within the u.s.
00:02:23 one of the most interesting things is
00:02:25 just the way we are set up to deliver
00:02:27 education and training some of the
00:02:31 innovative ventures that we have and how
00:02:34 those stack up nationally one of the
00:02:36 things when you look at is we're the
00:02:38 largest provider of higher ed but we're
00:02:39 actually the largest provider and of
00:02:43 associate degrees within the state of
00:02:45 Texas so San Antonio here has over
00:02:48 12,000 students who graduated this past
00:02:50 year with an associate's degree or
00:02:52 certificate that's awesome man
00:02:54 San Antonio well we're one of the 10
00:02:56 largest cities in the US where we're not
00:02:58 as big as Houston and we're not as big
00:03:01 as the DFW complex by by any means we're
00:03:04 not but yet we produce more graduates
00:03:06 than both of them so aside from leading
00:03:09 there and producing more graduates than
00:03:11 some of the the other folks across the
00:03:13 state what else is going on with Palo
00:03:15 Alto specifically and then the Alamo
00:03:17 colleges related to cyber sure I think
00:03:19 one of the things when you look at it is
00:03:22 we want to ensure that we're aligned
00:03:24 with the growth sectors within the San
00:03:27 Antonio area so we're looking at IT in
00:03:31 particular is one of those areas of
00:03:33 interest for both San Antonio and
00:03:35 Barrett County right through si works
00:03:37 and other affiliated strategies ite
00:03:40 allied health is another advanced
00:03:42 manufacturing financial services so by
00:03:46 and large Palo Alto college along with
00:03:48 our sister colleges are engaged in that
00:03:50 strategy and ensuring that we have a
00:03:52 talented workforce for IT in particular
00:03:55 we have close to out of our near 10,000
00:03:58 students a quarter of those are stem and
00:04:01 about 500 of those are engaged in IT
00:04:04 work overall either in earning a
00:04:07 certificate or an associate's degree
00:04:09 whether that's for transfer like
00:04:11 computer science or whether that's a
00:04:13 workforce degree an associate of Applied
00:04:15 Science in computer information systems
00:04:18 yeah and then many of the campuses
00:04:23 have the NSA and DHS certification as
00:04:26 well for as a center of excellence they
00:04:28 do so one of our sister colleges st.
00:04:30 Philip's college does provide that as a
00:04:32 center of excellence and we're moving in
00:04:35 that direction as well at Palo Alto
00:04:36 college and ensuring that we can lend
00:04:40 towards increasing that bandwidth and
00:04:42 ensuring that we provide talent for
00:04:44 folks you know like jungle desk or other
00:04:48 firms within San Antonio that are in
00:04:51 that direction or seeking to provide
00:04:55 jobs for our folks yeah as we have a
00:04:58 large amount of cyber companies here
00:05:01 serving both the public and private
00:05:03 sector and it's good to see that across
00:05:05 the education spectrum it's both
00:05:08 available at the two-year and four-year
00:05:10 level to go to Institute's that will
00:05:13 give you the ability to go work directly
00:05:16 in some of those federal focused roles
00:05:18 coming out of school quickly so as you
00:05:22 would mentioned innovation and when
00:05:25 people hear innovation and University in
00:05:27 the same sentence I think that maybe you
00:05:29 have this belief that it's you can have
00:05:31 students doing some innovative stuff but
00:05:33 actually innovating on the education
00:05:35 side and the curriculum side of things
00:05:37 maybe not as much but I don't think
00:05:39 that's a it's a different story with you
00:05:41 yeah we're really proud I'm really
00:05:44 pleased with the culture of innovation
00:05:46 that we have at Palo Alto College in
00:05:48 particular if you look at what we've
00:05:51 done over the last five years and what
00:05:53 others have come in and allotted us for
00:05:56 in particular it is with regard to
00:05:58 transparency and innovation there are a
00:06:00 couple of awards that we've received as
00:06:02 part of that and these are and we're
00:06:05 proud and I'm pleased because these are
00:06:07 both for organizations within the public
00:06:10 and the private sector so we've been
00:06:13 engaged in this long journey continuous
00:06:16 quality improvement we've utilized the
00:06:18 Malcolm Baldrige framework as part of
00:06:20 that over the last five years we
00:06:24 received as part of that journey the
00:06:26 Texas award for performance excellence
00:06:28 in 2015 we were the first educational
00:06:32 entity since 2011 and the first college
00:06:34 or university since
00:06:36 2007 to receive that that allowed us
00:06:40 then to apply for the national award
00:06:43 which is you know the President's Award
00:06:44 of performance excellence for
00:06:46 organizations and we were one of 34
00:06:49 applicants and as part of that we're
00:06:52 proud that we were actually one of 15 to
00:06:55 receive a site visit these are folks
00:06:57 that make can't come from higher ed but
00:07:00 they also come from the private sector
00:07:01 and we were lauded as part of that for a
00:07:04 culture of innovation culture of
00:07:06 transparency and for focusing on student
00:07:09 learning yeah so that's a pretty amazing
00:07:13 is when you think of all the the number
00:07:16 of colleges and universities and
00:07:17 programs out there that could have
00:07:19 applied for the award that you received
00:07:22 being picked and selected is is a big
00:07:26 deal right right yes it definitely is a
00:07:29 big deal and there are organic
00:07:33 initiatives that we have on campus which
00:07:36 empower faculty staff and students as
00:07:38 part of that so one of the things that
00:07:41 we've been doing over the last few years
00:07:42 is a concept called participatory
00:07:44 budgeting which allows and engages
00:07:47 stakeholders team members actually in
00:07:50 coming up with proposals looking at
00:07:52 things that need to be addressed or
00:07:54 improved on campus and then allowing
00:07:57 faculty staff and students to vote on
00:08:00 those proposals so we have close to a
00:08:02 hundred thousand dollars annually that
00:08:04 we set aside for that and then folks
00:08:05 vote for their favorite proposals and
00:08:08 then those are funded and then that team
00:08:11 actually gets to implement them and so
00:08:14 that is something that actually is going
00:08:16 to begin and there's been that's going
00:08:18 to go citywide and city of San Antonio
00:08:21 and some City Council members are
00:08:23 looking at implementing that in the next
00:08:25 fiscal year
00:08:25 ya know it'd be great to see innovation
00:08:28 come out of our schools and then on into
00:08:32 our city county of it then also
00:08:34 businesses and yes students participate
00:08:36 in that while they're on campus they'll
00:08:38 take that out to their workplace and
00:08:40 help their workplaces innovate for
00:08:42 excellence as well exactly I think Brett
00:08:45 one of the nice things is how do we
00:08:47 empower folks to have the
00:08:49 as part of their core skill set to be
00:08:52 innovative to be willing to work with
00:08:55 others and teams and so an initiative
00:08:58 like participatory budgeting allows
00:09:00 faculty and staff but most importantly
00:09:03 our students to be able to hone and
00:09:05 develop that skill set along the way
00:09:07 yeah so for those listeners we have out
00:09:10 there that are kind of new to maybe
00:09:12 hearing some about the Alamo colleges
00:09:14 and they wanted to apply and go is this
00:09:18 something you have to be full-time do
00:09:21 you get part time students and and how
00:09:22 does that work there if there have a day
00:09:25 job or a night job that's that's a great
00:09:29 question and so what they can do is they
00:09:31 can actually go to Alamo ddu which is
00:09:34 online they can hit on any one of the
00:09:36 colleges and they can go ahead and
00:09:39 actually even apply so they can our
00:09:41 students range anywhere from 14 all the
00:09:45 way to about 74 and so I mean that's the
00:09:49 beauty of Community College's is being
00:09:52 nimble being an open door and allowing
00:09:55 students to come in whether they already
00:09:57 have college credits or whether this is
00:10:01 their first college course that they're
00:10:02 going to take and so looking at that
00:10:05 whole continuum of aged daytime
00:10:07 nighttime weekends online which is also
00:10:11 very important that could be solely
00:10:12 online with discussion groups and
00:10:16 content or that could even be a hybrid
00:10:19 session in which one particular course
00:10:21 could involve coming to campus one
00:10:23 session and actually the rest of the
00:10:25 time just interacting with your
00:10:28 professor and with your classmates
00:10:30 through your device yeah so if you're an
00:10:33 active duty service member and you're
00:10:36 stationed here you could be taking
00:10:37 classes but if you got deployed you
00:10:39 potentially could continue your
00:10:41 enrollment in a completely online manner
00:10:44 you could be anywhere within anywhere in
00:10:47 the world and take your courses which is
00:10:49 the beauty of higher education today is
00:10:51 being able to ensure that students get
00:10:53 those credits towards a certificate or a
00:10:55 degree and and be able to succeed yeah
00:10:59 this is in the cyber space specifically
00:11:02 with a
00:11:03 what we have known on here in town for
00:11:05 the active duty folks they're getting
00:11:07 valuable skills and certifications but
00:11:10 those are internal Department of Defense
00:11:13 Air Force
00:11:14 maybe NSA certifications they're not
00:11:16 private sector recognized certification
00:11:18 so for those students looking to get
00:11:22 potentially an associate's degree and
00:11:24 get private sector certifications the
00:11:27 Alamo colleges and those programs are
00:11:29 something that can be directly
00:11:30 applicable to them so that they as they
00:11:33 do transition from active duty to
00:11:35 reservist or active duty to retired they
00:11:39 can make a smooth move in the private
00:11:41 sector with certifications that will be
00:11:44 recognized by employers on that side yes
00:11:47 I think that's the most important thing
00:11:48 is how do we ensure that we give
00:11:51 credence and credit to the skillset that
00:11:54 folks have in our community as part of
00:11:57 that so if they in fact want to reach
00:11:59 out they can call us at 2 104 86 3,000
00:12:02 they can even email me at our Flores our
00:12:05 FL o our es at Alamo ddu I'll connect
00:12:09 them with one of our recruiters and
00:12:11 we'll get them started an enrollment it
00:12:13 can be a Palo Alto or any one of our
00:12:15 sister colleges yeah so you're listening
00:12:17 to 1200 W AI this is cyber talk radio
00:12:21 and I'm joined this week by dr. Mike
00:12:23 Flores part of the Alamo colleges here
00:12:25 and we're talking through but some of
00:12:27 the programs and innovation they have is
00:12:28 the largest post-secondary education
00:12:31 center here in San Antonio and the
00:12:34 number one program graduating folks with
00:12:38 associate's degrees across the entire
00:12:40 state of Texas
00:12:41 are there any larger community college
00:12:43 districts somewhere else like Los
00:12:45 Angeles or some of these other big
00:12:47 metros or how do we stack up even a
00:12:49 whole nationwide we're within the top
00:12:53 five so if you look at other larger
00:12:55 urban areas you can look as you
00:12:57 mentioned Brett Los Angeles has a big
00:12:59 system so they have close to ten
00:13:02 community colleges within their district
00:13:04 Maricopa and Phoenix has actually eight
00:13:07 community colleges within their district
00:13:09 City Colleges of Chicago as part of that
00:13:12 but when you look at the outcomes that
00:13:15 are being produced at
00:13:16 folks in our community should take pride
00:13:18 at the number of graduates that are
00:13:21 coming out what we want to do is we want
00:13:23 to ensure two things and this is these
00:13:25 are just opportunities for improvement
00:13:26 that we have we want to get folks
00:13:30 specifically students early on so in
00:13:34 looking at how we stack up San Antonio
00:13:36 has actually an Alamo 14 what are called
00:13:39 early college high schools as part of
00:13:42 that and those allow students entering
00:13:46 as fourteen year olds which I mentioned
00:13:48 earlier to take their first courses so
00:13:50 they can actually exit with a high
00:13:52 school diploma and an associate's degree
00:13:55 or certificates before before they even
00:13:59 graduate from high school unfortunately
00:14:01 they'll cross our stage probably a week
00:14:03 or two before they cross and get their
00:14:05 high school diploma as part of that and
00:14:07 at Palo Alto College in particular we
00:14:09 have close to 2,000 students in seven
00:14:12 different Early College High Schools of
00:14:14 those 14 that are within our metro area
00:14:17 so that's one of the other things is
00:14:19 ensuring that we get students early on
00:14:21 ensuring that we tie and align them to
00:14:24 those high growth high wage sectors that
00:14:29 are going to make us more competitive as
00:14:32 a community not only within the US but
00:14:34 as you all know also globally yeah
00:14:37 across whether it's a advanced
00:14:40 manufacturing healthcare IT and cyber
00:14:43 all of those industries are going to be
00:14:46 continuing to grow for the next thirty
00:14:49 years at least as much as I look at it
00:14:51 from a strategy lens and really it's
00:14:54 those folks who are in school now they
00:14:56 need to be looking out at that 30-year
00:14:58 lens of where's this industry going over
00:15:00 the long run if you're gonna start
00:15:02 learning now as a high school student
00:15:04 even if you go through it's the early
00:15:07 college high school maybe you're not
00:15:08 graduating for six to eight years now if
00:15:11 you go through maybe and get a
00:15:12 bachelor's or master's even after that
00:15:14 so you may not be entering the workforce
00:15:16 for quite a while still so when you're
00:15:18 looking at picking career fields and
00:15:21 where you're going from an education
00:15:22 perspective you got to be looking at
00:15:24 with that longer lens which is hard for
00:15:26 some of the kids to do for sure but
00:15:29 parents is your help and advise and
00:15:30 coach
00:15:31 those or if you're an adult looking at
00:15:32 where are you gonna go for your next
00:15:33 career as with the elongation of our
00:15:37 lifespan now it's no longer you kind of
00:15:40 pick your career at age 20 you work in
00:15:43 there for 30 years until age 50 and
00:15:44 retire as you said you have some
00:15:46 students in their their 70s but I would
00:15:48 bet if we go look at your enrollment
00:15:50 data on how much of it you share there's
00:15:51 a ton of students in their 40s that are
00:15:54 looking at what's their second career
00:15:55 they may have gone to college had a 20
00:15:58 year career in a field and now they're
00:15:59 looking at where do they go for their
00:16:00 second career as an adult right and I
00:16:03 think that's one of the important things
00:16:05 is how do we prepare and ensure that
00:16:07 students our community members can
00:16:12 actually be able to have that skillset
00:16:14 to be successful as part of that
00:16:16 lifelong journey and lifelong learning
00:16:18 for that so going back to individuals
00:16:22 being able to enroll easily nimble
00:16:26 enough to be able to take a credit
00:16:28 course or perhaps pursue a certification
00:16:31 we want to ensure that folks can hook up
00:16:34 easily with Alamo colleges district take
00:16:37 those courses and then be successful in
00:16:39 the workplace and if they need to come
00:16:41 back at a later time be able to do so
00:16:42 yeah so if you haven't been in formal
00:16:47 education for 10 years or 20 years how
00:16:50 do you go in and assess where this
00:16:52 person can go and how they which classes
00:16:54 should they be taking to start with oh
00:16:56 one of the one of the nice things is
00:16:58 Palo Alto in each of our colleges within
00:17:01 the system have a Welcome Center so they
00:17:03 can go by they can talk with an advisor
00:17:06 as part of that and connect with them be
00:17:09 able to talk about the areas that
00:17:10 they're interested in what are the
00:17:12 degrees or certificates that are
00:17:14 available or are there workforce
00:17:16 training experiences that they can
00:17:17 pursue as part of that one of the nice
00:17:20 things that we've done is actually they
00:17:22 then once they enroll are linked with an
00:17:26 advisor all the way until they graduate
00:17:28 so from their first until their final
00:17:30 semester they have the same academic
00:17:32 advisor who knows them develops a
00:17:34 relationship with them can provide them
00:17:37 with academic advice career assistance
00:17:41 link them to opportunities in the
00:17:43 community
00:17:44 and then also provide them with the
00:17:46 route to transfer or to assist in
00:17:48 placement so that system is called Alamo
00:17:51 advised and so they can link up with
00:17:54 their academic advisor that will work in
00:17:56 tandem with them to prompt them and
00:17:59 ensure that they're able and they're on
00:18:00 the right track and that's if you wanted
00:18:03 to talk with one of those folks if they
00:18:04 went to Alamo dot ed U on the website
00:18:06 there they can go to the Alamo advised
00:18:08 there'll be a link they can find yes
00:18:10 exactly so and they'll be able to assist
00:18:12 them and answering any questions prompt
00:18:15 them and ensure they're headed in the
00:18:18 right direction
00:18:18 yeah now well as you hear associate's
00:18:22 degrees talked about as a two-year
00:18:23 degree right is there any requirement to
00:18:25 get done in two years no no so that's
00:18:28 the that's the other nice thing we would
00:18:30 like them to be able to be on a path and
00:18:35 take the courses that they need to be
00:18:38 able to graduate but that could occur in
00:18:40 one year for an associate's degree and
00:18:42 that could occur in three or four years
00:18:45 as part of that especially for part-time
00:18:47 students so for us about 70% of our
00:18:50 students are part-time in Palo Alto and
00:18:52 actually district-wide so we want to
00:18:56 just ensure that they're taking the
00:18:57 courses that they need to graduate as we
00:18:59 talked earlier that can be coming on to
00:19:02 the campus and in many ways that could
00:19:04 be after the kids are asleep and you're
00:19:07 you know interacting you pull up the
00:19:09 class on your device through the content
00:19:12 management system and you're working on
00:19:14 that to be able to finish the course as
00:19:16 part of a discussion board or looking at
00:19:18 online resources so for students if they
00:19:22 took some advanced placement courses in
00:19:25 high school do do those count towards
00:19:28 helping them get through what they need
00:19:31 to at the Alamo colleges they do so if
00:19:33 they have taken advanced placement
00:19:35 courses we'll look at that credit if
00:19:37 they earned the right number right a 4
00:19:40 or 5 then we'll go ahead and do that
00:19:41 we'll accept those courses if they
00:19:44 actually clap so students can clap the
00:19:48 acronym right they can go ahead and take
00:19:51 a test that measures their competence in
00:19:55 that area we'll take those courses we
00:19:57 a lot of students had come in with
00:19:59 transfer credit we'll evaluate that that
00:20:02 could be from CCA F Community College of
00:20:04 the airforce we'll go ahead and review
00:20:06 the courses on their transcript we'll
00:20:09 transcript those count those towards a
00:20:11 certificate or degree so I think the
00:20:13 wonderful thing is actually looking at
00:20:16 what students are coming in with the
00:20:19 skill set or specific credentials and
00:20:22 then that being aligned to our system
00:20:25 recognizing the value of that experience
00:20:28 and then getting them on the way to a
00:20:30 certificate or degree that we can then
00:20:33 give them as part of that process so you
00:20:37 know we were looking at how can we be
00:20:39 competitive as a community we actually
00:20:41 have over three hundred thousand
00:20:44 individuals over 18 that have college
00:20:49 credits and so the city has an
00:20:51 initiative called upgrade business and
00:20:54 industry partners are part of that and
00:20:56 so what we're seeking to do is also
00:20:57 encourage them to come in so we can go
00:21:00 ahead and transcribe that credit and get
00:21:03 them on their way towards a certificate
00:21:05 or associate's degree so I think we've
00:21:07 learned a lot from industry in
00:21:08 particular IT specifically is how can we
00:21:12 recognize a skill set that folks have
00:21:15 how can we give them credit for that and
00:21:18 get them on their way towards a
00:21:21 credential yeah and so as you mentioned
00:21:25 it's the 300,000 with some credit so
00:21:28 they could have started at a four-year
00:21:29 school somewhere else
00:21:31 eventually they they maybe did they
00:21:32 didn't graduate with an associates or
00:21:34 bachelors out of that four-year
00:21:36 institution they moved here to San
00:21:38 Antonio they started working and so
00:21:41 those folks also eligible to transfer in
00:21:43 potentially some of those credits from
00:21:45 back when they may have gone to a year
00:21:47 or year and a half of school before as
00:21:48 well
00:21:49 yeah most definitely so we want them to
00:21:52 they can come to Palo Alto they can come
00:21:54 to any one of the Alamo colleges bring
00:21:56 their transcript or at least in
00:21:58 an idea of the courses that they took
00:22:01 and then it can be requested and to
00:22:03 ensure that they meet with the advisor
00:22:05 to evaluate all those credits so that's
00:22:07 what's most important as well is being
00:22:09 able to recognize what folks have done
00:22:13 and to get them on their way and Pat
00:22:15 them towards a credential so over three
00:22:18 hundred thousand folks we want to
00:22:20 recognize them for that talent in that
00:22:22 time investment and hopefully get them
00:22:25 aligned with one of those sectors
00:22:27 whether it's IT or advanced
00:22:29 manufacturing business or even
00:22:31 healthcare and being able to do that so
00:22:35 and as we go through and and so you have
00:22:38 these folks on the way if they wanted to
00:22:41 go from that Associates Program at Alamo
00:22:43 yes how do you work with all of our
00:22:45 four-year institutes in the area to
00:22:48 transfer in there and then get folks on
00:22:50 their way to a bachelor's or master's
00:22:52 degree program yeah one of the one of
00:22:54 the nice things too is that what we're
00:22:56 looking at doing is ensuring that
00:22:58 students take the courses that they need
00:23:00 to graduate with their associate's
00:23:02 degree and that they're on the road to
00:23:04 transfer so the academic advisor in
00:23:07 their first semester will actually talk
00:23:09 to them about the courses that they need
00:23:11 what they want to do and where they want
00:23:13 to go we'll pull out then the degree map
00:23:17 it's part of that and then look at
00:23:19 exactly what's going to transfer if
00:23:21 they're going to one of our privates
00:23:22 more than likely they're going to one of
00:23:24 our large regional public institutions
00:23:27 whether that's Texas A&M San Antonio UT
00:23:30 San Antonio or in some cases Texas State
00:23:32 University and ensure that all of those
00:23:35 courses are going to transfer for us
00:23:38 it's called pathing or a pathway we call
00:23:40 it Alamo institutes and we have a
00:23:43 transfer compact with each of the
00:23:46 institutions of publics and the privates
00:23:48 within the city which is most important
00:23:50 so this has been really a citywide and
00:23:53 regional conversation about ensuring
00:23:56 that the courses and the time invested
00:23:58 and the money that individuals have
00:24:01 invested that it's worthwhile with us an
00:24:04 insurable transfer to a universe
00:24:06 and so if you're looking at more than a
00:24:09 two-year degree when you sit down with
00:24:11 that advisor let them know ahead of time
00:24:13 so that you're having the right
00:24:15 direction to that bachelor's or master's
00:24:17 degree most definitely yeah so you're
00:24:20 listening to cyber talk radio on 1200 w
00:24:23 ai we're going to break at the bottom of
00:24:25 the hour here for some news traffic and
00:24:27 weather and I will be back with dr. Mike
00:24:29 Flores where we will talk about some of
00:24:31 the specific classes and what you can
00:24:34 learn a hearing our Alamo area colleges
00:24:37 and specifically down at Palo Alto
00:24:39 college where he is president of the
00:24:42 college welcome back to cyber talk radio
00:25:06 I'm your host Bret Pyatt a 20-year
00:25:09 internet security veteran joined this
00:25:11 week by dr. Mike Flores the president of
00:25:13 Palo Alto college if you just happen to
00:25:15 be joining us after that news traffic
00:25:17 and weather update
00:25:18 you can listen to the rebroadcast of
00:25:21 this episode in all of our episodes on
00:25:23 our website at wwlp.com as well as on
00:25:27 itunes podcasts pocket cast for your
00:25:30 Android device or on a youtube channel
00:25:32 if you happen to like to look at a photo
00:25:35 of the two of us there we do not record
00:25:37 live video we do a nice still shot with
00:25:41 the audio in the background which still
00:25:43 in recently enough gets a good amount of
00:25:44 folks on YouTube hanging out for 50
00:25:46 minutes I would not necessarily think so
00:25:48 but I guess with the YouTube app these
00:25:50 days you can run it in the background on
00:25:51 your phone a lot of folks listen to
00:25:53 music on there so it's been worth it for
00:25:55 us to even put the content out on
00:25:57 YouTube is one of those different
00:25:58 distribution channels but we the covered
00:26:01 kind of a big broad swath across Alamo
00:26:04 colleges in Palo Alto college before the
00:26:08 bottom of the hour break there we had
00:26:10 talked to listeners and said we were
00:26:11 going to dive into some of the specific
00:26:13 courses and associate's degree programs
00:26:17 that you can obtain at Palo Alto so go
00:26:20 ahead and uh
00:26:21 sher for our listeners one of those
00:26:23 different programs that folks will
00:26:24 enroll in on your campus
00:26:26 sure Brett well we have 23 different
00:26:30 degrees associate degrees and then close
00:26:33 to 40 different certificates the vast
00:26:35 majority of our students are going to
00:26:37 pursue an associate's degree for
00:26:40 transfer so that's either an Associate
00:26:42 of Arts degree and that or that could be
00:26:44 an Associate of Science degree but we
00:26:47 have specific associate of Applied
00:26:49 Science degrees which are geared towards
00:26:51 being in the workforce so that's in
00:26:54 advanced manufacturing which we've had
00:26:56 for the last few years that's also in
00:26:58 logistics that could be in business that
00:27:02 actually could also be in IT so when
00:27:07 looking at that in which we have both
00:27:09 certificates that are stackable where we
00:27:11 have either a Tier one certificate which
00:27:14 could be one semester to semester
00:27:16 venture or a tier two certificate that
00:27:20 gets you the opportunity to have the
00:27:23 next level credential leading to an
00:27:24 associate's degree and the beauty
00:27:26 whether it's an IT or another area of a
00:27:29 certificate is that they're stackable
00:27:31 it's like a career ladder in a sense and
00:27:35 allows a student to go ahead and earn
00:27:37 that credential perhaps go into the
00:27:39 workforce and to pursue that as their
00:27:42 full-time venture for a period of time
00:27:44 and then come back once again to Palo
00:27:47 Alto or one of the Alamo colleges to
00:27:49 take more courses towards the next
00:27:51 credential so that has a lot of value
00:27:54 with on ramps and off ramps for people
00:27:57 to be able to do that so really it is
00:28:01 looking at the different types of
00:28:03 certificates associate degrees whether
00:28:05 that's for transfer or whether that's
00:28:08 directly into the workforce the beauty
00:28:10 of the associate of Applied Science as
00:28:12 well is that all of those courses also
00:28:15 transfer to a university so a student
00:28:18 can get an associate of Applied Science
00:28:20 and computer information systems they
00:28:22 can transfer down the street to A&M San
00:28:25 Antonio or perhaps go to a little
00:28:27 further to UT San Antonio or Texas State
00:28:29 they can seek to do that even in
00:28:31 advanced manufacturing or logistics and
00:28:34 so all of those credits are going to
00:28:36 transfer in some cases students could
00:28:39 even be with us for three years save a
00:28:42 lot of money we were talking about the
00:28:45 cost of education earlier and then take
00:28:47 their final year at the university so
00:28:49 one of the things is looking at we have
00:28:51 what are called two plus twos pathing
00:28:53 the student looking at the courses they
00:28:55 need for their associate's degree most
00:28:57 importantly if they're seeking a
00:28:58 transfer further bachelor's degree and
00:29:00 we also have three plus ones so they can
00:29:04 do three years with us actually spend an
00:29:07 average of about six thousand dollars
00:29:10 for one year of higher education and
00:29:13 then as part of that then look at just
00:29:16 their senior year at at a university
00:29:18 yeah
00:29:19 so there's a wide world of options for
00:29:22 folks looking at credentials that are
00:29:24 stackable and then ensuring in in all
00:29:28 cases that they can transfer to
00:29:31 university for their bachelor's degree
00:29:33 yeah
00:29:34 so with that three plus one program they
00:29:36 excuses if I can't afford to go to
00:29:38 college pretty much go away and if
00:29:41 you're you're you're working hard from a
00:29:44 loan or grant perspective being able to
00:29:48 get through and afford the addition of
00:29:50 school you may not be buying a new
00:29:52 iPhone every 12 months but if you you
00:29:54 took that money and spent the thousand
00:29:56 dollars on your education instead of on
00:29:57 an iPhone X then the excuses start to
00:30:01 drop off pretty quick they're on the
00:30:02 cost of school with the programs that
00:30:04 you all have put in place yeah just to
00:30:06 underscore that Brent so just looking at
00:30:09 all the different options the relatively
00:30:10 low cost of Education for folks going to
00:30:15 Palo Alto or one of the Alamo colleges
00:30:17 we also have two things one is a
00:30:20 guarantee if you're going to take
00:30:21 courses in the fall in the spring you
00:30:24 actually will get one or two courses for
00:30:27 free in the summer that's throughout the
00:30:29 Alamo colleges District we also have
00:30:31 what we call now open educational
00:30:33 resources in which faculty have
00:30:36 carefully selected the online text
00:30:39 essays or other instructional materials
00:30:42 that they're going to use and in many
00:30:44 cases those are free or nominal cost and
00:30:47 will save you from buying
00:30:48 hardcopy text for our students last year
00:30:51 we saved over a million dollars through
00:30:53 open educational resources or if you
00:30:57 started a little earlier you could in
00:30:59 fact be one of those early college high
00:31:00 school students or perhaps a student at
00:31:03 Cass Tech that just opened or a student
00:31:06 at cast M that's gonna open next year
00:31:08 Palo Alto in which you would have close
00:31:11 to two years of higher education under
00:31:13 your belt as an eighteen year old and so
00:31:17 there are multiple ways in which we're
00:31:19 seeking to lower the cost of higher
00:31:21 education to make sure that those
00:31:23 courses count make sure that they
00:31:25 transfer and to save both our students
00:31:28 and perhaps their parents or in some
00:31:31 cases actually ensure that the parents
00:31:34 can afford higher education for their
00:31:36 children if they're one of our students
00:31:38 yeah and we were talking about during
00:31:39 the break a little bit is that now with
00:31:41 the rising cost of higher education
00:31:44 overall that many of the parents in
00:31:47 their 40s and 50s potentially could
00:31:48 still have loans today which make it
00:31:50 difficult for them to co-sign on loans
00:31:53 for their children we're back I think
00:31:56 when we went to school our parents if
00:31:58 they even took out loans those loans are
00:32:00 paid off long before we were adults
00:32:01 right if you just statewide for
00:32:05 community colleges the average loan or
00:32:08 student loan debt burden is about
00:32:10 seventeen thousand five students
00:32:12 graduate from a public university owing
00:32:14 double that in alamo it's about thirteen
00:32:18 and so what we want to do is continue to
00:32:20 drive that student loan burden down to
00:32:23 ensure then that when students graduate
00:32:25 that they or their family members have
00:32:27 that capital that they can then use for
00:32:29 other things if they want to buy a house
00:32:32 if they want to start a business if they
00:32:34 want to invest in something that they
00:32:35 have that capital available for them to
00:32:38 utilize in a different manner ya know
00:32:41 it's great to see all the innovation
00:32:43 going on there is so because education
00:32:46 on the innovation side is both about the
00:32:49 access to it been with the online the
00:32:51 offline all of that but without access
00:32:54 and affordability it doesn't matter if
00:32:55 you guys are teaching the most
00:32:56 cutting-edge stuff in the classroom if
00:32:58 no one is able to go in there and get
00:32:59 involved in it from the industry
00:33:02 perspective you mentioned the cast
00:33:04 schools and you'll be working with the
00:33:06 cast em that'll be down near your campus
00:33:08 and then we've got a large advanced
00:33:10 manufacturing facility down near your
00:33:12 your campus as well how are you involved
00:33:14 with those folks so we've actually I had
00:33:17 mentioned earlier advanced manufacturing
00:33:20 degree that we have and so Toyota's
00:33:23 celebrated over ten years of being in
00:33:26 South San Antonio and Barrett County
00:33:27 originally we were one of the testing
00:33:30 sites as they were getting ready to hire
00:33:31 their talent when the plant was coming
00:33:34 online we've continued that relationship
00:33:36 working with manufacturers like Toyota
00:33:39 or others in the area Cass stem is part
00:33:42 of that so they have been a lead
00:33:44 industry partner for the establishment
00:33:47 of the school we're really pleased
00:33:49 working with Southwest Independent
00:33:51 School District ourselves students and
00:33:54 we'll have the first class in August of
00:33:58 next year
00:33:58 close to 200 students not only coming
00:34:01 from South Barrett County but from
00:34:03 throughout our area being able to go and
00:34:07 major in certificate in advanced
00:34:12 manufacturing engineering global
00:34:15 logistics business and energy and so I
00:34:18 think the power of cast is really at
00:34:20 being industry led looking at the
00:34:23 experience of Cass Tech and ensuring
00:34:26 that students are not only able to
00:34:27 connect with faculty in the classroom
00:34:29 but most importantly able to connect
00:34:31 with industry leaders like yourself Bret
00:34:33 in particular fields that are going to
00:34:35 ensure then that our community is
00:34:38 competitive and that we get those
00:34:39 students early on so that they're able
00:34:42 to spend their time in those specific
00:34:45 industries yeah the cast program for
00:34:48 those that have not heard about it if
00:34:50 you go online see AST tech te CH that
00:34:54 one's open up and running an SI ISD it's
00:34:57 the first class of freshmen are in there
00:34:59 this year you can learn much more about
00:35:02 the whole cast program overall which is
00:35:05 really spearheaded by h-e-b and the
00:35:07 Holsworth foundation there is the lead
00:35:10 on it
00:35:11 working with SAS D and then now
00:35:13 Southwest on cast stem and
00:35:15 more of the cast schools to comma I
00:35:18 think in the future here as they look at
00:35:19 how do we change high school education
00:35:22 in America which then can ultimately
00:35:24 transform college along the way as well
00:35:27 I mean getting these kids to where
00:35:29 they're taking college courses at sac
00:35:33 campus here with a cast Tech is on the
00:35:35 Fox Tech High School campus within
00:35:37 walking distance of the San Antonio
00:35:39 College campus downtown you'll have cast
00:35:41 stem working with palo alto and these
00:35:44 kids potentially getting out into
00:35:45 internships their senior year of high
00:35:47 school so now collaborating with
00:35:49 industry and seeing what's going on out
00:35:51 there directly not just on a field trip
00:35:53 but in actual work roles as a high
00:35:57 school student to then decide and really
00:36:01 help them make the correct decision of
00:36:03 do you want to do this or not I know a
00:36:07 friend
00:36:07 Lorenzo Gomez he's written a book
00:36:09 recently here's cilantro Diaries and in
00:36:11 there he talks about going to Health
00:36:12 Careers high school here in San Antonio
00:36:14 years ago and finding out because
00:36:16 they've had internships and things with
00:36:18 that program as well and he found out
00:36:20 real quickly he did not want to have a
00:36:22 career in the health field anymore and
00:36:24 saved him
00:36:25 potentially making a big mistake of
00:36:27 going and getting a biology degree as an
00:36:29 undergrad and because when you're going
00:36:31 to college and biology there you don't
00:36:33 really experience working in the health
00:36:35 career field until you get it actually
00:36:36 into medical school and maybe even into
00:36:38 your first year residency here like wow
00:36:40 this is really not what I wanted to go
00:36:41 do that's a long way to go rewind back
00:36:44 on your education after that yeah so
00:36:47 that's important that we give students
00:36:48 this experience early on that they're
00:36:51 able to endure look at the curriculum
00:36:53 but most importantly have an internship
00:36:55 or a co-op and talk with industry
00:36:57 leaders in those fields and so that's
00:37:00 what we're seeking to do with cast in
00:37:02 many ways we do that with our Early
00:37:04 College High Schools and we seek to do
00:37:06 that with our students if there are on
00:37:08 campus and perhaps our 18 plus right it
00:37:11 is ensuring that they are looking at the
00:37:13 field that they're interested in
00:37:14 engaging with faculty interviewing with
00:37:18 folks in the industry so that they are
00:37:20 pursuing their passion yeah and so in
00:37:23 those advanced manufacturing courses as
00:37:26 you've rolled those programs out over
00:37:27 the last decade
00:37:29 what type of labs and equipment to the
00:37:33 students actually interact with their on
00:37:35 campus as these things that are academic
00:37:37 only are these actual advanced
00:37:39 manufacturing things that would get used
00:37:41 out in the private sector
00:37:42 yeah they what we seek to do overall is
00:37:45 what I call praxis right that blend
00:37:48 between theory and application and so in
00:37:51 manufacturing in particular what is
00:37:53 simulated is exactly what they may see
00:37:56 on a plant floor is ensuring that it's a
00:38:01 similar type of experience as many ways
00:38:04 as we can replicate that experience with
00:38:06 similar equipment and in many ways
00:38:11 ensuring that through those case studies
00:38:13 they're able to know what it feels like
00:38:16 and then also taking them on to the
00:38:19 actual floor with that industry partner
00:38:22 as part of that so if you were to come
00:38:24 into any one of our labs that's what you
00:38:27 would see one of the other things that
00:38:28 we're seeking to do is learning from
00:38:30 advanced manufacturing IT and other
00:38:33 fields is actually simulating those
00:38:36 experiences in other areas yeah well
00:38:40 those students in IT over the next few
00:38:44 years if you haven't enrolled now you
00:38:45 may want to go ahead you can get that
00:38:47 job as an intern there in the Alamo
00:38:50 colleges system you're gonna get to
00:38:51 handle a large-scale migration project
00:38:53 or be part of one because I've read in
00:38:56 the papers here that Alamo colleges is
00:38:57 moving the headquarters over to a spot
00:39:00 by government Hill yeah you're that's
00:39:03 exactly right so they'd be able to do
00:39:05 that and I think one of the nice things
00:39:06 about IT is there's constant change so
00:39:09 just looking at all the different
00:39:10 systems that our students get to
00:39:12 interact with right so our learning
00:39:15 management or content management system
00:39:17 what they have to do that our students
00:39:20 do that that and back-of-the-house are
00:39:22 behind the scenes that we also support
00:39:25 that or if you're going to migrate
00:39:26 physically from one area to another are
00:39:29 you gonna create another IT center what
00:39:31 are you going to do to ensure that
00:39:34 everything is protected and that it's
00:39:36 seamless for us in front of the house no
00:39:39 longer do you have to map out
00:39:41 your course to run around campus for
00:39:43 class enrollment back in Linna I was in
00:39:46 school we would look at the enrollment
00:39:48 morning it's like enrollment started at
00:39:50 9:00 a.m. or whatever on campus and you
00:39:52 had to run around to each different
00:39:53 Department building and stand in line to
00:39:55 be able to get into the the courses you
00:39:57 wanted and we being a math nerd we would
00:40:00 try to map out shortest paths and we
00:40:01 would try to to model and forecast which
00:40:04 classes we're gonna fill up and then how
00:40:05 do you get to those those days are long
00:40:07 gone they they are long gone I remember
00:40:10 the days as an undergrad just calling on
00:40:12 the phone right I'm able to press those
00:40:14 numbers to register in those particular
00:40:16 courses through an automated system I
00:40:18 think one of the nice things is the
00:40:20 convenience of ensuring that students
00:40:22 can register not only through their
00:40:24 desktop that their device as part of
00:40:27 that is also utilizing technology so
00:40:30 that we can see how students are doing
00:40:32 whether that's a faculty member
00:40:34 submitting an early alert whether that
00:40:37 students engaging in an online study
00:40:39 group or discussion board so what are
00:40:41 the ways that we can leverage technology
00:40:43 to be more effective in supporting our
00:40:46 students to be successful yeah
00:40:48 and for the the classes as you have a
00:40:52 mix of different course types of
00:40:55 lectures versus labs
00:40:57 what will the should a student plan on
00:41:00 experiencing there where it's either
00:41:01 gonna be a virtual lab online or a
00:41:03 hands-on lab in a facility I think the
00:41:07 the answer would be really underscoring
00:41:11 the value of providing that experience
00:41:13 for students so in many ways instruction
00:41:15 has evolved beyond just the lecture
00:41:19 format so that we have faculty members
00:41:22 actually providing the readings many of
00:41:25 them ahead of time whether that's on a
00:41:27 hardcopy or whether that's online and
00:41:29 actually facilitating utilizing the
00:41:32 class period then for discussion or -
00:41:36 for guest speakers whether that's on
00:41:38 campus or ensuring an off-campus
00:41:41 experience and then that practice again
00:41:44 right that theory and then that
00:41:45 application or perhaps that's going to
00:41:49 be in a lab setting that could be in a
00:41:51 computer lab on a device that actually
00:41:54 could be
00:41:55 off campus in a particular lab I think
00:41:58 all of those things tie in nicely and it
00:42:01 varies that could be in English if you
00:42:05 are perhaps working with a nonprofit
00:42:07 organization to do their newsletter our
00:42:10 teacher education students actually go
00:42:13 out into neighborhood schools on Fridays
00:42:16 when we don't have class to be able to
00:42:18 go through and deliver and instruct
00:42:21 modules and interact with students
00:42:23 advanced manufacturing which we talked
00:42:25 about earlier whether that's the lab on
00:42:27 campus or then going on site to an
00:42:29 industry partner all of those are
00:42:32 examples in ways in which we want
00:42:34 students to ensure that they're
00:42:37 successful in a course if their courses
00:42:40 in their major that they are pursuing
00:42:42 something that they're interested in you
00:42:44 mentioned Lorenzo earlier right and I
00:42:46 think a lot of us we look to nish 'le at
00:42:48 things that we may have been interested
00:42:50 in and then we took a specific course or
00:42:52 pursued a specific path in which early
00:42:55 on we decided you know what I need to
00:42:57 veer off into another direction or
00:43:00 course-correct because this may be an
00:43:02 area that I want to pursue instead of
00:43:05 that and so that's what we want students
00:43:07 to do is be engaged in their in their
00:43:09 program but also have those
00:43:12 conversations or experiences in which
00:43:14 they're able to determine this is going
00:43:16 to be their passion so as you're looking
00:43:19 at the the growth and trying to help
00:43:23 guide through your advisory process
00:43:24 students into places where there are
00:43:27 jobs and careers but here locally in San
00:43:29 Antonio what are the kind of career
00:43:32 prospects for these the kids that are
00:43:34 coming through the programs that you
00:43:36 guys have today well I think if they're
00:43:38 looking at specific fields one we're in
00:43:40 a high growth area and we're fortunate
00:43:42 to be in San Antonio with the economic
00:43:44 development strategy that we have as
00:43:47 part of that if they're NIT you
00:43:49 mentioned that earlier breadth and as
00:43:52 long as they have the skillset and they
00:43:54 have had the experience as an
00:43:55 undergraduate student or have those
00:43:57 certifications they should be successful
00:43:59 if we look at teacher education in
00:44:01 particular you know we're supplying one
00:44:03 teacher for every three openings in our
00:44:05 area and so that's another area
00:44:08 high growth advanced manufacturing we
00:44:11 know that's another sector that were
00:44:12 involved in ite obviously one thing that
00:44:17 we know and that we're moving into is
00:44:20 also healthcare so healthcare is another
00:44:22 one of our five economic drivers and so
00:44:25 that's an area that we ventured into we
00:44:28 have a Healthcare Administration degree
00:44:30 that will be unveiled and have its first
00:44:33 students in August as part of that we
00:44:36 will we're pursuing nursing working with
00:44:39 one of our sister colleges with San
00:44:41 Antonio College as part of that and then
00:44:44 we're also going to begin a dental
00:44:46 hygiene program that's an associate's
00:44:49 degree program for us that pays a medium
00:44:52 wage of $70,000 and dental hygienists
00:44:55 are in demand so if we look at those
00:44:58 areas it is looking at the five drivers
00:45:01 for us that we've decided as a community
00:45:04 we want to provide talent for we want to
00:45:07 bring industry in those areas in and so
00:45:10 for Palo Alto and I think for many of
00:45:13 our sister colleges and the Alamo
00:45:14 colleges District we want to ensure that
00:45:16 we provide students and community
00:45:19 members with opportunities to get a
00:45:21 certificate or an associate's degree in
00:45:23 those fields and from a faculty
00:45:26 perspective if do you have any job
00:45:29 openings yourself you you may be looking
00:45:30 to fill we do in fact we have a job
00:45:33 openings both in areas as in the
00:45:36 sciences those are high demand and so
00:45:39 we're looking for folks if you're a
00:45:41 biologist or a chemist we're looking for
00:45:44 engineering faculty we're looking for
00:45:46 faculty and health care administration
00:45:48 and then we're actually looking for a
00:45:51 faculty member and microbrewing so
00:45:54 Brewery and operations so that's a new
00:45:56 program that we're gonna start in August
00:45:58 as well so if you're interested please
00:46:00 go to Alamo dot edu as part of that you
00:46:03 can go to any one of the colleges to
00:46:06 look for positions you can go to Alamo
00:46:09 dot edu backslash Palo Alto and we have
00:46:12 opportunities for folks as well and we'd
00:46:14 welcome them folks with industry
00:46:17 experience that have been out in the
00:46:18 field perhaps you're looking for their
00:46:20 second third or fourth career
00:46:22 we would want them in the classroom
00:46:24 because we want students to learn from
00:46:25 the experience they've had yeah and all
00:46:28 of your faculty full-time are some of
00:46:30 them part-time as well
00:46:32 we have full-time and part-time faculty
00:46:34 as part of that we do have faculty
00:46:38 members that have been adjuncts or
00:46:40 part-timers that have been with us for
00:46:42 years and it is really having that
00:46:45 experience outside of the workplace
00:46:47 interacting with students that keeps
00:46:50 them coming back and also that our
00:46:52 students really enjoy the other part
00:46:54 really is that what we've learned is we
00:46:56 know that that students don't come to
00:46:59 has come to us discreetly just wanting
00:47:02 to learn we know that they have other
00:47:05 challenges in their lives and so that's
00:47:09 why we have them teamed with an academic
00:47:11 advisor so that they can ensure that
00:47:14 time on task is invested wisely that
00:47:17 they're working with them in tandem with
00:47:18 faculty members we also actually are
00:47:21 providing because we know students have
00:47:23 challenges with actually food clothing
00:47:29 health care all of those things so we
00:47:31 have an on-campus Resource Center in
00:47:34 which that's not our wheelhouse in which
00:47:36 we've teamed with community-based
00:47:38 organizations to deliver resources to
00:47:41 our students so if they are food
00:47:43 insecure they can we've teamed with the
00:47:46 San Antonio Food Bank in which we have a
00:47:48 food pantry on campus if they need
00:47:51 clothes for an interview for an
00:47:53 internship or a co-op we have a career
00:47:55 clothes closet and we've teamed up with
00:47:57 Goodwill for that if they need access to
00:48:01 resources we actually have an emergency
00:48:03 loan I remember is an undergrad that I
00:48:06 need an emergency loan for a period of
00:48:08 time at ut-austin
00:48:10 until a check came in and so what we
00:48:13 want to do is provide our students with
00:48:15 the same opportunity so they can get
00:48:18 anywhere from three to five hundred
00:48:20 dollars that they have to pay back so
00:48:22 that that in turn can ensure we loan it
00:48:24 out to other students if they have
00:48:26 problems with rent utilities perhaps our
00:48:28 car broke down or something else so all
00:48:31 of those resources are available to stew
00:48:34 on campus at Palo Alto as part of that
00:48:38 because what we want to do is ensure
00:48:40 that they're able to spend the time
00:48:43 focused on their studies and on their
00:48:46 degree so that they can be successful
00:48:48 they can come out they can interview
00:48:50 talk with folks whether that's an IT or
00:48:53 another sector in our community
00:48:54 yeah and that's how you get the industry
00:48:57 best graduation yes they're all of those
00:49:00 types of things that can derail someone
00:49:02 you guys are helping knock those off the
00:49:05 list and appreciate all the work that
00:49:07 you do and what do you guys have been
00:49:10 able to build at the last 20 years so
00:49:11 you've been down with Palo Alto here and
00:49:14 the south side of San Antonio thank you
00:49:16 for joining us this week and if you're
00:49:18 just turned on the radio dial right now
00:49:20 this is cyber talk radio we're talking
00:49:22 about education here in San Antonio and
00:49:25 through the colleges and specifically
00:49:26 Palo Alto college you can listen to the
00:49:29 rebroadcast of this episode on Tuesday
00:49:31 it'll come up online on our website at
00:49:33 WWF talk radio calm
00:49:48 you