How one college became a CCIC finalist twice

Coalinga College student Salvador Ovalles explains his team’s Community College Innovation Challenge project to congressional staff and other stakeholders during a poster session on Capitol Hill last summer. (All photos: EPNAC.com)

Coalinga College chemistry professor Kenneth Henry enjoys a rare distinction. He is the only community college faculty member to have mentored two teams selected for the finalist round of the Community College Challenge (CCIC) in consecutive years.

In 2023 and 2024, projects developed by two different groups of Coalinga College students who were taking Henry’s full-year general chemistry course were selected as one of 12 CCIC finalist teams.

The national competition is led by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF).

A one-hour “Why Your Students Should Apply?” information session with AACC staff and CCIC mentors is scheduled for February 6, at 2:30 pm EST. Register here.

The competition awards up to $3,000 per team member to the top team and lesser amounts to the second- and third-place team members.

The competition covers the expenses of all finalist team members and their coaches to travel to Washington, D.C., for a four-day experience that includes an innovation boot camp, where students receive coaching designed to build strategic communication and entrepreneurial skills; a student innovation session, where participants share their innovative ideas with STEM leaders and congressional stakeholders; and a pitch presentation in front of a panel of industry professionals.

Student team applications are due April 3. See the CCIC website for details about the written application and video pitch requirements. Check out a video on CCIC.

Secret to Coalinga’s repeat

Henry attributes his students advancing to the CCIC finalist rounds two years in a row to the academic competition providing an appealing venue for his rural students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), and Coalinga’s math-strengthening initiatives.  

It should also be noted that Henry incorporates the competition’s use of scientific methods to solve contemporary problems into his general chemistry course.

“There are a lot of students that are pretty excited about STEM, but there aren’t a lot of opportunities for STEM in this area,” Henry said in an interview. “It’s very rural, very agricultural base, and they don’t see the direct ties in terms of the industries that are there, although there are ties. But they’re not visualizing those ties.”

The Coalinga College team members who participated in the finalist round of the 2024 CICC were (from left) Jose Davila, chemistry professor Kenneth Henry, Salvador Ovalles, Adam Ovalles and Arely Garcia.

“So a lot of times they don’t have the skills to come in initially, or they believe they don’t have the skills, and so one of the things that our college has done a pretty good job on is by trying to get those math skills established,” he continued. “We have a MESA [Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement] program on our campus, and then we’ve had tutors lined up, the math center established, which is really rare for institutions like ours because it’s so small.”

“And so I think part of it has been that we’ve kind of started working out those obstacles on our institution and then also within our program, within the chem program. I get them started pretty early about thinking about the project, and I build a project into the curriculum itself.”

Leveraging resources

Henry was Coalinga’s only full-time chemistry professor until last fall; he taught students at the West Hills campus and at the college’s Firebaugh Center, about 70 minutes away across the San Joaquin Valley in central California.  

Coalinga administrators have “been creative in terms of allowing those classes to run because they’re not full. And so we’ve gone to a hybrid system to some extent,” Henry said, explaining the blend of in-person labs and some in-person lectures and online lectures.

New concepts are introduced during each week’s three hours of lectures. Labs are divided into three hours devoted to hands-on learning related to the new concept, and the remaining three hours are dedicated to the students applying the concept to their CCIC projects.

“So each of the labs that they’re doing is sort of tying in,” Henry said.

New experiences for students

Coalinga’s 2023 finalist team pitched a chromium battery containing nickel sulfamate and barium as an electric batter alternative for gasoline-powered motors. The 2024 team proposed switching from lithium to calcium batteries to improve cost-effectiveness, safety and battery performance.  

Aside from imparting knowledge and engaging students’ with contemporary issues, Henry thinks using the CCIC in his curriculum boosts students’ confidence in their skills and potential.

Adam Ovalles and his team members listen to advice from a panel of industry professionals at CCIC.

But even with two Coalinga teams being finalists, Henry said it was “starting from scratch” in fall 2024 when he talked with students about developing projects to pitch for the CCIC this spring.

He explained that most of his students have not thought of themselves as scientists until he presents this opportunity. They have also not had science teachers who required them to do hands-on lab tasks; many have only watched an instructor demonstrate concepts.

“So that’s also a unique experience for them as well,” Henry said.

Tapping previous CCIC members

Henry was a senior research scientist in industry prior to joining Coalinga’s faculty. He earned a Ph.D. in genetics from Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Henry not only shares his career experiences with students to broaden their horizons, he has Coalinga CCIC finalists talk to the students about their experiences at the competition and the four-year institutions many of them are now attending.

Henry describes the student outcomes from using the CCIC in his general chemistry curriculum this way: At the beginning of the first semester “they’re insecure about their potential. But their growth is exponential because they’re getting that opportunity to start applying it. And then they also get more engaged the more that they get their hands on things and the opportunities work with it.”

About the Author

Madeline Patton
Madeline Patton is an education writer based in Ohio.
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