Two of the scholarship winners, Joel Escobedo and Rubi Diaz

Del Valle High School graduates Maricruz Salazar, Joel Escobedo, and Rubi Diaz are the 2010 recipients of the new Del Valle Performing Arts and Academic Collaborative Scholarship, a joint effort of the Austin Community College Foundation, Austin Community College’s Latino/Latin American Studies Center (“El Centro”), UT Texas Performing Arts, and Del Valle High School. Each recipient, who graduated in late May, received a $1,000 ACC scholarship at Del Valle’s recent scholarships and awards ceremony.

The scholarship is a by-product of Texas Performing Arts’ Performing Arts and Academic Collaborative (PAAC), a multi-year, interdisciplinary program that integrates artistic performances with the middle and high school English curriculum in Del Valle ISD. The scholarship assists incoming ACC freshmen from Del Valle High School with tuition, fees, and books.

Scholarship application criteria included an essay focusing on the applicant’s experience with PAAC over the last four years. A committee that included representatives from Texas Performing Arts, ACC’s El Centro, and National Instruments (PAAC Sponsor) reviewed the essays submitted by Del Valle seniors.

“Through our collaboration with ACC, we’re thrilled to offer these three scholarships to graduating Del Valle students,” says Brenda Simms, coordinator of Education and Curriculum Development at Texas Performing Arts. “Over the past four years, Del Valle Language Arts teachers integrated reading, writing, and speaking lessons related to each of the three annual performances. The final essay assignment allowed students to demonstrate their growth in writing skills while articulating their feelings about the value of these experiences with the performing arts. Many of the students made strong statements about the cultural awareness they gained. I believe these impressions will be carried with them forever.”

Through this collaboration, Del Valle students – particularly the classes of 2010, 2012, and 2014 – experience three performances each year, in their schools and on the UT campus. These experiences are then carried into the students’ language arts classrooms to serve as inspiration for academic work. The program, which began in the fall of 2006, continues with students throughout their high school careers. Over the past four years, seniors at Del Valle High School have participated in PAAC, attending performances such as the internationally acclaimed Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, UT Opera’s The Magic Flute, B-Boy City’s break dancing, and Austin Shakespeare’s classical theatre. With the support of ACC, Del Valle High School Seniors are encouraged to pursue higher education after graduation.

Funds for this inaugural year’s scholarships came from a car show held by ACC’s El Centro, in collaboration with the Latino American Student Organization (LASO) and ACC’s Automotive Technology department. Luis Cabrera, an ACC student and LASO member who attended Del Valle High School, approached El Centro about holding a car show fundraiser.

“We were extremely happy that Luis came to us with the idea of having a car show at ACC,” says Dr. Mariano Diaz-Miranda, director of El Centro. “The Latino/Latin American Studies Center plans to continue to hold the car show annually to raise funds. We also hope to expand to offer scholarships to other area high school students.”

The car show, held in early April, raised $3,000 – awarded by the ACC Foundation in three $1,000 ACC scholarships.

The PAAC program is funded in part by the generous support of the Austin Community Foundation, National Instruments, Austin Community College, Capital One Bank, and Tokyo Electron, with additional support from Edwina Carrington, chair-elect of the ACC Foundation.