Jaime Escalante will speak at 9:15 p.m. on Wednesday, October 5, in the Cook-DeWitt Center on GVSU's Allendale Campus. The event continues Hispanic Heritage Month activities; it is free and open to the public.
Escalante challenged and motivated students in one of East Los Angeles' most violent and underfunded schools to improve their math skills and prepare for an AP calculus exam. The students did so well on the test they were accused of cheating and had to take it over. They scored even higher. Edward James Olmos portrayed Escalante in the 1988.
Escalante, a native of Bolivia, was elected to the Teachers Hall of Fame in 1999. He had worked for the Burroughs Corporation before taking a considerable cut in pay to teach at Garfield High School in 1974.
His presentation is sponsored by the GVSU Hispanic Awareness Committee and the Latino Student Union. For more information, call the Office of Multicultural Affairs at 616-331-2177.
