Flathead Valley Community College President Jane Karas was part of a prestigious group of educators and administrators Thursday as President Barack Obama hosted the Summit on College Opportunity in Washington, D.C.

The summit was part of Obama’s push to make college more affordable, accessible and meeting the needs of America’s businesses.

One of the national initiatives is to increase the number of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math majors, or STEM programs.

Karas has committed to increase by 15 percent in the next two years the number of graduates transferring from FVCC into four-year STEM programs.

“We certainly have great science, technology, engineering and math faculty committed to success,” she said Monday. “Those students engaged in undergraduate research are more likely to be successful, and we are able to provide those opportunities at the two-year level.”

Several hundred other college presidents and academic institution leaders also went to the summit in the Ronald Reagan Building to join the president, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in calling for action among the nation’s colleges and universities.

Obama said he was concerned that foreigners were able to “out-compete” American workers and that American businesses should look within their country’s borders for labor.

Karas envisions letting the talented STEM-centered faculty at the college reach out to the community in projects to attract high school students.

Ruth Wrightsman, a biology professor at FVCC, is including Glacier High School students in a push to do DNA barcoding on local flora and fauna. Karas said projects such as this could bolster the STEM students at the college.

“We have great partnerships with all the high schools in Flathead and Lincoln counties,” Karas said. “Wrightsman is letting these students know that science can be relevant to their lives and interesting.”

Wrightsman has around 40 biology majors in her program.

But beyond bolstering the hard sciences, Karas traveled to the capital to meet with her peers in an effort to make college more affordable and accessible. President Obama announced a $10 million project to boost college completion rates and a $30 million AmeriCorps program meant to improve low-income students’ access to college.

The Obama administration recently increased Pell grants by $1,000 for low-income students and created the American Opportunity Tax Credit, worth up to $10,000 over four years of college, and limited student loan payments to 10 percent of post-college income.

Karas is the past chairwoman of the American Association of Community Colleges Board of Directors.

While she didn’t get to meet the president, Karas brought his and her colleagues’ ideas back to the Flathead and plans to continue to look for ways to provide opportunities in Northwest Montana.

“We are always looking to provide quality education at an affordable cost,” she said. “There are a number of ways we provide that and a number of things we are looking at. It was a great honor for FVCC to be chosen from thousands of colleges to participate in the summit.”

Karas said FVCC’s push to get Montana’s high schoolers involved in higher education would continue on the path it has been, letting high school students take Running Start classes to earn college credit and provide a general education foundation.

Other initiatives, such as the weekly STEM Colloquium, which provides a space for faculty and staffers to showcase their research to the community, give the public insight into what research is happening at the two-year school in Kalispell. The Student Research Conference allows the public to see what students are accomplishing at the college as well.

As for affordability, local students who finish in the top 10 percent of their high school classes can attend FVCC for no tuition or fee costs. In-district students taking between 14 and 18 credits (full-time students) pay roughly $1,900 in tuition and fees a semester at FVCC.

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.