The town of Greeley, perched on northern Colorado's prairie, is like many other communities across the United States that are experiencing an influx of immigrants. The picturesque town of 85,000 people had a 30 percent minority population as of the 2000 U.S. Census. Estimates place that figure closer to 40 percent today, most of whom are Hispanic. Less than 1 percent of the city's residents list themselves as Black or American Indian, and only 1.15 percent checked the Asian/Pacific Islander box. With the town's current demographics, it was only natural that the University of Northern Colorado (UNC), located in Greeley, is training its teacher education students to help educate the region's growing Hispanic population. "Cumbres" (Spanish for "peaks"), founded by UNC's Hispanic Alumni Partnership, is a teacher education program that seeks to reach students who are committed to working with Hispanic school children in the public schools. Students in the program start together as freshmen, taking core courses each year to prepare them for their primary areas of teacher certification. But their education goes further. In addition to the standard teacher education coursework, Cumbres students are also studying Bilingual Education or Teaching English as a Second Language. The goal is to be able to reach school children who may be bilingual or primarily Spanish speakers. Dr. Eugene P. Sheehan, dean of UNC's College of Education and Behavior Sciences, says they are training future teachers to serve as role models so that minority students will want to go to college. However, Hispanic children need more than financial and academic support to succeed in college, some say. Positive emotional support must also come from society and teachers and administrators at the higher education institution itself.