April Castaneda is a multitasker as are many city administrators in smaller communities. She is the new executive director of the Donna Economic Development Corporation while also serving as the de facto manager of the local chamber. The latter had been inactive and the former was close to it before Castaneda recently made the move from the Weslaco Economic Development Corporation to lead a similar organization in Donna. For Castaneda,…
The last week of a nearly 40-year career in agricultural research and education was wrapping up in late August for Ruben Saldana. “It feels awkward and a little emotional,” he said in his Weslaco office where he served as the administrator for Texas AgriLife Research & Extension, District 12. Saldana provided leadership for a district that covers nearly all counties south of San Antonio as well as managing the AgriLife…
Jeremy Smith’s family-owned business demonstrated a steely resolve in getting through double catastrophes over the last five years – and coming out of both revived and refreshed. “Two things – the pandemic and the fire – and you learn to take what the market gives you,” Smith said of COVID-19 and a 2022 New Year’s Day fire that destroyed Matt’s Building Materials flagship store in Pharr. “You never let a…
Texas State Technical College is starting a new school year with the opening of an 84,000-square-foot Transportation Technologies Center on the western end of the Harlingen campus. The new building opens up to big spaces on the major halves of the facility. The west side of the facility will be the work and training space for students in the diesel technology field that specializes in repair and maintenance of large…
Youthful Weslaco entrepreneur Juan San Miguel knew it would take a fierce determination when seeking to start his own business. “I had to do my best to make it impossible to say no,” he said, recalling the days of needing startup capital. San Miguel’s ambition was to own and run his own gym. Sitting behind his desk, he smiles and recounts how he went from the framework of an idea…
Samuel Garcia’s career as an educator has taken him across the American South and Caribbean Islands in connecting students and teachers to the wonders of space and science. Garcia works from his home base at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He is an education outreach specialist representing NASA. Garcia has travelled throughout Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands in conducting seminars, workshops and interactive sessions to a…
Kylie Sikes was making her way to the Rio Grande Valley and travelling down U.S. Highway 77 through King Ranch country. “You go through so many miles of open country and then all of a sudden you see this big mix of cities in the Valley,” she said. Sikes is the director of youth programs for the Junior Beefmaster Breeders Breeders Association. The destination in mid-July was the Rio Grande…
The clock was ticking down over the summer to an Aug. 30 kickoff on the sports websites of the nascent UTRGV Vaqueros football program. A “T-minus” ticker was going until a Saturday evening kickoff under the summer lights of a converted soccer stadium in Edinburg. It was the UTRGV Vaqueros versus the Sul Ross State Lobos in the first ever college football game in Rio Grande Valley history. It was…
The demographics of Winter Texans are changing and professionals in the tourism and hospitality industries are calling for more frequent studies and research into this vital group of visitors with deep connections to the Rio Grande Valley. Leah Woolridge, the vice president of Visit McAllen, sees an age shift among Winter Texans. Retirees are younger, more active and looking for things to do, she said. “You use to be able…
McAllen native Will Collins has built a formidable retail and commercial real estate company whose developments span much of South Texas. From its headquarters in San Antonio, Merit Commercial Real Estate shows on its webpage dark blue diamonds pinned on a Texas map. Each pin represents a Merit development project with clusters of them in the Rio Grande Valley and the San Antonio-area market. Collins comes from a banking family.…