Going from active military service with its intensity of duties to normal civilian life can be jarring. “It’s a radical overnight change,” said Javier Cardenas, a VA certifying official at South Texas College in McAllen. “It has the potential to be catastrophic.” Cardenas would know. The McAllen native joined the Marines two weeks after graduating from high school. He would serve four years in the Marines and admits to feeling…
McAllen Public Library is partnering with South Texas College to offer free GED and English as a Second Language classes beginning Oct. 13. Classes will take place at MPL locations and are open to qualifying students seeking to improve their English or earn a high school equivalency diploma. “Hosting these classes is one more way we can connect our community to free educational opportunities,” said Kate Horan, Library Director. “We…
For the second consecutive year, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has been recognized as one of the Great Colleges to Work For. UTRGV is among only 76 institutions across the country awarded the 2025 Great Colleges to Work For distinction, based on direct feedback from faculty and staff. The Great Colleges to Work For program, now in its 18th year, highlights colleges that receive top ratings from employees…
Plumbing and Pipefitting, a program new to Texas State Technical College’s Harlingen campus, recently welcomed its first cohort of students as the fall semester got underway. Among those students are Ricardo Cantu, David Martinez and Fernando Ochoa. Cantu, of Lyford, is pursuing a Plumbing and Pipefitting – Tradesman certificate of completion. He said his goal is to mirror the skill and expertise demonstrated by his instructors. “I want to learn…
South Texas College has earned the top spot in the nation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the Washington Monthly 2025 College Rankings report. Since 2005, Washington Monthly has ranked colleges based on their contributions to the country in three areas: social mobility, research and promoting public service. This year, in collaboration with Excelencia in Education, it also ranked how well Hispanic-Serving Institutions like STC, are serving this increasing population. “This ranking affirms…
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…
McAllen ISD is now offering the Step-up Program, a free diploma completion program for adults ages 18 to 26 who left school before graduating. The program accommodates flexible scheduling, allowing students to attend in the morning or afternoon, Monday through Friday, to match their personal commitments and to proceed at their own pace. The program is planning to launch with approximately 50 students early this fall at McAllen ISD’s Lamar…
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…
Isidro Lerma, a theatre arts teacher from McAllen ISD’s James “Nikki” Rowe High School, has earned Regional Secondary Teacher of the Year honors by the Region One Education Service Center. In the past 35 years, McAllen ISD teachers have earned 23 Regional or State Teacher of the Year titles – the most in the South Texas Region. This year, the Region One Education Service Center celebrated 51 district teachers of…
Gina Cano-Monreal, Ph.D., is the new provost of Texas State Technical College’s Harlingen campus, effective July 29. Cano-Monreal previously served as the college’s associate vice chancellor for instructional shared services, supporting TSTC’s 12 campuses across the state. In that role, the Harlingen native oversaw curriculum quality and alignment, instructional design and support, and instructional resources and solutions. “TSTC is making significant investments to expand premier technical training in the Rio…