The Rio Grande Valley communities between McAllen and Brownsville for much of their history lacked a local higher education option to college campuses a long commuter drive away.
Donna, Mercedes, Weslaco and surrounding Mid-Valley communities with their high school graduates may have seen a college education, or technical training, as being out of reach. In the late 1990s, the gap began to be addressed with the launch of the Mid-Valley campus of the South Texas College system.
The campus is housed on the site of the old Texsun juice plant in Weslaco. A single building from the Texsun days still stands and was one of the first buildings utilized by the then-new campus of the late 1990s. Its start was modest with two buildings and portable classrooms. The Mid-Valley campus with its humble origins nonetheless previewed the college to come and what it would mean to area communities.
“It used to be a four year-college or nothing,” said Daniel Montez, the campus administrator for STC’s Mid-Valley campus. “Our communities back then didn’t have the resources McAllen, Harlingen or Brownsville had, or Edinburg with UT-Pan American. What we’ve done here is fill a gap and meet a need.”
Student Transitions
The MVC acronym that dots some of the buildings on the Weslaco campus indicates its brand has worn well in the Mid-Valley.
The campus has grown from a few hundred students of over two decades ago to 4,200 students today. There are 10 buildings on the campus – including a library and student union. The courses and programs are replete with curriculum in nursing and health care professions, and five bachelor degree programs. There are also a whole host of skills training programs in welding, culinary and air conditioning/heating.
Montez offers a crisp overview of those programs on the Mid-Valley campus along with a typical student profile and trends he sees unfolding. A student at the MVC is usually around 25 years of age, returning from military service or perhaps joined the workforce right out of high school and is now trying postsecondary education.
“You see life differently when you’re 25, 26 years old as compared to when you’re 18 coming out of high school,” Montez said. “You’ve had jobs, or been in the military, maybe married with young children.”
There’s a practicality to what older students are looking for when enrolling for college-level courses and training. They want to see the time and effort they’re making will lead to jobs that are available and suit their skills. Montez speaks of “micro certificates” and “competency-based education.” These are all variations of older students taking a limited number of courses that fit into lives which include full-time jobs while going to school.
“What we’re doing is offering another option,” he said. “We’ll catch you up on your writing and arithmetic, you take courses at your own pace and show competencies, get credits and transition over to one of our programs.”
Being Able To Adapt
On the other end of the age spectrum are late teens to early-20s students who expect and want remote learning to be part of their college experience.
Montez said younger students are unlike their college-aged predecessors in many ways, including a general disdain for sitting down for hours in a classroom for lectures. Online learning when mixed with in-person instruction often works best for younger students and keeps them better engaged, he said.
One of the strengths of community colleges, Montez said, is they can move more quickly to adapt and adjust. Four-year colleges are usually more institutional and bound to traditional thinking, he said. The STC Mid-Valley campus has been flexible and innovative in meeting the needs of its student population while establishing a higher education foundation for its communities.
“We’ve made education more accessible,” said Montez, who has been with the STC system for 22 years. “We’re serving areas that had traditionally high unemployment rates. I think STC has done well in addressing those unemployment numbers and making a difference in our communities.”