Texas Border Business
By Amanda Sotelo
South Texas College is celebrating 30 years and to kick off the celebration, the college has revealed a new logo that will move the college into a new era of transformation and innovation.
During the college’s annual Fall Convocation at the McAllen Convention Center, attended by nearly 2,000 elected officials, community leaders and college faculty and staff, STC revealed its new logo inspired by the rosette on a jaguar’s pelt. The jaguar is the college’s mascot.
Watch the Logo Reveal Video
The logo was designed to be timeless, sophisticated and built on a foundation of strength and community and is destined to instill pride in past, current and future students.
It took research, branding workshops and focus groups led by the college’s Public Relations and Marketing department to get to a final logo that would represent STC and take it into the future.
The vision to rebrand STC began a couple of years ago, upon the new leadership of STC President Ricardo J. Solis, Ph.D. His overarching goal beyond the basis of providing a high-quality, affordable education, is to elevate the image of the college – let the community know about the many benefits a community college has for the region and about the lives it impacts.
“STC has been serving the communities of Hidalgo and Starr Counties for 30 years, and throughout this time, STC has grown exponentially, giving us the idea that it was time for a more ‘grown-up’ look,” said Solis. “We didn’t go into a rebranding lightly though and we never wanted to erase tradition, so I feel our new logo ties our past, present and future together very well, giving us room to be bold, transformative and innovative.”
Earlier this year, STC introduced its new colors of navy blue and gold and gave its jaguar a facelift with a more geometric shape, all part of the first phase of the rebranding.
“STC has a long history in our community. I was a little girl when my late father Manuel Benavidez Jr., a founding STC Trustee, would travel across our community of Starr County advocating for the creation of the college. I always joined him,” said STC Trustee Chair Rose Benavidez. “So, to see how STC has grown and will continue to grow is an honor I don’t take for granted. We have gone from laundromats and old libraries to state-of-the-art facilities and this historic milestone is going to propel us into the next three decades. We may have a different look, but we are the same STC – providing a high-quality, affordable education.”
STC was established in September 1993 as South Texas Community College, or STCC, through Senate Bill 251 authored by Senator Eddie Lucio Jr., and signed into legislation by the late Texas Governor Anne Richards.
The college opened its doors with no more than 1,500 students and today, it serves nearly 50,000 credit and non-credit students from across the Rio Grande Valley.
Leading the state, as one of the youngest, yet one of the fastest growing community colleges in Texas, STC offers nearly 130 certificate and degree programs, including GED, short-term programs, continuing education and workforce development.
STC is also the only community college in Texas to offer five bachelor’s degree programs.
“At STC, we are breaking barriers and creating a college-going culture for all,” said Solis. “We are taking our programs to new heights and listening to the needs of our industry partners so that all our students have the skills they need to enter high-wage careers. Many of our programs are modeled nationally and are leading the way in higher education.”
STC leads as the first in the nation to offer a nurse apprenticeship program, in which registered nursing students will be hired and paid to work with STC’s hospital partners, while they complete the rigorous program.
It’s also a national model for its dual credit programs, giving students the opportunity to graduate with a college certificate or degree before even graduating from high school and saving Valley families at least $340 million in tuition since its inception in 2000.
“These last 30 years for STC have been instrumental to our communities and neighbors across the border, but I would be remised if I didn’t acknowledge the leadership that came before us, that helped set the foundation for STC,” said Solis. “They had a vision for STC and what it would mean to our community, and we are thankful for their initiative and tenacity they demonstrated 30 years ago.”
Some of these former leaders were in the audience during Fall Convocation, entering a new era with the STC they first founded.
Moving forward and looking to the future, Solis and STC’s Board of Trustees have significant plans for the college and what it means to be a jaguar.
With partnerships already in place with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) and Texas A&M’s prestigious engineering academy, STC is setting up its students for success. In the coming year, STC will also establish a Promise Program for dual credit students, that is designed to be a “last-dollar” scholarship to cover tuition.
Other programs in development for 2024 include Architecture, Dental Hygienist, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Video and Cinema Production, Network Security, Robotics and International Business, including two new non-credit programs – Cybersecurity and Massage Therapy.
“Our future is bright here at STC. And on behalf of STC administration and the Board of Trustees, we want to thank our faculty and staff who works tirelessly daily to make STC’s vision a reality,” said Benavidez. “We owe these 30 years to them. They have made this historical milestone – 30 years, a brand-new look, possible. Here’s to the next 30, plus years; STC still has so much growth to see.”
Those in attendance at STC’s Fall Convocation also had the opportunity to be the first to receive and wear “Jag Swag” with the new logo emblazoned upon them.
