Texas Border Business
By Joey Gomez
WESLACO, TEXAS – South Texas College and its community partners in Weslaco are seeking to foster a love for reading among children and their parents.
When STC’s Mid-Valley campus Library hosted its annual “Family Reading Night” event in conjunction with Reading Week recently, it brought together numerous organizations seeking to make an impact on literacy for the betterment of the region.
The college was joined by the South Texas Literacy Coalition as well as the Storybook Garden, The Weslaco Museum and the Mayor Joe V. Sánchez Public Library, which organized arts and crafts as well as a host of activities for visiting children and their families.
“Promoting literacy among our children and especially parents is vital,” said Lillian Carrillo, Mid-Valley campus librarian. “At South Texas College, we realize our libraries are a gateway to the community, and we see it as a deep responsibility to help children develop a love of reading while encouraging their parents to read with them.”
STC Mid-Valley Campus Administrator Daniel Montez, who is also president of the Board of Directors for The Weslaco Museum, said both the college and the museum have a mission to preserve history and culture.
“The Weslaco Museum and STC’s partnership has grown in the past several years as we understand how our roles in the community are intertwined,” Montez said. “We are both in the business of educating people in our community. The museum does it through exhibits and lectures about our culture and our history here in the Mid Valley. STC supports the mission of the museum in the preservation of our history and culture. We also partner for events such as Family Reading Night and Will’n in Weslaco, which is our annual Shakespeare festival.”
While on campus, attendees have the opportunity to use the library’s free services, view artwork on display in the Library Art Gallery, or anyone 18 years or older may sign up for a Community User Card, which allows community members to check out books at any of STC’s libraries for free.
Kayla Peña, who is the children’s librarian for the Mayor Joe V. Sánchez Public Library was offering information about library services as well as free face-painting for the kids in attendance.
“This is so important. We need partnerships like this to keep on providing resources in our community. Often times, we see that families are not aware of the different organizations we have in place to help them,” said Peña. “Our partnership with STC is another great way to talk about all the library services as well as all the great things available at our museum. Through our partnership with STC, we were able to promote literacy to the kids and their families and give them access to all the services we provide. We enjoyed spreading the word about all of our local services and how important literacy is to our children.”
For more information about STC’s Mid-Valley campus library and the services offered, please visit library.southtexascollege.edu/category/mid-valley-campus/.
