Texas Border Business
MCALLEN, TEXAS – Even after a year managing through a global pandemic, Dual Enrollment Academy Programs at South Texas College enabled students to collectively earn more than $2.5 million in scholarships for the 2020-2021 school year.
That total now amounts to nearly $30 million in scholarships awarded to students since the Academy Program’s inception in 2006.
“This is very important for students in our region where they are at a disadvantage in so many different ways,” said Leonardo Castañeda, Director of Academies and High School Projects at STC. “A lot of our students are socio-economically disadvantaged, and this type of funding is crucial to them being able to continue their education at the next level.”
The mission of the Dual Enrollment Academy Programs is to encourage area high school students into STEM and high demand professions by providing college course-work and career-related opportunities that will motivate, educate, and prepare students for higher education in the fields of medicine, engineering, computer science, teaching, and business.
Students who have completed the program will have already received their associate degree by the time they have finished high school.
While in the Dual Enrollment Academy Programs, Program staff require students to apply for scholarships on a weekly basis. Scholarships give students the opportunity to go on to pursue their bachelor degree at some of the most prestigious universities in the country.
Upon completion of the Academy Programs, 100 percent of students transfer to a prestigious four-year institution. Institutions where Academy graduates have transferred to include Rice University, Cornell University, Stanford, Baylor, UT-Austin, the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, and many others.
One student, Emha Hinojosa received over $150,000 to attend UT-Austin in the fall.
Hinojosa graduated from La Joya High School and will be majoring in Biology on a pre-med track. She is a Dell Scholar and recipient of the UT Austin Texas Excellence Scholarship.
“I am a firm believer that the Dual Credit Programs provided to me by South Texas College not only prepared me to advance my studies in a four-year university, it also had an immense influence on the student I am today,” Hinojosa said. “Without this Program, my love for biology would not be visible, and I value all the life skills I gained as a student here.”
STC has had more than 1,250 students graduate from the Dual Enrollment Academy Programs with an Associate Degree weeks before graduating high school, and 12 Academy students have received the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship.
“They (students) are getting these really impressive opportunities to pursue their education, and I think this funding allows them to pursue their education without the financial barriers that our students typically encounter,” Castañeda said. “We are very proud of each and every one of our Dual Enrollment Academy Program graduates.”
