Texas Border Business
BROWNSVILLE, Texas – There are now big shoes to fill in the Radiologic Technology department at Texas Southmost College as program director and instructor of 46 years Manuel Gavito announced his retirement in August.
Gavito’s career in radiology began nearly five decades ago when typewriters were a modern amenity.
He graduated in the late 1960s from the radiological hospital-based program at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen. For that era, this was a brand new, up and coming program and career path.
“This program was so new, I was one of the first and few students who were in the radiological class at Valley Baptist,” he remembers. “I only tried it because I like health care and I had a distant relative in the field, but it turned out to be the perfect career path for me.”
Immediately following the program at Valley Baptist, he was hired on-site, but eventually went on to earn a Bachelor of Science from Pan American University and left the Rio Grande Valley to work as a radiographer at hospitals located in Kingsville and Corpus Christi.
But as a Brownsville native, many in Cameron County knew of his talent in the field.
This is the same talent that would eventually bring him back home and touch hundreds of lives.
“Desi Rios was the Health Professions dean at TSC in the 1970s and somehow he knew about me and the program I was starting at another college,” said Gavito. “He called me because he wanted me to join the TSC team in creating its new Radiologic Technology program. So, in 1975, I joined the Scorpion team, and I haven’t left since.”
Gavito said it felt great returning home and serving the community where he was born and raised. He said this was his chance to give back to the community where it all started.
“This love I have for my students, for my community and fellow health care workers is what makes retiring a bittersweet moment for me,” he said. “Every day for the last 46 years, I have visited every hospital, seen almost every alumnus I have taught, and I have seen students grow before my eyes.”
He added this is what he is going to miss the most when he closes the door on this chapter of his life.
For former students like Maria Guadalupe Bernal, the Radiology supervisor at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Brownsville, who has been taught and trained by Gavito, news about his retirement has made her nostalgic.
“I admire Gavito for the instructor he is and for what he does for his students,” said Bernal. “Is he strict? Oh yes! But that is what shapes you and molds you for this career.”
Bernal is also an adjunct instructor for TSC’s Radiologic Technology program and has had the opportunity to work professionally with Gavito.
“What everyone will miss the most about Gavito here at TSC and in the field, is his wealth of knowledge,” she said. “He is a walking encyclopedia, a mentor, and offers so much clarity. It’s been great knowing him and working with him. He is leaving big shoes to fill.”
Over the years, Gavito has taught every course offered in TSC’s Radiologic Technology program and has produced hundreds of highly skilled, professionally trained radiographers who have gone on to work and grow in the field and have continued their education, even some becoming doctors specialized in radiography.
“We were the first Radiologic Technology program in the Valley, and it has maintained a great reputation among the health care community,” he said. “Our graduates have always been and remain in demand across the RGV. And seeing them year after year and what they are achieving locally and beyond has been the most rewarding.”
Establishing a program with a 100% certification exam pass rate and equally high job placement has also been one of Gavito’s proudest achievements.
“Everything we do, we do for our students,” he said. “I am going to miss everyone I have ever taught or worked with, but I want them to know, even though I’ll be road tripping with my family, I am still only a phone call away. I am very proud of our program and everyone in it. I know I am leaving it in good hands.”
For more information about TSC’s Radiologic Technology program, visit tsc.edu.
