Texas Border Business
By Joey Gomez
McALLEN, Texas – As standout peer educators at South Texas College’s Center for Learning Excellence (CLE), Emily Jimenez and Julisses Longoria agree on a simple, but powerful message: Excellence is a pursuit rather than a destination.
The message is catching on. What began as tutoring roles at STC has evolved into two powerful leadership journeys that have earned them national recognition.
In 2024, Jimenez and Longoria were both invited to serve as keynote speakers at the 4C Virtual Tutor Conference. 4C is an organization dedicated to improving learning support practices.
In a rare honor typically reserved for staff or faculty, their presentation “Rising Toward Excellence,” drew praise from tutoring professionals across the country.
Together, Jimenez, who is a Learning Excellence Mentor at CLE Supplemental Instruction (SI), and Longoria, who is an SI Leader with CLE, reflect on their mission to turn setbacks into strength by sharing their stories of resilience and leadership.
“We just strive to be the best versions of ourselves, and we want to share how we got to where we are,” Jimenez said.
Longoria agreed. “It’s not about the end goal. The small victories along the way are the ones we should be proud of,” he said.
Both mentors are certified at Level 2 by the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA).
CRLA’s International Tutor Training Program Certification (ITTPC) offers three levels of certification, which reflect the depth of the training the tutor receives.
Jimenez and Longoria say they play essential roles not only in tutoring students but also onboarding and mentoring new hires within CLE.
Jimenez has worked at STC for more than five years but only recently stepped into an official mentor role.
Before college, she taught high school color guard students – an experience that shaped her teaching style.
Now pursuing a Teaching degree after switching from Nursing, Jimenez tutors in Anatomy and Physiology, and said she prefers to lead with openness and vulnerability.
“Even as a high school color guard instructor, I had to find creative ways to make students enjoy learning,” Jimenez said. “But what is true, whether I’m working with high school students or college students is that the message stays the same. I tell them ‘I’ve been there.’ I struggled too. When they see me being honest, it helps them feel safe to learn and make mistakes.”
Longoria said his educational journey began thousands of miles away from STC.
Originally from Brownsville, he spent his early years living in towns across the Rio Grande Valley and even a brief stay in Alaska. But it was a family move to Canada after seventh grade that changed his academic perspective.
Always a straight A student in the Valley, Longoria said he struggled when he moved away and still struggles to understand why.
“School came easy to me in the Valley,” he said. “But once I moved to Canada, I started getting 50s and 60s. That really shook my confidence. Maybe it was the isolation, or maybe I was shy, and I had no support system, but I had to work to pick myself up academically.”
Longoria said the experience taught him a valuable lesson – community matters. When he returned to Texas for college, he made a bold choice.
“I told myself, ‘You’re going to be an extrovert now. You’re going to ask questions. You’re going to reach out to people.’ And that is exactly what I did,” Longoria said.
When he began working at STC as a tutor and later an SI leader, he said he peppered coworkers with questions – sometimes incessantly.
“It’s how I learn – through questioning and comparing approaches,” he said. “I built my own teaching style that way.”
Years later, Longoria is now a recent graduate of STC’s Bachelor of Applied Science in Organizational Leadership (BASOL). Completing the program, Longoria summed up his educational journey in a simple sentence: Being a teacher is being a leader.
“I want to build my leadership skills so I could be the kind of teacher students really connect with,” he said.
These days, Jimenez and Longoria work hard to make sure students don’t face the same struggles they once did. Their advice for new students is clear.
Whether mentoring peers or speaking on a national stage, both say that excellence doesn’t come from perfection – it comes from perseverance.
“It’s all about building trust,” Jimenez said. “Students want to feel safe. When they see that we care that we’re honest and that we have struggled too – that’s when the real learning happens.”
For more information on STC’s Center for Learning Excellence and the services offered, visit www.southtexascollege.edu/cle/.
