Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, Texas – On Monday, Feb. 13, the Texas A&M RGV Advanced Manufacturing Hub andEdinburg CISD signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at a signing ceremony in McAllen.
As part of the new partnership, the Texas A&M Advanced Manufacturing Hub will provide training to students, school district staff and teachers in applied engineering, manufacturing, cybersecurity, robotics and other programsto develop a highly skilled workforce development pipeline for the local advanced manufacturing industry.
Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp described the possibilities in South Texas as “limitless” and said he looked forward to much more to come.
“We are going to guide these students as they get ready to lead and take on new roles here in South Texas. They’ll learn about Cybersecurity, they’ll learn about robotics, advanced manufacturing and other industries. Ourinstructors from A&M will offer them all the tools they are going to need to be successful in all of these fields, especially in this part of South Texas where the growth is limitless in my opinion,” said Sharp.
We are very proud to be here with Edinburg CISD to sign this MOU.”
Texas A&M and ECISD officials discussed the importance of this partnership and the resources it will provide for ECISD students and staff.
“It’s not only going to be teaching our kids, but our teachers will have the opportunity to learn more as well. It’s agreat opportunity to give all of our students to get into the tech world and to work directly with manufacturingcompanies. It’s a great partnership, I see it going a long way and I’m excited to see what the future holds, said ECISD Board President Miguel “Mike” Farias.
The signing was held at South Texas College and is the first of its kind between Edinburg CISD and Texas A&M. Edinburg CISD hopes the collaboration will give teachers resources to inspire the next generation of advancedmanufacturing engineers and technicians.
“This is a historic day,” said Dr. Mario Salinas Superintendent for Edinburg CISD. “
Texas A&M as everybody knows is a world class institution and when the opportunity to partner with them came up we knew it would be good for our students and that’s the idea, providing more opportunities for our students. It willalso be good for our staff, they will be introduced to newer technologies that they can teach our students. These technologies are in high demand so students have a pathway to college and a future job,” Salinas said.
The district hopes the workforce that is developed by partnering with Texas A&M and other institutions of higher learning will show companies and businesses the kind of potential and industry that exists here in South Texas.
ECISD also has a partnership with the University of Texas system and is currently constructing a Collegiate High School.
