STC conducts annual event dedicated to assisting students become college and career ready
Texas Border Business
McAllen, Texas – An annual event hosted by South Texas College (STC) challenges educational partners to evaluate their operations in order to assist students as they transition from college into meaningful careers.
STC welcomed educators from across the Valley to its 13th Annual Summit on College and Career Readiness, which took place at Region One Education Service Center on Monday, April 9.
The annual event, which STC has organized to address key issues in education, featured a day-long slate of relevant and timely issues facing educators today. Presenters at the event included representatives from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Educational Results Partnership, Workforce Solutions, RGV FOCUS, and numerous experts from South Texas College staff and faculty.
The theme for the Summit this year was “Together We Can Do More,” designed to prompt educators to imagine a future where there is a common understanding of the value of higher education, and what it means to be college and career ready.
“This is really an opportunity to bring stakeholders together including local universities, regional partners, high schools, higher education partners and various state partners so they have the chance to identify gaps in the system,” said Darci Cather, Interim Associate Dean of Professional and Organizational Development at STC. “We need to consider how we can best help our students become college-ready and ultimately career-ready.”
Keynote speaker, Claudette Jenks, Assistant Director for the Division of College Readiness Success with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, spoke on creating a college-going culture and designing pathways to college-level classes.
“Our colleges must educate a far more varied group of college students with various levels of preparedness coming in,” Jenks said. “Thus we have to reshape the demand for a post-secondary education with a drive for more customized experiences to help serve the different types of populations.”
With STC’s dual credit partners, staff at STC said the event is an excellent tool for counselors, administrators and those present to gain more insight on how to help students excel, move forward, and become college and career ready.
“The most important outcome of this event is the knowledge gained from presenters on how we can help students be successful,” said Dr. Rebecca De Leon, Interim Dean for Dual Credit Programs and School District Partnerships at STC. De Leon was also a speaker at the event and informed attendees on STC’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.
“We are currently assessing our operations and evaluating how we can continue assisting students attending our partnering school districts,” Dr. De Leon said. “We are seeking insight from school districts, workforce, and community partners to determine what is the need, and how can we continue moving forward to help our students be successful.”
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