Texas Border Business
By Joey Gomez
McALLEN, Texas – South Texas College was represented on a national stage as seven members of the college’s Centers for Learning Excellence (CLE) recently presented at the 2025 Creative Community College Collaborators (4C) Virtual Tutor Conference: GPS – Growth, Planning, Success.
The annual tutor-led event brings together professionals from across the country to share strategies that improve tutoring as well as academic coaching and student engagement.
STC’s CLE team helped lead that national conversation with sessions on topics like “Developing a Mistake-Friendly Session,” “From Crisis to Clarity: Planning for Emotional Regulation in Student Sessions,” “Fueling Student Motivation for Long Term Success,” and much more.
Presenters at the conference included Alejandro Benavidez, Josue Arandy, Cristian Hernandez, Emily Jimenez, Vanessa Garza, Brenda Mungia and Karla Ruiz.
CLE Director Lynell Williams, who also sits on the board of 4C as the organization’s technology liaison, said what viewers see on screen is the result of months of careful preparation behind the scenes.
“The CLE has a robust internal process to vet the presentation proposals before they are sent to the national reviewers,” Williams said. “The tutors, Supplemental Instruction (SI) leaders and academic coaches all invest a great deal of time and energy in researching and organizing their topics before submitting a proposal. This dedication shows in the high quality of presentations.”
Williams said two presenters have been nominated by conference organizers for selection as the 2025 “Exemplary Session.” In addition to the presentations, the conference also showcased student creativity. The official Growth, Planning, Success conference logo was designed by Gualberto Voidanova, a student learning assistant at STC.
For SI Leader Vanessa Garza, the conference became both a professional milestone and a personal homecoming. Garza first worked at STC as a student tutor more than a decade ago, before earning an associate degree in Biology from the college, a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the former University of Texas- Pan American and then a master’s degree in Kinesiology from the University of Texas in Austin.
Now returning to the CLE, Garza presented on educational technology tools that tutors, SI leaders and academic coaches can use to encourage collaborative learning in their sessions.
“It felt incredible to reach people at a national level and hopefully make learning more fun and engaging for our students,” Garza said. “Coming back to the Valley, I really felt a drive to give back to my community. Serving students academically is what I would consider my calling.”
Garza’s experience was echoed by Alejandro Benavidez, another Supplemental Instruction leader who recently earned his associate degree in Computer Science from STC and is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Benavidez’s presentation focused on the realities and challenges of being the only tutor available for certain subjects.
“When I first started here, I faced a lot of unique challenges,” Benavidez said. “Presenting at a national level let me connect with other tutors, share my experience and hear how they overcome similar situations. Exchanging strategies and resources reinforced that I know what I am doing and that I can help my community in the way I want to.”
Also presenting at this year’s presenter lineup were STC Academic Coaches Karla Ruiz and Brenda Mungia supervised by CLE Learning Support Manager Maria Bridwell and CLE Assistant Director Rosario Vazquez.
Ruiz co-presented “From Crisis to Clarity,” a session focused on common emotional challenges students face, including stress, academic pressure, depression and sleep deprivation.
The team shared tools tutors can use to support students experiencing these struggles.
“We never see the same situation twice,” Ruiz said. “Students come with different challenges, and being able to share strategies – especially with tutors who often only meet students briefly – helps everyone better support them.”
Vazquez said the 4C conference has become a signature growth opportunity for CLE staff since STC began participating in the conference in 2021.
“This year marks the most presenters we have ever had,” she said. “It’s a unique opportunity for part-time staff to present on a national level – not many people get that chance. It highlights the incredible work here at STC.”
For more information on all the services available through STC’s Centers for Learning Excellence, visit southtexascollege.edu/cle/.
Information source: STC
