San Jacinto Board of Trustees Position 4:

 

I was inspired to run for trustee due to the number of uneducated prisoners and defendants I saw as a Judge.  I saw more people with no education and no job skills and no way to dig out of a hole. I wanted to be involved in improving the job opportunities for people and future students. I have now been on the board for 18 years and see a lot of this accomplished.

 

I have been in public service since becoming an adult as Pasadena City Councilman, Justice of the Peace and Deer Park Municipal Judge.  I have been an Rotarian since 1978 and involved in serving numerous worthwhile projects benefiting citizens in need.  I have now been a practicing attorney in Pasadena, Texas, for the past 56 years. San Jac has it own Police Department which works in conjunction with the local authorities in case of a crisis.  I attend numerous functions throughout our district on behalf of San Jac and share our goals and achievements.

 

The biggest challenge is convincing high school students about the benefits of attending college. We have to reach them through convincing their parents about the benefits, either through academics or job skills, that their children can acquire for the future job force. We are a minority serving college. and have to convince students the ultimate income level with a degree or job skill versus without.  San Jac serves many students who are first generation to attend college.

 

We have continually been rated in the top 10 community colleges out of 1100 in the US. I feel that ''SAN JAC BUILDS FUTURES''.  We are partnered with local industries and businesses to keep up with what job skills are necessary and follow up with the training for those skills. We have a large enrollment of dual credit students that can gain college credit while still in high schoo.. So, those students can graduate from San Jac one week and high school the next.  Our ''Promise Program'' allows students that graduated from high school and live in our taxing area the ability to attend up to 3 years of college with books and tuition paid

 

This Fall, San Jac is establishing ''San Jac On Line'' which has over 90 internet courses and can lead to a degree. We anticipate that many working students will utilize this program to earn degrees after hours to improve their education. We now have 3 Bachelor Degrees and one in the making. We are establishing an exclusive bio-technology program that other colleges can no provide.  San Jac's future is bright. During my tenure as trustee, San Jac's enrollment has increased to 32,000 students and our campuses have expanded to five campuses.

 

Top priorities are implementing our 4th Bachelor Degree, making sure the ''San Jac Online'' program is functioning properly, working toward creation of a 5th Bachelor Degree (state only allows five), getting the bio-technology program running on two campuses, encouraging dual credit and informing students of the ''Promise Program''.

 

We are currently partnering with industry and businesses to be able to guarantee we are teaching job skills that are needed in the job market which is ever changing. Our college works with the petrochemical industry to review changing conditions and how we can fit our students into the programs. We have counselors that work with students to try to establish a path to approach so students do not waste time on courses that have no direct benefit in their future.

 

Yes. I was a member of the Pasadena Chamber for over 30 years prior to me being elected to the San Jac board. San Jac is a Chamber member and I participate in functions on behalf of San Jac. Our Chamber has a close relationship with San Jac.