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McALLEN — Nervousness, excitement and new opportunities filled the air for students at the new UTRGV McAllen ISD Collegiate Academy where about 300 students started their first day of school.
The 65,000-square-foot facility welcomed freshmen, sophomores and juniors from their home campuses of McAllen High, McAllen Memorial and McAllen Nikki Rowe.
The facility cost about $23.4 million with UTRGV and McAllen ISD splitting the bill through a memorandum of understanding signed in 2022.
Unlike the other UTRGV collegiate facilities in Harlingen and Edinburg, the UTRGV McAllen ISD Collegiate Academy is not a standalone high school but an early college program.
UTRGV McAllen ISD Collegiate Academy Director Elizabeth Gonzalez gave The Monitor a tour in April and went through the facility and how the school will be operating.
Welcoming students and giving them a rundown of the school’s class and bus schedule, Gonzalez said she has been so excited for the first day that she has not been able to sleep enough.
Students from their home campus have the option of attending classes at the academy in the morning or afternoon depending on their class selection and extracurricular activities.
The academy focuses on education, engineering, computer science, and health professions. More than half of the applicants are leaning toward health professions. The college courses offered to students when they are upperclassmen comes at no cost to them or their families.
Students ate breakfast and waited eagerly to receive their schedules before heading to their first class of the day.
Having the task of scheduling students from and to their home campuses is not easy with some students needing some changes to better accommodate their preferred classes and extracurricular activities.
Pedro Nicolas Guerra, a sophomore from Nikki Rowe, and his group of friends waited after being dismissed to change their schedule around.
“Being here at this brand new state-of-the-art facility feels awesome,” he said. “I feel like I’m stepping on the moon like Buzz Aldrin. The ambience is really nice and I feel honored that I was chosen among thousands of students.”
Involved in cross country and swimming at Rowe, Guerra said he wants to find a routine that fits his practice schedule.
“This morning I had two first periods but my main problem is I’m probably going to switch from morning classes to afternoon classes, it works better for me,” he said.
Guerra said he wants to go toward the health professions route and is excited for the chance to meet students from the district’s other high schools.
“It’s going to be new people, new faces and it’s almost like a fresh start,” he said.
Invited to attend a class in the morning, The Monitor tagged along with Claudia Cavazos, a Spanish teacher at the academy who gave her students a tour of the campus and a rundown of her class.
Previously teaching for nine years at Morris Middle School, Cavazos said she is honored and privileged to be among the founding staff at the academy.
“I’m excited for my new venture,” she said. “Spanish is something that I grew up speaking only at home with my grandmother, so for me to be able to share my language with students is something really special to me.”
For some students such as McAllen High freshman Kimberly Ford, attending the collegiate academy in the morning was her first taste of high school.
“I’m excited but nervous but it’s been good so far,” Ford said. “The teachers and the campus are really nice.”
With about two years until Ford can start taking college courses, she said she wants to study law to become a lawyer in the future.
“I’m excited to be a junior and senior and take my college classes but also excited to meet new people,” Ford said.
To see more, view staff photographer Joel Martinez’s full photo gallery here:
