The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley celebrated the completion of a school-within-a-college model at its Edinburg campus that is giving Hidalgo County high school students the option of starting their college experience in their junior year.
“We saw that these opportunities were coming our way, and we couldn’t let them pass by,” said Zaida Carballo, 17, who moved to the academy from South Texas High School for Health Professionals. “It could open a lot of doors for us, especially coming from the Valley.”
Friday, Carballo sat in the academy’s tutoring room surrounded by classmates who also made the move, looking to get ahead of the game as far as their college experience.
The new Mathematics and Science Academy provides high school students who are proficient in math and science and college ready with the opportunity to complete two years of college concurrently with their two last years of high school.
The academy was established by the Texas Legislature in 2005 and began at the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2007. But with the creation of UTRGV, which dissolved UTB and UT-Pan American, legislation also called for the expansion of the academy to the now UTRGV Edinburg campus.
In order to make this happen, the legislation allocated $1 million for the expansion, which was used to repurpose a former office building into the academy and provide students with tuition, necessary materials and laptop computers, said Principal Wilma Smetter.
So far, 328 students have graduated from the academy, and this year they have about 100 students enrolled in the Brownsville campus and 52 in the new Edinburg campus.
Current students represent 14 different high schools, Smetter said, but now that there is a new location they plan to revamp recruiting to let those who were formerly unable to travel to Brownsville know that there’s a new option.
“Our goal is to have at least 200 students in this campus in the next year or so,” Smetter said. “We know that potential is here in the Upper Valley for all kinds of students.”
After graduation, students who receive a 3.0 grade point average or higher and decide to stay at UTRGV also receive a two-year scholarship, she added.
To qualify for admission, students have to meet certain requirements, such as a minimum SAT score of 1070 and an ACT composite score of 23. Once admitted, they have the opportunity to complete 60 to 68 college credits along with their high school degree, but they must also maintain a B or high C average.
“They are freshman to the university but to the academy they are juniors in high school,” explained Melissa Peña, Math and Science Academy program director. “They have full opportunity to utilize what the university offers to them because they are full-time university students.”
These students take college classes along with regular college students, she explained, and have tutors that visit the academy, but can also access these services at the university’s tutoring center, as well as any other service.
Because their entire day is spent in the college campus surrounded by like-minded classmates, students like Nadine McClary, 17, said she quickly forgot about some of the social pressures and was able to focus more on her education.
Less social pressure and the opportunity for more individualized attention and help made her quickly realize she made the right decision, McClary said.
“I never expected to get ‘A’s because I was just a passing student, like I could just go by with a 70,” she said. “But after I came here, I got higher expectations … I don’t regret choosing to come here.”
