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When Samantha Rodriguez was a young girl, her family ritual was to cross the border on Sundays to enjoy an afternoon in Brownsville.<\/p>\n
The family would walk by the Historic Campus of Texas Southmost College every weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve lived in Matamoros my whole life,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cWhen I saw TSC, I asked my mom, \u2018What is that?\u2019 and she answered, \u2018That is a college.\u2019 Ever since then, I would say, \u201cI want to save up and go there one day. I never knew it would actually happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 2022, and Rodriguez crosses the bridge every day, this time as a TSC student. On Dec. 10, she will walk across the stage to receive her Associate of Arts with her family in attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me emotional in some ways to look back then and being here now,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t talk about it much, but my mother has cancer. She always told me you need to graduate, you need an associate degree; you need to be someone. It\u2019s going to be important to my mom that I achieve that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez\u2019s educational journey is common to many who live in Matamoros. She began attending Brownsville ISD\u00a0schools in eighth grade.\u00a0With her good grades, she was given the opportunity to take advanced classes, but the next step was a challenge: learn English to keep up with her peers.<\/p>\n
She had studied some English when she was little, thanks to the help of some Disney videos but being fully immersed in middle school was another level.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really hard for me because all my life was Spanish,\u201d she said. \u201cI took classes in\u00a0Mexico,\u00a0but it wasn\u2019t the same English as in Brownsville.\u00a0It got easier\u00a0when I started making friends in my AP classes. They would help me with homework and understanding lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her two years at Texas Southmost College, she has been extremely involved. As a work-study under Ricardo Vasquez, Director of Multimedia Customer Relations and Communications, she has been tasked with taking photos, creating videos, and assisting with the TSC.edu\/news website.<\/p>\n
“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Ms. Rodriguez,\u201d Vasquez said. \u201cShe is brilliant, hard-working, creative, and a quick learner. Amidst the difficult challenges she has faced, she still\u00a0managed to maintain a high G.P.A., obtain merit scholarships, and now she is graduating Scorpion Strong!”<\/p>\n
Her skills have grown, and she will continue to UTRGV to pursue marketing. \u201cIt has been great,\u201d she said. \u201cI learned a lot. I knew nothing about marketing, multimedia and all the web pages I\u2019ve been helping Mr. Vasquez with. He taught me everything, to be honest. I learned in about a month. He asked me in the interview if I was a quick learner and I definitely am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vasquez said he knew she would be a great fit from her answers.<\/p>\n
“When Ms. Rodriguez interviewed for the work-study position in my department, I mentioned that if hired, she would be learning web development, marketing, and photography,\u201d he said. \u201cI could tell by how her facial expression lit up that she would be a good fit.”<\/p>\n
During her last few days as a Scorpion student, she has plenty of time to reflect on her last two years and her entire life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really special for my family and me. It\u2019s been hard for me during this journey. Crossing the border since eighth grade, I\u2019ve been waking up at five in the morning and sometimes waiting three hours at the bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commute, the waiting, and the learning will all culminate in a memorable moment during Fall Commencement Exercises scheduled for Saturday, December 10th at 11:30 am at TSC\u2019s Jacob Brown Auditorium.<\/p>\n
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