Thomas Ray Garcia for Texas State Board of Education, District 2

I dedicated Saturday to meeting voters at the Coastal Bend Juneteenth Festival in Corpus Christi.

I'm grateful for the chance to celebrate this important day over the weekend while also hearing directly from families about the issues that matter most to them.

I had a blast reading aloud If You Give A Mouse A Cookie at Esperanza de Tejas' new Resource Center in Corpus Christi!

I enjoyed being part of this evening's event as the Esperanza team served nearly a hundred meals and distributed dozens of hygiene bags & diapers to families. Thank you Esperanza de Tejas, Inc. for uplifting the community!

Throwback Thursday: South Texas College spotlight

When my debut book of short stories won the bronze award at the 2024 International Latino Book Awards, I felt seen and heard. I wrote these short stories in my early twenties, and they represent my attempt to demonstrate the gritty resilience and unique beauty of the Texas-Mexico borderlands.

It meant a lot to me to represent the Rio Grande Valley at the ILBA that year. I'm also grateful that South Texas College spotlighted the award and connected it to my approach to English instruction.

Every semester at South Texas College, I make sure to assign readings written by authors from border communities in my courses. Why? Because my students are border residents, and they can relate to the content in the readings. As a result, the assignments and class discussions are more rewarding and enriching.

Moreover, these readings grant my students the language to describe their border experiences. These readings unlock new perspectives about what it means to be a fronterizo, and my students carry these perspectives with them into their careers in the trades, business, nursing, engineering, and more.

I'm shocked, but not surprised, when my students tell me our course introduced them to fronterizo writers. They share how they never knew about writers like Gloria Anzaldúa, Rolando Hinojosa, and Américo Paredes. In addition to all the knowledge and skills, I am happy my courses introduce writers like these to my students.

"As an educator, my goal is to show students that their experiences and stories have meaning and worth, both in literature and in life.”

https://news.southtexascollege.edu/english-professor-wins-award-inspires-through-storytelling/

The Texas State Board of Education is changing the way our students learn social studies. I am deeply concerned about this rushed process, which is producing proposed learning standards that oversimplify history, introduce developmentally-inappropriate content to younger students, and contain factual errors.

It’s time to make your voice heard. How?

1. Email our SBOE Member, LJ Francis at [email protected] and CC these email addresses: [email protected] and [email protected] and [email protected]

2. Testify at the State Board of Education in Austin on Monday, June 22nd. Click on the link in the comments to register to testify before Friday at 5 PM, and reach out to me with any questions. Worried about making it to Austin? Reach out, and I will help you.

There are many useful resources to review the most pressing proposals according to grade level and topic. For starters, I recommend “The Social Studies Advocate” linked in the comments.

Moreover, I invite you to reach out to me directly so I can learn about your concerns and direct you to the proposed learning standards that need your voice the most.

This evening, I'm in Corpus Christi supporting the West Oso Education Foundation Gala. These funds support student scholarships and innovative teaching grants.

It was a delight to meet in person foundation co-chair Rick DeLeon and Olga Lara, both fellow Princeton graduates! West Oso ISD Education Foundation

I’ll be speaking at the Texas Democratic Convention on Friday, June 26th. I look forward to sharing my vision for stronger public schools with you in Corpus Christi.

Coastal Bend: Join me and fellow Democratic candidates on Wednesday, June 24th. I'll begin the evening in Victoria at 5 PM and then head down to Corpus Christi for a town hall.

RSVP using the links in the comments.

I'm feeling grateful after yesterday's community gathering. Thank you to everyone who attended, donated, volunteered, and helped spread the word. Community is built one conversation and one relationship at a time, and our stories connect us all.

Throwback Thursday: Hosting college access summer programs

The start of June always reminds me of possibility. In June 2013, I founded the College Scholarship Leadership Access Program (CSLAP) as a volunteer-led summer program for high school seniors seeking help on college admissions.

At age 19, I gathered a team of PSJA ISD graduates to host college access workshops. We then became near-peer mentors to our students. As college students, we used our youth as a superpower; we used our experiences applying to and attending college as the model for our curriculum. We created the program we wished we had as high school students.

Over the years, I met students through our summer programs whom I would not have met otherwise. Students from colonias. Students who were still learning English. Students who excelled, but needed more guidance.

For various reasons, these students were not receiving the support they needed at school. CSLAP served as the community group that showed up for them, all the while giving young people from the Rio Grande Valley a platform to give back to their schools.

While driving on the campaign trail, I reflect often on the students whose lives were transformed by a single piece of information they received from our summer programs. I think about the power of the ripple effect and how our mentors left lasting impacts on students' lives. I carry our students' stories with me.

CSLAP has transformed over the years, and its impact has extended far beyond its summer programs. But the summer programs will always resonate with me. These summer programs served as the beginning of my work in K-12 education.