On March 23, Edinburg CISD signed memorandums of understanding with UTRGV to establish a brand new collegiate high school, which is expected to break ground in around 3 weeks.
High school students will experience advanced placement courses during their freshman and sophomore years, followed by two years of classes taught by UTRGV faculty.
ECISD Superintendent Mario H. Salinas P.hD., said he had heard about a collegiate high school in Harlingen from a consultant in UTRGV, which led to his interest in building a similar school in Edinburg.
“ That peaked my attention, and I said I would like to get into something like that. That’s how it started. He [the consultant] took me to Harlingen, we toured that facility, he put me in contact with people from the university, and before you know it, we’re getting ready to break ground on this facility in a couple of weeks,” Salinas said.
He said poverty is one of the biggest reasons why children don’t get the opportunity to go to college. He believes that a college degree is what will save low income families.
“We’re gonna break the cycle of poverty in our area, at least for the children attending this campus. That’s our goal. That we get them into this high school, where every child 100% knows that they’re going to [graduate] college,” Salinas said.
Director of Special Programs for UTRGV Michael Aldape said that one of the core priorities ever since UTRGV was first established, is the expansion of educational opportunity.
“If we look at educational research and what we know about dual enrollment programs and the opportunities that those then create for students moving forward and the impact it can have on their academics, seeing dual enrollment as a tool that we can use to expand opportunity was a very good fit for us,” Aldape said.
He said that ECISD already had an idea of the academic pathways they wanted to pursue based on both student interest and workforce needs.
“As opposed to us saying we’re gonna design a program and we’re gonna hope that students will want to take advantage of it, we’re building it as a result of what we know the need and the requests already are,” Aldape said.
Public Information Officer for ECISD Lisa Ayala said that this new collegiate high school will give students the opportunity to graduate early free of charge.
”It’s very expensive to go to college, so they’re not only getting these two years of freshman and sophomore completely free, but by the time they get to UTRGV, most likely they will also have those years covered as well,” Ayala said.
She said that this opportunity will be given to students just as long as they are willing to work hard for it.
“It’s just an incredible opportunity for our kids, the inclusivity, the opportunity. All you have to really show is that you’ve got the will to do it, you’ve got the dedication and commitment to be a student,” Ayala said.
Salinas said that unlike other collegiate high schools, where the students graduate with an associate’s degree, it will have students graduating with a bachelor’s degree.
The doors to this new high school are expected to open in January 2024
