Going to College in San Antonio

Transcript

Let’s meet David, a high school history teacher who is back in graduate studies at St. Mary’s to make himself an even better teacher. He’s a student in the graduate certificate for dual credit teaching in US history. Originally from Laredo, Texas, he now calls San Antonio his home. He’s gonna tell us why he loves San Antonio and St. Mary’s University. David, you are on.

– Hello, ola, oi, salut, ciao. I’m a high school teacher, an inspirational speaker and a minister of the gospel. I speak five languages and I’m a graduate student here at St. Mary’s. I struggled through school. It took me nine years to finish my first college degree. Along my journey I discovered I had an ability to teach students who were struggling the same way I did. I discovered St. Mary’s graduate certificate program for public high school social studies teachers who were aiming the teach college level courses. It catered to the direction that I was already going. I chose St Mary’s because of accessibility, my graduate certificate program is largely online and because of the university’s efforts to find and nurture teachers. In this time of historical challenges with public schools, St. Mary’s is developing talented teachers who are able to fill in the learning gaps. Think of San Antonio as inclusion city. Walking around the magical downtown or the river walk the inclusion is truly felt all around. San Antonio is the perfect marriage of North Mexican and Texan culture from the many restaurants and museums to the five beautiful missions. Each year, San Antonio has an 11 day party called Fiesta. It celebrates our food, our culture and our music. In fact, St Mary’s often kicks off Fiesta with our 100 plus year tradition, the Fiesta Oyster Bake, which is held right here on campus. With a history dating back to 1852, St. Mary’s exemplifies the same spirit of inclusivity and our history is closely tied with San Antonio’s history. Being in a program designed to cultivate outstanding teachers has taught me that every individual has something special. We all need to find a community where our strengths are identified, nurtured, and celebrated. St. Mary’s did that for me. That’s my life at St. Mary’s and in San Antonio. Back to you, Alex.

– Great story, David. Your dedication to helping high school students succeed is really inspirational, not to mention your own personal story and your love of San Antonio and St. Mary’s is obvious. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences David. That was awesome.