RIO GRANDE CITY, RGV - South Texas College is the main reason Starr County’s economic fortunes have taken a big upswing, say local community leaders.
Starr County Commissioner Eloy Garza said as much at an all-day economic development forum hosted jointly by Starr County Industrial Foundation and STC. The event was held at STC’s Starr County campus in Rio Grande City.
“The best thing that every happened to Starr County is South Texas College,” Garza said, in his introductory remarks. There was warm applause.
Garza praised the late Manuel Benavidez for helping bring a community college to Starr County in the mid-1990s. When Benavidez died, his daughter Rose replaced him on the STC board of trustees.
Later, at the economic development forum, Garza spoke in-depth with the Rio Grande Guardian about the early days of South Texas Community College, as it was then called. Garza was joined in the conversation by Dr. Tony Falcon, like Garza a Starr County native.
“I attended TSTI in Harlingen,” Garza explained. “I was learning to be an auto mechanic and Manuel Benavidez was in welding, if I am not mistaken. We graduated and came back to this community.”
Garza said Benavidez then went to Houston in search of employment but was forced to come home when he injured his back and could not work.
“We met up and he said, ‘you know what, I think it would be a good thing if we brought TSTI here and created a college in Starr County.’ I said, ‘that is a good idea but it is going to be next to impossible. But, we can try’.”
Garza recalled how he, Benavidez and a few other friends raised money for the effort. This was in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
“I put in $1,500 out of my pocket and Manuel put in $1,000 and then we headed off with a couple of other guys who pitched in a couple of thousand bucks and we started a campaign here in Starr County,” Garza recalled.
“When the election came around, during early voting, we would set up booths at HEB and I saw personally the prior administration of the local school district vote against the college.”
Garza said some of the leaders of the local school district thought a community college would be competition. However, he said it was clear local residents wanted a community college.
“We had farmworkers who would come in after picking cantaloupes and vote. People would stop by having been working in the fields, they had mud on their boots and we said, ‘don’t worry about it, we will clean it up later.’ All the people wanted to vote for a college.”
Garza remembers one guy coming up to him and saying, ‘which politician is stupid enough to go tell everyone to vote for this bond and raise their taxes.' I said, ‘well I am one of them and I am not stupid.”
Garza said he made a commercial to help explain the rationale for voting for a bond issue to help establish the community college.
“The bond would have added an additional $15 or $20 extra a year to a person’s tax bill. But, I pointed out that if you want to go to McAllen to register for classes, you have to pay for the gas, maybe have lunch, and you can spend $25 on one trip. I said, ‘what is the deal?’ We made it work and, fortunately, we in Starr County mustered enough votes to offset Hidalgo County, which went against us.”
Garza said after the election victory, Gov. Ann Richards appointed Manuel Benavidez to the STCC board of trustees.
“I had a very good relationship with the governor at that time. There was a bunch of us that pushed to have Mr. Benavidez become a board member of the college. Then Rose came on board after her dad died. She has followed in his footsteps and has gone beyond what he did. There is no question, South Texas College is the best thing that ever happened in Starr County.”
Dr. Falcon was listening to Garza tell the story of STCC in the early days. When Garza said STC was the best thing to happen to Starr County, Falcon said: “Without a doubt. There are so many of our kids that were, for example, nurse’s aids that are now RN’s because of the college. It is not that they were intellectually unable to do it. If you are interested there is always a way.”
Earlier, Falcon had been on a panel discussing healthcare in Starr County. The other panelists were Dr. Jose Vasquez, chairman of the board of directors at Starr County Memorial Hospital, and Dr. Carlos Cardenas, a co-founder of Doctors Hospital at Renaissance.
Falcon opened his remarks by praising STC.
“It is amazing the transition of the landscape, over the years. I have spent 40 years of my professional life here. This (STC) has probably been the single most important event to create economic activity, growth and prosperity for our community. And for those who were involved in the initial phase, trying to get STCC to have a campus here at Rio Grande, we should be eternally grateful.”
Dr. Cardenas was also full of praise for STC.
“I am blown away by this facility. This step that STC took when it decided to put a facility here is a game changer. It was a game changer in Hidalgo County,” Cardenas said.
“We now have the ability to train the next generation of workers who are going to be required to have a certain level of education to participate in what I see as a true transformation of the delivery of healthcare and the jobs and economic development it will bring.”
Like Manuel Benavidez, Gary Gurwitz was a founding trustee at STCC. Gurwitz could not make the economic development forum in Rio Grande City because he was out of town. However, he later told the Rio Grande Guardian about the importance of Starr County to the overall success of STC.
“Obviously, when we got created we were trying to determine where we would establish our campuses. Starr County was an obvious choice. We had to figure out where in Starr County. We found a location. It was nothing but a high school when we got out there. And the hospital was nearby,” Gurwitz said.
“They (Starr County community leaders) were absolutely all on board for the college from the word go. You can look at the election results. We have passed two bond issues and they (Starr County) made the majority vote. Without that majority vote we would not have passed these bond issues. Without these bond issues we would not have the community college we have in this county, much less Starr County.”
Gurwitz said what he likes the most about STC’s presence in Starr County is the way the whole community utilizes the college’s facilities.
“They recognize that the college is part of the community and they utilize our facility. They meet there, they have adopted us and we are tickled to death to provide services to them. It has been a wonderful relationship. I wish we well thought of in this community (Hidalgo County) as we are in Starr County,” Gurwitz said.
Gurwitz added: “I want to give a shout out to our trustees, Rose Benavidez and Manuel before her. They have been great to work with. We are very happy to be in Starr County. They appreciate us and we appreciate them.”
Editor's Note: The main image accompanying the above feature shows Dr. Tony Falcon and Starr County Commissioner Eloy Garza.
Editor’s Note: The above feature is the third in a three-part series on South Texas College. Click here to read Part One. Click here to read Part Two.
