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MCALLEN, Texas - Educator Beatrize Valenzuela received one of the biggest cheers at South Texas College\u2019s 2nd Annual Apprenticeship Summit.

The Region One Education Service Center STEM/CTE specialist received warm applause following her opening remarks during a panel discussion on partnerships and apprentice perspectives.\xa0

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Education and Math. CTE stands for Career & Technical Education.\xa0

\u201cHi, good morning everyone. My name is Beatrize Valenzuela and I was a teacher at La Joya ISD 19 years. This is my second year working with Region One. I have the honor of being STEM/CTE specialist for one of the GEAR UP grants called Pathways to the Future.\xa0

\u201cIn my 19 years as an educator I worked in low socio-economic communities. I was in Sullivan City for ten years, and then I was in Pueblo De Palmas. So I worked with those students from low income communities.\xa0

\u201cI was in love with what I did. And those students have so much potential, but nobody was tapping into it because they were in rural areas. There were not a lot of teachers there that have a STEM background.\xa0

"So, when my students started asking for that assistance and I didn't have it, I made it my personal goal to learn. I started learning about robotics, I started learning about coding, I started learning all about STEM, and I started taking it to those communities and, lo and behold, they started placing and winning at the state level.\xa0

\u201cYou know, we started to see that passion ignited in those communities and that's when I said, Oh my gosh, we are not tapping into the talent and potential that we have out there.\u201d

After her remarks, the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service secured an exclusive interview with Valenzuela. In the interview she pointed out that a four-year college degree is not for every student. She said some students can make very good money by learning a trade. Indeed, she said she has a family member who did not do well in school but learned a trade and is now earning more than she is.\xa0

Here is the interview:

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