More than 100 students in the Socorro Independent School District’s early college high schools and Health Professionals Academy (HPA) celebrated earning their associate degrees from El Paso Community College on Dec. 15, 2023, at stole ceremonies hosted by the high schools. The stoles represented the milestone achievement and the degree they earned through the district’s innovative partnership with EPCC.
Students like Victoria Leyva in SISD’s early college high school programs earn an associate degree and/or 60 college credit hours at no cost while earning a high school diploma.
Graduating high school with an associate degree will allow Leyva, a senior at Pebble Hills Early College High School, to finish her university studies in about half the time.
“I want to go to medical school, so I saw doing early college as a point of me being able to take off two years off of the long journey that I have ahead of myself,” said Leyva, one of 21 students who participated in the stole ceremony on Dec. 11.
Socorro ISD has the most early college high schools in the region, offering the program at all six comprehensive high schools in the district and Mission Early College High School, the first early college program in the district region and among the first to open in the state.
“This was one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made for myself,” said Alexa Martinez, who plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin or the University of Texas at El Paso after she graduates from Mission Early College High School in June 2024. Martinez was one of 39 students who participated in the school’s stole ceremony on Dec. 6. “You really get a glimpse into college life, so I think this really prepared me.”
Socorro High School’s stole ceremony on Dec. 6 not only celebrated 12 students from Socorro Early College. The ceremony also featured six HPA students who were the first to earn their associate degrees through SISD’s partnership with Texas Tech University Health Science Center (TTUHSC) Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing (GGHSON) pipeline program.
The program offers students an opportunity to complete all prerequisites in high school and earn an associate degree from EPCC. After they graduate from high school, students can apply to the TTUHSC GGHSON Bachelor of Science in Nursing program.
“The students are excited about completing their career very early on,” said HPA Coordinator Dr. Fabiola Armendariz. “The program is very rigorous. They have been putting in long hours, but ultimately, they’re done. They feel like they have accomplished something great, and now they can focus on their industry certification and focus on getting accepted into nursing school in the fall.”
TTUHSC created the pipeline program to address the community’s nursing shortage, said GGHSON Assistant Dean Manny Santa Cruz. He noted that students accepted into TTUHSC’s nursing program can earn their degrees in 16 months and graduate from the university at 19 or 20 years old.
“This is amazing for our community, and what’s so nice about this process is they stay in the community because we do need nurses really bad,” Santa Cruz said. “The demand is there. Whatever we can do to increase that number (of nurses), that’s what we’re here for.”
Aisa Jara’s father, a radiologist, inspired her to join the HPA program. The future nurse remembers tagging along with him when he went to work at UMC. She said the pipeline program was challenging and a lot of hard work but well worth it.
“It was a lot of help, not only financially, but mentally; it allowed me to mature at an exponential rate compared to those around me,” Jara said. “It allowed me to discover new passions I didn’t know I had and fuel more desires I want to fulfill.” Other stole ceremonies included 25 students at Rams Early College at Montwood High School, eight students at Trailblazer Early College at Americas High School, four students at Empire Early College at El Dorado High School and 20 students at Falcon Early College at Eastlake High School.
Empire Early College at El Dorado High School stole ceremony event photos
Falcon Early College at Eastlake High School stole ceremony event photos
Mission Early College High School stole ceremony event photos
Pebble Hills Early College at Pebble Hills High School stole ceremony event photos
Rams Early College at Montwood High School stole ceremony event photos
Socorro Early College at Socorro High School and HPA stole ceremony event photos
Trailblazer Early College at Americas High School stole ceremony event photos