Famed RGV children's advocate Luisa Saenz praises the collaboration of Valley View ISD and UT-San Antonio

Rio Grande Guardian's Podcast

HIDALGO, Texas - The first cohort of students have graduated from Valley View High School with a high school diploma and a minor in Spanish from UT-San Antonio.

Valley View, one of the smallest school districts in Hidalgo County, used to have a similar tie-up with UT-Pan American and then UT-Rio Grande Valley. But these days, the emphasis on helping students that excel in Spanish is being championed by UTSA.

“We're so very happy to receive and celebrate this first group of eight students who are graduating with a Minor in Spanish,” said Glenn Martinez, dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts at UTSA.

“Our director of dual credit always says that dual credits are about more than credit. Dual credit is about creating a relationship, creating a sense of identity with the university. We want these students to feel that they're Road Runners from 10th grade all the way through graduate school. So, we look forward to receiving them on our campus and living in our dorms, eating in our cafeteria, enjoying our sports and our student life that we have prepared for them.”

Asked how the connection between Valley View and UTSA came about, Martinez said: “It came about from a personal relationship. I was employed at UTPA for nine years and began this program with Mr. David de Leon. I was recruited away from UTPA to the Ohio State University. I was there for eight years and then was recruited back to UTSA. And when I came back the first person that I looked up was David de Leon.”

David de Leon is a Spanish language teacher at Valley View. At a school awards ceremony, de Leon awarded Seal of Biliteracy certificates to the eight students. They are Mia N. Cruz, Learsey A. Escamilla, Pedro Espinoza, Sugey N. Gonzalez De La Llave, Sadrach Mancha, Orlando Martinez Cabriales, Nicole Montoya, and Jesus A. Treviño.

Luisa Saenz has been an advisor to Valley View on the Spanish Minor program from the beginning, back when the high school worked with UTPA. In an audio interview with the Rio Grande Guardian, Saenz explained how the program about, giving a lot of credit to Valley’s View’s De Leon. Here is the interview.

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