(HARLINGEN, Texas) – Texas State Technical College’s Harlingen campus and The PossAble Dream Adult High School have partnered to create a career pathway for adults to earn a high school diploma and transition into technical education.
TSTC’s leadership team hosted a partnership ceremony at the college’s Welcome Center on Wednesday, Sept. 9, to support The PossAble Dream Adult High School’s Harlingen site. Through a memorandum of understanding, TSTC is providing space for the adult high school to serve students ages 18 to 50 who have not completed high school, expanding access to a tuition-free high school diploma in the Harlingen community.
“This partnership gives adults who may have faced barriers to completing high school an opportunity to pursue their educational and career goals, develop their talents and create a stronger future for themselves and their families,” said Gina Cano-Monreal, provost of TSTC’s Harlingen campus.
Daniel P. King, founder and board president of The PossAble Dream Foundation and a former superintendent of the Hidalgo and Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school districts, said the new location at TSTC allows students to see the opportunities available to them beyond earning a high school diploma.
“They are surrounded by technical programs and pathways that could lead directly to jobs that are in demand,” he said.
For adult students, having The PossAble Dream High School in Harlingen can help remove barriers associated with distance and transportation while making higher education more accessible.
Darcia Cuellar, superintendent of The PossAble Dream Adult High School, said several students from the organization’s Brownsville site have transferred to Harlingen because the new location provides an option closer to home.
“It is considered a best practice to have an adult high school located directly on a college campus,” she said. “Students are already in a college environment and experiencing college life, which makes higher education feel more real and approachable.”
King said adults who return to school after five, 10 or even 20 years can use the opportunity as a starting point for building a new future.
“They are all capable of achieving all their dreams,” he said.
For more information about TSTC, visit TSTC.edu.