Sharp: RGV is what the future of Texas is all about
MCALLEN, RGV - Texas A&M University celebrated the first anniversary of its Higher Education Center in McAllen last week with an event titled Founders Day.
In his remarks, Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp explained the rationale for A&M’s investment in South Texas.
“Many of realized a long time ago that South Texas and particularly the Rio Grande Valley is really what the future of Texas is about. The reason it is is every business that moves into Texas right now doesn’t ask, how much can we get out of the county, how much can we get out of the state. They still try to do it but what they really base their decision on is how many 18-25 year olds live in that county and what is the education level of those kids,” Sharp explained.
“South Texas, everything from San Antonio south, answers that first question better than almost any place in the nation. The second question, that is the important one. What is the education level of those young men and women.”
Sharp said this second question hit home when his good friend, state Sen. Juan Hinojosa asked if he would meet a student who was about to graduate from Texas A&M, and her mother.
He said the story about the student and her mother “was the real genesis” for the Higher Education Center in McAllen.
“We met, and the mother, who spoke very little English, was crying the second she walked in and she was crying the second she left. I asked the student, what’s the matter with your mother and she said, she is a little bit overwhelmed. Why is that? I told her I wanted to go to A&M, and she asked where is it, and when I showed her and she saw it was at the other end of the world, she said that is not going to happen. You go to Kingsville,” Sharp recalled.
The above podcast provides the raw audio from Founders Day. Among the VIPs to speak at the event were Chancellor Sharp, state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, former Congressman Rubén Hinojosa, and businessman Alonzo Cantu.
And Chad Wootton, associate vice president for external affairs at Texas A&M University, explained some of the new projects underway that will be of particular interest to South Texas.
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