Passion for Student Success

Story and photos by: Ricky Jimenez Carrasco

Dr. William Serrata was recently named the new President of the El Paso Community College system by the Board of Trustees. He replaces Dr. Richard Rhodes who had been the head of EPCC for almost 10 years. Dr. Serrata was the Vice-President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at South Texas College in McAllen, Texas. On Thursday, August 23, LULAC and the Fiesta de las Flores Hispanic Cultural Center held a reception at the El Paso Club to welcome Dr. Serrata to his new community.

Many local VIPs, elected officials and educational leaders were on hand to meet Dr. Serrata and welcome him to the area. He, in turn, also had encouraging words for them with his speech. “I want there to exist a passion for student success by raising expectations for those students. El Paso students will rise to those expectations. With that, we will expect more out of ourselves as well, myself included. I want students to be engaged with the college, for them to be involved in all aspects of the school. I want to partner with all the local districts and create a college-going culture from the little ones all the way through to the high schools.”

While being interviewed, Dr. Serrata drew out a general plan for fostering a college minded culture. “I want to facilitate enrollment and attendance to the college. I don’t want there to be excuses for students not to attend EPCC. If a student chooses in the end not to attend, fine, but it will not be because they can’t.”  He stressed how much he believes success begins from an early start. “I’d like to adopt an elementary school from every area school district and work with each superintendent to make that school an example. We need to talk about graduation and model success early on in the student’s lives.”

The focus, though, is on the close to 30,000 current EPCC students across 5 campuses. “We must make academic challenges for those students and find ways for them to succeed. We have to facilitate tutoring, create a positive classroom, and push those students to graduate. All my passion and commitment is to student success. I am fortunate to have a board that holds me accountable to that success and that shares my vision on how to achieve that success.”

Many in the crowd looked forward to working with the new EPCC President. Andy Ramirez, Ysleta school board member, and his wife, Letty, anticipated the new relationship with the college. Both Andy and his daughter attended EPCC. “My daughter appreciated the smaller classes and the learning methods at EPCC, so when she attended UTEP, it wasn’t as much of a shock as going directly there from high school. She just got hired as a 1^st grade teacher, so I know the college works.” Letty stated that, as a parent, she would like to see how he will involve the younger grades and, “I’d like to see him be a leader in the community, to get involved in the community where his students will come from.”

Rosa Kahoe, President of the YISD School Board and Dean of Instruction at the Clint Early College School was impressed by Dr. Serrata’s concern for student success. “With my years of educational experience, I know that every student can learn. It’s about the rigor, to make sure the students are ready to complete in a global economy. You have to be sure to tell the students they can succeed and then be a model for that success. I see Dr. Serrata as a leader in that respect.” I asked Ms. Kahoe what she and Dr. Serrata spoke about.  “He said ‘Anything you need, give me a call’ and, yes, I am going to challenge him to his word. I have many ideas on how to involve the college with YISD and the Clint Early College.”

It was obvious that the community and Dr. Serrata are eager to get to work. He brings an impressive and practical resume that involved working for many years in the South Texas College system, which serves two counties, Hidalgo and Starr, in a similar border community. In his time at STC, enrollment in the college increased 65% to near EPCC levels and graduation rates increased over 90% in a system with more than 90% Hispanic enrollment. At STC, he worked with all the area public school districts to try to change the mindset into a college bound mentality. As he told the crowd, “I want all our area students to want to continue their education, be it El Paso Community College or elsewhere. I want our students not be challenged by the processing and paperwork associated with going to college, but rather by the excellent faculty in our classrooms.”