San Antonio, TX- On May 25th, Building A Purpose held its end of the year Social Event to recognize its volunteers, present a scholarship and connect students with South San Alumni who are now leaders in the San Antonio area.
The event recognized over 45 volunteers and mentors that gave their time and completed over 700 volunteer hours during the 2017-2018 school year. Building A Purpose volunteers come from a variety of different fields that include: CEO’s, Congressmen, current and former City Council members, Engineers, Pharmacists, and Teachers to name a few. Building A Purpose (BAP) brings these professionals together to guide students in career fields of their choice.
The ceremony also recognized outstanding student Estefania Martinez Torres who successfully completed the three phases of the mentoring program, Choose, Build and Be. The last phase emphasizes student’s ability to understand their chosen field, and create a career tree with a plan to achieve their professional goals.
“El que quiere puede”
Perhaps the greatest part of the event was the “5 Decades of South San Success”, including BAP Board President Juan Elias, Judge 131st District Norma Gonzalez, CEO/President of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce Richard Perez, Executive Director for Community Partnerships SW-ISD Jesse Garcia, and MIT Mechanical Engineer Yoshio Perez.
This distinguished panel discussed their personal journey to success and shed a light on what it meant to be a South San Bobcat.
“What was your greatest lesson learned while at South San?”
“You need to always have a plan of where you’re going but never forget where you came from… don’t forget to come back to this community and keep giving”, said Jesse Garcia
When asked for the one piece of advice they would like students to take with them, Richard Perez said “if you do good things, good things will come to you… don’t be afraid to do the right thing”
Judge Gonzalez shared her piece of advice, which mentioned taking a chance on oneself and encouragement to “Go for it. If you fail, get yourself back up… don’t sit around at our age and regret something you didn’t try”
Board President Juan Elias, shared his story as a migrant worker, Vietnam Veteran and Educator, “at 43 years old I graduated from UTSA with a teaching degree.. That was the best thing to ever happen to me. That is what puts (brings) me here”
While Garcia took a more personal approach and spoke about the lessons learned from his mother who reminded him that “El que quiere puede”, those who want it will do it.
Garcia continued by stating that “It was the biggest challenge, and I’ll never forget when I did graduate my mom told me those same words the day of graduation”.
Through this program BAP aspires to connect leaders and professionals in the San Antonio community with students who may otherwise not know someone in their chosen career field. It aims to provide resources to students, that can inspire and empower them to follow their dream.
The Building A Purpose mission is to focus the interest of student and engineer them a promising future, by connecting them with professionals of their choice.
Thank you to our wonderful Group of professionals and congraduations to our South San Early College Freshmen who completed the Choose,Build,and Be phases. We are encredibily excited as you transistion into BAPSAT Program and remember to apply Here.
LET’S START BUILDING!!!
Thank you to our wonderful Group of professionals and congraduations to our South San Early College Freshmen who completed the Choose,Build,and Be phases. We are encredibily excited as you transistion into BAPSAT Program and remember to apply Here.
LET’S START BUILDING!!!