DMC News
- Del Mar College alumnus and Texas Standard Digital Producer Raul Alonzo set to give talk about Texas Farm Workers Union on March 17Article by: Richard Guerrero, Jr. Just a few short years ago, Raul Alonzo was a managing editor for The Foghorn, where he assigned stories to student reporters and also wrote news stories about campus events and life at Del Mar College. Today, he’s a digital producer with the statewide public radio daily news magazine, Texas Standard, which airs locally on KEDT 90.3 FM at 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Alonzo is returning to one of his alma maters to give a free guest lecture, “Searching for the History of the Texas Farm Workers Union,” which is hosted by Del Mar College’s Social Sciences Department beginning at 6 p.m. Monday, March 17, in Room 100 in the Venters Building on Heritage Campus. His enlightening lecture is based on the series he wrote years after an inspiring interview that was conducted during his time as a student journalist. On the Texas Standard website, Alonzo writes, “This series has been a dream project I’ve had in mind ever since I interviewed someone who first told me about the Texas Farm Workers Union years ago […] It’s a story of epic strikes and marches, but also one that occasionally brushes up against controversy.” The series on the Texas Standard site can be found at www.texasstandard.org/texas-farm-workers-union-tfwu-history/. Alonzo joined Texas Standard in September 2022 after working several years in design and copy editing for the USA Today Network’s Design Center, the GateHouse Media Center for News and Design, Journal Media Group and the E.W. Scripps Company. Alonzo initially pursued a history degree at Del Mar College before switching to journalism. “Upon switching to Journalism, I got involved with the campus paper, the Foghorn, where I eventually became a Digital Editor and later a Managing Editor for the paper. During my time on the Foghorn staff, I was able to interview such notable figures as author Gary Soto, talk show host Tavis Smiley, and iconic labor organizer Dolores Huerta,” he says. “I was also able to attend the College Media Advisors conference in New York and Chicago during this time.” He also competed and won several awards in Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) annual conferences, including: 1st Place, Newspaper Division 2, General Column 2015 1st Place, Literary Magazine Feature Story 2014 1st Place, TV Advertising (on-site live contest) 2014 3rd Place, General Column 2014 After attending Del Mar College, the Corpus Christi native graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in media arts and a minor in digital journalism from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC). Alonzo made the Dean’s List every semester he was a student at TAMU-CC and was the recipient of two School of Arts, Media, and Communication awards: Outstanding Journalism Student and Outstanding Media Studies Scholar. He was also inducted into the Lambda Pi Eta Communication Honor Society. Alonzo became a staff member of the Island Waves, a student-produced newspaper at TAMU-CC, in fall 2018, and won first place in editorial writing at the 2019 TIPA conference. Alonzo says he’s looking forward to visiting with faculty and staff at the College, which is where he began his educational journey in 2009. “I was really humbled and excited to be asked to come down for this lecture. The story I'll be talking about actually very much starts at Del Mar for me, so to be able to share it at my old stomping grounds is kind of a full-circle moment,” he says. Alonzo’s lecture is open to the public. Details: Monday, March 17, 6 p.m., Guest Lecture by Raul Alonzo, DMC Alumnus and Digital Producer with The Standard. Location: Room 100, Venters Building, Heritage Campus, 101 Baldwin Blvd. (78404), get online directions and campus map. Cost: Free. Questions? Contact Associate Professor of History Dr. Dawson Barrett at dbarrett2@delmar.edu or the DMC Social Sciences Department at 361-698-1228.
- Del Mar College Board of Regents approves Freedom to Dream Tuition Waiver, College launching new pilot program in fall 2025Article by Melinda Eddleman During their workshop today, March 4, the Del Mar College (DMC) Board of Regents unanimously approved a new initiative designed to assist qualifying students with completing their associate degrees during a shorter timeframe while increasing successful student outcomes. The Freedom to Dream Tuition Waiver, a contract commitment between participants and the College requiring full-time attendance, will launch as a pilot program in fall 2025. Interested individuals can find out more about the pilot program at www.delmar.edu/freedom. The pilot program will cover tuition and fees for up to three years and use “first-in funding” from the College for those expenses before students draw from their financial aid or scholarships. The funding model will allow those in the first cohort to use those resources for living expenses and other collegiate-related costs––such as books, gear or program-specific uniforms––so they can attend DMC full-time. First-in funding comes from two sources, including 1) DMC Foundation funds previously donated for the Viking Promise program and approved for use to support the pilot program by its Board of Trustees and 2) the revenue generated from the state’s outcomes-based funding model for community colleges established by House Bill 8 in 2023. Matthew Busby, Vice President of Development and Donor Advising, said, “The Del Mar College Foundation is committed to helping students earn their education via the generous support o of people and companies in our community. Our efforts provide students the means to attain their goals, and in turn, improve their quality of life and that of their families.” “And, for those students who do not meet the pilot program’s qualifications, the Foundation is currently taking online scholarship applications for the 2025-2026 academic year through April 30,” he added. To apply, go to www.delmar.edu/scholarships. The DMC Foundation’s support for the Freedom to Dream Tuition Waiver Pilot Program includes $500,000 each year for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 academic years. Qualifications for the first cohort include: All Qualifying Applicants: • Live in the Del Mar College District (taxing district), which includes the Calallen, Corpus Christi, Flour Bluff, Tuloso-Midway and West Oso Independent School Districts. • Enroll full-time (12 Semester Credit Hours or more). • Maintain a minimum 2.0 grade point average (GPA). • Enroll in a for-credit program or certificate. • Commit to a formal agreement or “contract” to complete their studies withing a three-year period. High School Students: • Graduating among the Class of 2025 or equivalent. • Dual Credit students are eligible regardless of the number of Semester Credit Hours they have earned. Adult Learner: • First-time-in-college student with12 Semester Credit Hours or Less. The College has already developed advising and support services to assist students with keeping on track through DMC Student Retention Services’ enhanced advising, Viking Care Connect and degree planning, along with career development assistance, early alerts and intervention and analytic software to ensure students succeed. The student support plan also encompasses four academic divisions that offer eight program pathways among their combined 16 departments. Among them, approximately 280 full-time faculty provide student advising, along with 11 embedded advisors and five enrollment specialists. To inform students, their parents and adult learners, Del Mar College will hold three information events covering the Freedom to Dream Tuition Waiver pilot program, including: • Saturday, March 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Main Building on the Oso Creek Campus, 7002 Yorktown Blvd. (78414), • Wednesday, April 9, from 3 to 7 p.m. in the Harvin Student Center on the Heritage Campus, 101 Baldwin Blvd. (78404), and • Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Harvin Student Center on the Heritage Campus, 101 Baldwin Blvd. (78404). To learn more about applying for the Freedom to Dream Tuition Waiver, complete the Request for Information at www.delmar.edu/freedom. For directions and campus maps to the information events, visit our website at www.delmar.edu/becoming-a-viking/discover/tours/locations.html.
Foghorn News
- Artists explore identity and heritage in 59th Cain showThe Cain National Art Show opened its 59th year with a selection of 66 curated works centered around identity and how it influences the world. The juror for this year’s gallery, Alejandro Macias, is a Texas native out of Brownsville and Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at the University of Arizona. Macias had the responsibility of curating the displayed artworks out of the 1,020 submissions from across the country, 34 of which were from artists in Texas. He also spoke on his own work the day before the gallery reception, all of which is viewable online at www.alexmaciasart.com or…
- Students learn about impacts of race and inequalitiesAttendees learned the history of desegregation at Del Mar College in the 1950s along with other discussions of racial issues at the “Race Matters: An Afternoon on the Subject of Race” symposium hosted by the Social Sciences Department. The symposium held Feb. 26 featured five professors who each spoke on topics about race, including a timeline of the college’s personal history with integration presented by History Professor Mark Robbins. Robbins explained Corpus Christi’s period of segregation and how it impacted “the day-to-day actions in everybody’s lives to, also, the hallmarks of where we get our opportunity educationally, culturally, or even…