Is TSC The Way to the Future?
It was established almost a century ago as The Junior College of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Having gone through several name changes, Texas Southmost College is celebrating its 95th anniversary of serving Brownsville and the surrounding communities this year. Brownsville's junior college has gone through several trials and tribulations over the last few decades, but somehow they've managed to establish themselves as a legitimate, viable educational institution.
What was once ridiculed as "Texas Almost College" has emerged as the premier two-year institution of the Rio Grande Valley and Deep South Texas.
The school offers over 40 different associate's degrees and over 20 certifications. You can study anything from architecture to business. You can get your Texas peace officer's certification. And, what may be TSC's biggest draw, you can receive degrees that will help you secure employment in the medical field from respiratory care to the nursing profession.
Its affordable tuition rates also make the school an attractive alternative to those who an expensive, out-of-district four year institution is out of reach.
Nestled in the southern edge of historic Downtown Brownsville, the TSC campus has a rich history all her own. The campus is built among the remains of Fort Brown, an American military installation established as Fort Texas during the Mexican-American War. The city's namesake, Major Jacob Brown, was stationed at the fort and fought against the Mexican Army to help establish and keep the Rio Grande Valley as part of Texas and the United States.
The earthworks of the original six-sided fort are on the grounds of the old Fort Brown Memorial Golf Course, but more modern buildings of the old fort dot the campus landscape, including the Commandant's House, the old hospital and morgue, the old cavalry building, and perhaps the most recognizable building on campus, Gorgas Hall. The army would continue to use Fort Brown to train cavalry soldiers until the fort was officially deactivated in 1945.
The grounds' history as an educational institution is just as colorful as its military past. Texas Southmost College operated as a junior college that would eventually enter into a partnership with The University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg. Students could stay in Brownsville and work on getting a four year degree from Pan Am after starting off in TSC. That agreement changed in the early 1990's when The University of Texas at Brownsville was established. Then the whole campus was reorganized as the University of Texas at Brownsville in partnership with Texas Southmost College. It was the same unique arrangement. Your first two years you were a TSC student, then you became a UTB student your junior and senior years.
I graduated from UTB/TSC under that system.
Eventually, the UTB and TSC partnership would break down and the two schools would split. UT Brownsville would be a stand-alone university for a few years in the early 2010's before merging with UT Pan Am to form the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
The mascot situation would also be somewhat of an imbroglio. TSC's mascot when UTB entered into their partnership was the Scorpion. It then became the mascot for UTB/TSC. When the two schools split, TSC kept the scorpion mascot but changed school colors fromt UT System orange and dark blue back to what I believe was closer to their original color scheme of yellow and a lighter blue. When UTB was flying solo, they changed to the ocelot, and when they merged with Pan Am to form UTRGV, Brownsville's ocelot and Edinburg's bronc were put away in favor of the vaquero.
TSC would regain sole use of all the buildings once shared with UT, including the old Amigoland Mall which had been acquired shortly after the mall lost almost every one of its stores. It has recently received a multi-million dollar renovation and refit. The ITEC building houses several of the technology related degree programs, including the modern drafting and architecture programs.
TSC is evolving and moving forward at breakneck speed.
I will always be proud to have graduated from UTB/TSC. Im glad my class ring says Brownsville on it and I'm glad I remained a scorpion, but the UT System has all but abandoned Brownsville. All UTRGV athletic programs and the bulk of the degree programs are run out of Edinburg. I have always said eventually the UT System will abandon Brownsville completely and stay in Edinburg.
The only school that isn't abandoning us is TSC. If I had my way, I would like to see TSC move forward and evolve from Texas Southmost College to Texas Southmost University. I'd love to see the junior college leap into becoming a four-year university. I know it's a dream, but it'd be nice if we could establish bachelor's degree programs and graduate degrees, maybe even a legitimate certified law school program. We could restart athletic programs and recapture some of the magic we once had when our volleyball team was winning national championships. Maybe we could build a soccer team and offer scholarships to all those soccer players who have to leave home and go play at Kansas Wesleyan because the UTRGV athletic program would rather offer scholarships to students from countries from Eastern Europe. Brownsville is the chess capital of Texas. We could build a championship chess program.
Or maybe a merger with the Texas A&M University System could be in the works? Texas A&M University - Brownsville, or Texas Southmost A&M University has a nice ring to it.
And maybe, just maybe, we can instill some local pride in Brownsville's best and brightest and try to convince them to help make Brownsville a better place rather than add to the Rio Grande Valley brain drain syndrome.
If TSC would become a four-year institution, maybe we can attract a larger population from outside the Valley, prompting the need for student housing that would translate to growing downtown beyond just a fun night spot with nightclubs and restaurants. Maybe those downtown buildings can put their upper floors to use as apartments and lofts.
Brownsville is looking for someone to take us into the atmosphere. Maybe we've been looking in the wrong place. Maybe the real launchpad isn't out at Boca Chica Beach.
Maybe its been nestled in the southern edge of historic Downtown Brownsville all along.
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