Communication senior Jorge Askary Aguirre will wrap up his collegiate career this semester knowing that having a higher-education degree will give him an edge in the job market.
Aguirre began attending UTRGV when it was still legacy institution UT Brownsville in 1999.
“In ’99, I came for a whole year, starting in the spring. Then, that fall, Disney came to UTB for the first time ever, for the [Disney] College Program,” he said. “I was the first generation to go for the program, but after I went, I didn’t want to come back to Brownsville. After that, I went to Dallas and got my associate’s from KD’s Studio Acting Conservatory of the Southwest in 2002.”
After spending some time in Los Angeles working in TV shows, movies and commercials, Aguirre decided to come back to the Rio Grande Valley due to economic struggles.
He then came back to school part time in 2015, before UTB and UT Pan American consolidated to become UTRGV.
“I wanted to start in the fall of 2015, but the advisers told me, ‘If you don’t come back right now for the summer, you’re gonna have to apply to UTRGV as a new student,” Aguirre said. “It was like I was going to have to start all over again, so I started right at the beginning of Summer II.”
He advises entering freshmen to choose a major and commit to it.
“Choose a degree plan and stick to it,” Aguirre said. “Even if you are undecided, just pick something and make sure that you finish it, because one day you are going to want to come back [to school]. It’ll just make you take longer to graduate. What’s important is to have a degree. A lot of jobs want you to have that piece of paper. You may not end up working in your field of study, but at least having that paper will help you financially [in the long run].”
He is one of 1,835 students expecting to receive a bachelor’s degree in less than two weeks.
Of the graduates across both campuses, 15 are earning a doctorate and 650 are receiving a master’s degree.
The commencement ceremonies are scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. Dec. 15 on the Student Union lawn in Brownsville for all colleges and Dec. 16 in the McAllen Convention Center.
Tickets are required to attend the event in the convention center.
In McAllen, the first ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. for the Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship and the College of Health Affairs.
At 1 p.m., the College of Engineering and Computer Science, Education and P-16 Integration, and the College of Sciences ceremony is scheduled to begin.
At 5 p.m., the College of Fine Arts and the College of Liberal Arts will hold their ceremony.
Graduating students who would like to request a specific site have the option to do so by emailing the registrar at registrar@utrgv.edu.
Four hundred ninety-three students are attending the ceremony in Brownsville, while the rest are expected to attend in McAllen.
This fall, the ceremony will also include students who graduated in the summer and did not participate in the spring ceremony.
Consistent with previous commencements, this year’s ceremony will include traditions from legacy institutions UTB and UTPA.
“The really nice part about commencement at UTRGV is that there are a couple of traditions we get to enjoy from previous institutions that include UTB-TSC and what was UTPA,” said Sofia Montes, the university registrar. “Under UTPA, students often gave their stoles to their parents. Sometimes, that stole goes to another significant family member.”
Kristin Croyle, vice president for Student Success, said students who are being honored particularly for their service to the institution will ring the University Bell.
“We will honor graduating student veterans that are attending and veterans who are in the audience,” Croyle said. “We will, of course, honor the students who are receiving academic honors.”
Montes said administrators and faculty are prepared for inclement weather.
“In case of forecasted rain a couple of days in advance, the Brownsville ceremony will be moved to the McAllen Convention Center and no tickets for the students who were going to graduate in Brownsville will be required, but seating is first come, first serve,” she said.
With the extensive preparations that have gone into the ceremony, Croyle urges graduating students to attend the event.
“Students should totally go! Sometimes, students have been working so hard towards graduation, they don’t think about the ceremony being important,” she said. “They’re just happy to be graduating, so they skip the ceremony and oftentimes, regret it later in life. If anyone is planning on skipping, I encourage them to go and reflect on how hard they’ve worked on their degree and to celebrate together with us.”
