Club Spotlight: The Graduate Rehabilitation Counseling Association

Throughout this academic year, The Rider will explore the student organizations at UTRGV. This is the 13th in our series. The Rider interviewed Ricardo Rendon, president of the Graduate Rehabilitation Counseling Association, for information

President: Ricardo Rendon

Vice President: Itzel Hernandez

Secretary: Paola Quijano

Historian: Erica Hernandez

Treasurer: Jacob Monroy

Adviser: Associate Professor Abdoulaye Diallo

What purpose does the organization serve? “The Graduate Rehabilitation Counseling Association (GRCA) is an advocacy group in support of disability rights and is an extension of the Master’s in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling program. Every semester, we organize a program that prepares emerging counselors to discuss and learn about field-related topics, such as licenses, continuing education, preparation for exit exam, counseling and disability seminars, and volunteer opportunities. We also help establish stronger relationships with our faculty outside of class. Lastly, every semester we organize the hooding ceremony for the graduating candidates in our program. As a team, we encourage students to become advocates and active social change agents in the community. Most recently, we organized the Health Advocacy Summit in efforts to support individuals with chronic illnesses.”

What are the requirements? “Anyone can join our organization. We encourage graduates in our program and undergrads in rehabilitation services to join. However, we believe that anyone can benefit from learning about the work that we do and vice versa. We want to establish relationships with people outside of our field, because that’s how we can change barriers that people with disabilities face: educating others and working together to develop effective solutions. Any student on campus can become a member and we also welcome members of the community to join us. Our meetings are usually in the evenings to accommodate our grad students.”

Meetings: 7:20 to 8:20 p.m. every other Tuesday in EHABW 1.404. Students in Brownsville can join the meetings via ITV in BBRHB 1.222.

Email: utrgv_grca@utrgv.onmicrosoft.com

–Compiled by Jorge Abundiz