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A Significant Milestone on a Journey Janell Casias has long held the dream of a college education. As she steps onto the commencement stage on May 22, 2025, she carries with her a history of challenges that have fueled her resolve. The Distinguished Graduate Award, sponsored by GM Financial, recognizes students for their campus and community involvement, leadership, and dedication to Northwest Vista College. This year, it honors Janell Casias, a student whose journey to this milestone is marked by remarkable resilience and lifelong pursuit of education. Currently a medical assistant and office manager for a pulmonary care group in San Antonio, Janell plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing at St. Philip’s College with a focus on critical care. Looking ahead, she also hopes to establish a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting pregnant teens with mental health resources and other essential services. Janell understands the challenges faced by teen moms. At the age of 14, she became a mother. By 16, she endured the loss of her own mother and navigated early adulthood largely on her own. Demonstrating remarkable resourcefulness, Janell used her savings to buy a foreclosed home with cash at the age of 20. While the remodeling process was lengthy, her four-bedroom, two-bathroom house eventually became the home she envisioned. Janell, who eventually became a mother of four, always knew that college was necessary, yet she prioritized her children and never wanted them to feel like they were an obstacle to her ambitions. Ten years ago, she said she attempted to attend classes, but the demands of raising young children and being in a difficult marriage created significant barriers. The shift towards online learning following COVID provided Janell with a renewed opportunity. With her children now more independent and free from a marriage that stifled her aspirations, she re-enrolled in college. Balancing full-time work with online classes proved to be the key to achieving her long-held educational goal. Reflecting on her journey, Janell has learned a valuable lesson she shares with others: “You have to believe in yourself and make that first step.” For Janell, earning her associate’s degree is a powerful fulfillment of a promise made to her 13-year-old self, a significant milestone on a journey that she confidently knows will continue with pursuing a master's degree. Click Here to Visit the NVC Commencement Webpage

The 2025 Tailar Kai Matthews Memorial Scholarship has been awarded to four deserving current NVC students: Holly Cripps, Jackeline Grimaldo, Robert Ortega, and Ghadeer Ramadan. Tragically passing away in July 2023 in a fatal car accident, Tailar Kai Matthews’ presence was back on campus on May 7 with a scholarship celebration honoring her presence. Dr. Don Lucas and Tailar's mother, Portia Matthews, formed the Tailar Kai Matthews Memorial Scholarship in the fall of 2023. The Tailar Kai Matthews Memorial Scholarship is awarded every spring semester on April 23 (World Book and Copyright Day).  Matthews graduated from Northwest Vista College as a psychology major in May of 2018. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2020, and three years later, her master’s degree in social work, both degrees from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Matthews' passion for her academic journey always included being helpful, giving, and being a voracious reader. The Tailar Kai Matthews Memorial Scholarship honors these three things. Tailar Matthews’ mother, Portia Matthews, said to the winners, “From this day forward, a part of Tailar is with you on your academic journeys.” Scholarship winner, Ghadeer Ramadan, who was with her husband and two daughters, said, “I am committed to honoring the legacy of Tailar through hard work and achievement. Thank you again for your generosity. Your support is not only helping me reach my goals but also inspiring me to give back to others in the future.” Others in attendance at the celebration included NVC President Dr. Amy Bosley, and NVC Social Sciences chair Paul Northway. “It was heartwarming to see the love and lives Tailar touched during her journey at NVC and at the University of Texas at San Antonio, a journey that now continues through the Tailar Kai Matthews Memorial Scholarship,” said Northway. Also, in attendance was UTSA’s Assistant Professor of Social Work, Jelena Todic, and NVC’s Professor of Psychology and Psychology Department coordinator Dr. Don Lucas. “Being an expert in your content area of specialization certainly is a part of being a good professor,” said Dr. Lucas. “But, by far, the greatest part of being a good professor is disseminating content in a fashion that allows students to grow and flourish from making the content their own. This growth and flourishing creates unique bonds between students and teachers. Some of these bonds are never forgotten. Tailar and I have one of these bonds.” Scholarship winner, Jackeline Grimaldo, expressed her thanks to those attending the celebration by noting that within a year, she will be among the first to graduate from NVC with a Bachelor of Applied Technology Degree in Cloud Computing, a feat she credited to scholarship opportunities such as the Tailar Kai Matthews Memorial Scholarship. Another scholarship winner, Holly Cripps, said she’s graduating next year with an associate degree and majoring in psychology.  “This scholarship is especially meaningful to me because I have always had a deep love for reading — something I know was important to Tailar,” Cripps added. “Books have been my refuge, my inspiration, and my source of knowledge throughout life. It feels incredibly special to receive a scholarship that honors someone who shared that same love for reading. I hope to honor Tailar’s memory by continuing to learn, grow, and give back to my community.” Representatives of the newly formed nonprofit organization, The Tailar Way Inc. — Mykala Castille, Gladys Cisneros, Joselyne Gonzales, and Lisa Griffin — donated $2,500 to the Tailar Kai Matthews Memorial Scholarship fund at the ceremony. Sofia Ongay and Molly Wilkes from the Alamo Colleges Foundation officially accepted this generous contribution. The new scholarship winners are now forever linked to the inscription on the Tailar Kai Matthews Memorial Scholarship plaque in the NVC psychology department that reads:  “The greatest gift you’ll leave behind in this world is your book of life. Fill its pages with unapologetic love, roaring laughter, intentional friendships, and a relentless pursuit of the most incredible adventures imaginable.” For application details on the scholarship, contact Dr. Lucas at dlucas@alamo.edu.  

YMCA Summer Day Camps - 2025

NVC Students Earn Top Spot in 2025 iNaturalist Campus Nature Challenge Thanks to their dedication and keen observation skills, NVC students have come out on top in this year’s iNaturalist Campus Nature Challenge. iNaturalist is an online social network of individuals who share biodiversity information. The nonprofit organization helps people identify the plants and animals in their community while generating data for science and conservation. NVC Assistant Professor of Biology, Jose L. Egremy, enrolled more than 50 students in this project which took place April 25 through April 28. Participants were instructed to observe and record the nature around them, and NVC students were more than up for the challenge which consisted of two categories: the Campus Nature Challenge and the City Nature Challenge. In the Campus Nature Challenge, NVC beat other participating campuses in the San Antonio metro area by making 4,753 observations compared to 3,162 observations made by St. Mary’s University students, and 1,867 at Trinity University. “My students were stellar and superb ambassadors for San Antonio and absolutely represented our campus with impressive numbers of documented observations,” said Egremy. “One student contributed 701 observations with a total of 399 species, and another student uploaded 591 observations and recorded 281 species.” Observers from all over the world participated in the 2025 City Nature Challenge. While San Antonio finished second behind the city of La Paz in Bolivia, Egremy said that for three of the four days of the challenge, San Antonio was No.1 in the world. However, San Antonio did rank as the best city in America.

NVC Palmetto Center for the Arts Celebrates the Aesthetics of Water in Latest Exhibit “Water is change, water is movement, and water is healing.” That is the first line of the description for the current exhibit “Blue: Water as a Metaphor,” open through May 9 at the Northwest Vista College Palmetto Center for the Arts Gallery. Curator and artist Sabra Booth will be available for tours every Friday, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The exhibition showcases the diverse works of Booth and Sophie Sanders, transforming the Palmetto Gallery with Sanders' cyanotypes, paintings, and printmaking alongside Booth's sketches, paintings, and woodcut light installations. The exhibit is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Free parking is available in the NVC Lot 10, accessed at the Wiseman Blvd. campus entrance.