NVC Instructor and Student Show Why Mentorship Matters
National Mentoring Month is observed in January, but mentoring students is something Northwest Vista College Business Instructor Dr. Chunnisee Jackson does year-round. Dr. Jackson began teaching at NVC in 2024. She had previously been a teacher at John Marshall High School in San Antonio. That’s where she first met NVC student Ivette Hernandez, who was a freshman in her business class at Marshall. At that time, Hernandez and her classmates were attending Jackson’s class online because of the pandemic. Neither one of them could have predicted that their online introduction would grow into a lasting friendship and blossom to a mentorship beyond high school, and continue at NVC.
Jackson was the only business teacher at Marshall and students, such as Hernandez, who chose to earn the business administration endorsement, took her classes from freshman to senior year.
“Throughout that time, we built a relationship. I saw Ivette progress through her high school career, and she was very inquisitive,” said Jackson. “We discussed a lot of things in regard to what she was going to do after high school.”
Hernandez, who graduated from Marshall in 2024, said Jackson was always there when she needed someone to talk to – both as a teacher and friend.
“I find it really like a mother/daughter relationship,” said Hernandez.
Jackson, who was working on her Ph.D. in Education back then, still found time to assist Hernandez and her other students with their college applications, sign up for orientations, and more. She also made sure her students knew about the benefits of AlamoPROMISE and encouraged them to enroll in the program. Hernandez took her teacher’s advice and is now an AlamoPROMISE student attending NVC.
When Jackson first learned that Hernandez wanted to go to NVC, she showed her how to start the FAFSA application that Hernandez then completed with her parents.
“I helped her get through that process and then she found out she was admitted, which was crazy because that’s when I started my interview process with Alamo Colleges,” said Jackson. “As my students were getting accepted into Northwest Vista, I was also going through my interview process and throughout the summer I got hired.”
Since becoming an instructor at NVC, Jackson has run into several of the students she taught at Marshall, including Hernandez, who to her surprise, was in her 2025 spring semester business class.
Hernandez said just as in high school, now at NVC, Jackson is there for her as a mentor and a friend.
She believes it's important to have an older person’s perspective, someone other than a parent who might have a different point of view. “Having Ms. Jackson as my mentor has helped me view college differently because she’s gone through the college experience.”
As many students have done over the years, Hernandez chose to give her mentor a small, but meaningful gift to show just how much she values their friendship. During one of the visits to her office, Hernadez brought Jackson three, little rubber ducks to add to her collection.
Jackson, who also has a mentor, believes that mentorship and relationship-building are very important. “I always tell students the things that you do now can impact your decisions later. And so, you want to be able to have healthy relationships, you want to be able to communicate in a healthy way,” she said. “You want to value yourself, believe in yourself, and know that you are capable of anything you put your mind to.”
For information about NVC’s Faculty-Student Mentoring program, click here: https://www.alamo.edu/nvc/fsm
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