EVENT: The 2013 Student Send-Off will honor new students from the lower Rio Grande Valley who are about to attend The University of Texas at Austin. This year marks of the 20th anniversary of this event, which will feature Bill Powers, president of the university.
WHEN: Tuesday, Aug. 6, 6 p.m.
WHERE: International Bank of Commerce, 1600 FM 802, Brownsville, Texas.
WHO: Hosted by the Brownsville Texas Exes Chapter.
BACKGROUND: The Brownsville Texas Exes Chapter has invited 118 students and their parents to attend the celebration. UT Austin alumni who attended some of the first send-offs of the mid-1990s also will be present.
The Rio Grande Valley send-offs provide Austin-bound students and their parents an opportunity to talk with university officials about the transition to campus life. They began in 1993 as a partnership between the university and constituents in the Rio Grande Valley to welcome students and to assure parents that the students are in good hands. The Rio Grande Valley model became so successful that similar send-offs were later started in other areas of Texas.
The university has established the Valley Admissions Center at 2102 Treasure Hills Blvd. in Harlingen to assist high school students interested in attending The University of Texas at Austin.
University and Texas Exes representatives traveling from Austin for the event include Linda A. Hicke, dean of the College of Natural Sciences; Victor B. Sáenz, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Administration, College of Education; and Oscar H. Casares, associate professor in the Department of English, College of Liberal Arts.
