TOMBALL, Texas – When Magdalena Mendoza was a little girl, her dream was to one day work at LSC-Tomball. On June 1, her dream will come true, serving as LSC-Tomball’s Title V Grant Manager. “I’m so excited,” Mendoza, 27, said. “This is such a huge responsibility.”
What’s more exciting, Mendoza stressed, is that LSC-Tomball is the place in which she literally grew up. She spent days, nights, and some weekends here with her mother, Maria Mendoza, a team member of LSC-Tomball's Custodial Services, who has worked at the college for more than 27 years.
“Our family used to have dinner here at night, because of my work schedule cleaning,” said Maria Mendoza, who was eight months pregnant with Magdalena when she started working at LSC-Tomball.
“When she was a little girl, I remember her helping me clean tables,” recalled the elder Mendoza. “She used to say that she wanted to come to college here and work here one day. I would always encourage her, but in the back of my mind, I thought that was impossible when I looked at how much college costs and how much money we had, but look at her now.”
Magdalena Mendoza’s position as LSC-Tomball’s Title V Grant Manager comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Education awarding Lone Star College more than $4.6 million to help improve the academic attainment of Hispanic students through a five-year Title V grant. Of that $4.6 million, LSC-Tomball was awarded $2,039,976.
The purposes of the Title V grant is to expand educational opportunities for Hispanic students, improve the academic attainment of Hispanic students, expand and enhance the academic offerings, program quality, and institutional stability of the colleges and universities that educate the majority of Hispanic students, and help large numbers of Hispanic and other low-income students complete postsecondary degrees.
Mendoza graduated from LSC in 2011 before transferring to the University of Houston-Downtown to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Communication Studies in 2014. She will graduate in May from Texas A&M where she will receive a Master of Science in Educational Administration with a specialization in Student Affairs Administration.
Dr. Jackie Thomas, LSC-Tomball Chief Strategist and the person who hired Magdalena Mendoza, said he is very excited to have her onboard, and is looking forward to what the future holds. Magdalena Mendoza noted that one of the things she wants to make a priority in her new role is to promote student outreach within the Hispanic community and student involvement.
“I want students to know that this is a community college, but you can have the same experience here as you would at a four-year college,” Magdalena Mendoza stressed, before adding, “Having a sense of
involvement and a feeling that this is home for us all provides a really enriching experience for students.”
Magdalena’s mother said of her daughter, “She went to college here first and now she will work here. I’m so happy. She told me, mom, I want to thank you.”
Lone Star College-Tomball is located at 35000 Tomball Parkway, at the intersection of SH 249 and Zion Road. For more information about the college, call 281.351.3300 or visit LoneStar.edu/Tomball.