{"id":2212,"date":"2017-11-07T15:57:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T15:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2212"},"modified":"2017-11-07T15:57:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-07T15:57:03","slug":"tstc-serves-students-honor-national-make-a-difference-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2212","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Serves: Students Honor National Make a Difference Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(HARLINGEN) &#8211; Driving down the south side of Harlingen on a chilly October Saturday morning, it was easy to spot Texas State Technical College student leaders working to beautify the city during National Make a Difference Day.<\/p>\n<p>At least 180 students joined forces with Keep Harlingen Beautiful, City of Harlingen Parks and Recreation, Coakley Middle School and Marine Military Academy to plant flowers and shrubs along 12 canal banks.<\/p>\n<p>TSTC Coordinator of Student Life Belinda Palomino said this project has been the largest in scale they have done to date and she is proud of the outcome.<a href=\"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/TSTC-MakeDifferenceDay-72dpi.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2213 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/TSTC-MakeDifferenceDay-72dpi-300x214.jpg\" alt=\"National Make a Difference Day 2017\" width=\"300\" height=\"214\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/TSTC-MakeDifferenceDay-72dpi-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/TSTC-MakeDifferenceDay-72dpi.jpg 504w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the lack of better terms, my students killed it,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of their commitment and dedication to getting this project done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From start to finish, the project took four hours &#8212; with a minor glitch that was solved with some teamwork.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe truck our pavers were on got a flat tire, but thanks to the collaboration by city employees and our volunteers we were able to continue our project and beautify the community for its residents,\u201d said Palomino.<\/p>\n<p>The project was valued at more than $47,000 with volunteer hours accounting for $8,800, saving the city some money.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is so great getting to work with students who are so committed to their community,\u201d said Palomino. \u201cI\u2019m grateful to each and every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>TSTC Student Government President Isela Rodriguez was one of the team leaders for the project. She said what made the project even more worthwhile was the support they were receiving from the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople were honking and yelling \u2018good job\u2019 and stopping by to compliment our work and show their support,\u201d she said. \u201cEven Harlingen City Commissioner Victor Leal stopped to talk to us. The positive feedback we got was encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell also addressed the group and showed his support and appreciation for the project and everyone\u2019s hard work.<\/p>\n<p>Rodriguez went on to say that the day was exciting and she is thankful to everyone who came out to work alongside them to make National Make a Difference Day a success and make a difference in the community.<\/p>\n<p>In a survey taken by the student volunteers, it was evident they shared Rodriguez\u2019s sentiment and agreed that this project gave the residents of Harlingen a cleaner environment, increased the value of the community and made people happier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe success of this project was a group effort,\u201d said Rodriguez. \u201cIt was a mission impossible, but we made it possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>National Make a Difference Day was also honored with community service events at TSTC\u2019s 10 other campuses statewide.<\/p>\n<p>For more information on TSTC and its programs, visit tstc.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(HARLINGEN) &#8211; Driving down the south side of Harlingen on a chilly October Saturday morning, it was easy to spot Texas State Technical College student leaders working to beautify the city during National Make a Difference Day. At least 180 students joined forces with Keep Harlingen Beautiful, City of Harlingen Parks and Recreation, Coakley Middle [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harlingen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2214,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212\/revisions\/2214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}