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Socorro ISD recognition highlights instructional aides, longtime staff and extracurricular mentors
Summary
Socorro ISD speakers praised instructional aides and support staff for work with at-risk students, longtime service across campuses and leadership of extracurricular programs; remarks stressed relationships, small-group instruction and staff collaboration.
Socorro ISD staff and presenters used a recognition segment to spotlight instructional aides and support employees for their work with at-risk students, longtime service across multiple campuses and leadership of extracurricular programs.
The principal at Mission Early College High School (speaker S2) recalled recognizing the aide from prior years when she served as a principal secretary and described her as "helpful, caring, supportive" and a "steady guiding light" for both staff and students. The principal said the aide’s approachable presence eased the transition when they took on a new campus leadership role.
A speaker identifying as a long-serving staff member (S3) said it was ‘‘great pleasure’’ to be recognized after "40 plus years" in the schools, listing prior assignments at SOTA High School, Hanks High School and Montwood. "They have the same respect for me from one school to the next," the staff member said, adding that the recognition validated decades of work.
Remarks about classroom practice emphasized planning and small-group instruction. One presenter said the instructional aide meets with teachers before lessons, understands the lesson plan and "creates that one group, that station" for independent practice so students receive more targeted support. The aide (speaker S1, in first-person remarks in the transcript) said the work built personal confidence and that encouragement she tells students—"don't give up"—has become a message she now applies to herself.
Several speakers described staff who extend support beyond academics. A presenter praised a male staffer for organizing a basketball league and running a gardening club, saying "there is nothing that he won't do for" students and that he "motivates us to want to be better." A staff member who identified work at Rojas and SISD (speaker S7) described everyday interactions—high-fives in the hallways and helping students with small crises such as a flat tire—that he called his own reward for the job.
One staff member described a career path that began as a substitute, included serving as an ELPAC (as written in the transcript), and has led to pursuing alternative certification to teach at SISD, highlighting the district’s pathways for paraprofessionals seeking classroom roles. Presenters repeatedly emphasized that students feel safe and valued when staff invest in relationships and consistent support.
The segment mixed personal reflections, specific examples of student support and descriptions of extracurricular programs; speakers framed the staffers’ roles as both instructional and relational. The transcript includes two spellings for a staff name—"Turon" and later "Sturon"—and uses the acronym ELPAC as written; the transcript does not supply full legal names for most speakers or an explicit meeting name. The remarks concluded with speakers expressing pride in staff dedication and the value of classroom and extracurricular connections for students.
