Alice ISD student wins migrant award, gets year of college tuition

Emily Fraga, a student from Alice Independent School District, walked away from the ESC2 Center in Corpus Christi with more than recognition. The Migrant Education Program Recognition Award came with a full year of paid college tuition, and Fraga will take that step next at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

For families in Jim Wells County, the award lands as more than a feel-good moment. It shows a clear path from a local public school system to college without the first-year tuition burden that can keep students from enrolling. In a county where college plans often compete with work schedules, family responsibilities, transportation and other costs, that matters immediately.

The honor also puts a spotlight on the Texas Migrant Education Program, which serves about 21,124 eligible migratory students statewide. Education Service Center Region 2 says about 58% of Texas migrant families live in the Rio Grande Valley, underscoring how central South Texas is to the program’s mission. Its purpose is to help migratory students overcome mobility, cultural and language barriers, social isolation and other challenges so they can stay on track academically and move into college or work.

Fraga’s next stop, UTRGV, gives the story a practical finish. The university’s College Assistance Migrant Program is built for first-year college students from migrant or seasonal farmworker backgrounds, and UTRGV says it provides intensive academic services, personal guidance and financial assistance. That support can include tuition and fees, room and board, scholarships, travel, books and other help needed to complete the first year of college.

UTRGV said in 2022 that CAMP received a $2.3 million federal grant to recruit and enroll 45 eligible migrant seasonal farmworker students during their first year of college. The university says eligibility can be based on a student or immediate family member having spent at least 75 days in the past 24 months as a migrant or seasonal farmworker. For Fraga, the award and the university program line up into one clear route: recognition at Alice ISD, a tuition boost, and a first-year bridge into higher education.

The recognition also reflects on Alice ISD’s student-support pipeline and on Region 2’s broader work in South Texas. ESC-2 has publicly recognized Alice ISD and Corpus Christi ISD for earning H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards, another sign that local schools are drawing notice for results that reach beyond the classroom and into the next generation of college-bound students.