Record details
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Tyler Junior College has touched and transformed my family. My mother and father rode the TJC bus from Grand Saline and Van. Mom even played in the band. My older brother and sister both went to TJC as well. All have wonderful memories of their time at TJC. Each of them credits TJC with helping catapult them to the next level of education and career success.
That TJC bus was long gone when my turn came, so I carpooled to TJC from Grand Saline. Some folks may think the prettiest and smartest girls always live in the next town, but in my case it was true! Susan Cole from Van was a TJC Presidential Scholar and so was I. Carpooling and the one class we had together were special for me, but we graduated from TJC and went separate ways to different universities.
We stayed in touch over the years, and it was when Susan was about to graduate from Texas A&M and I was already teaching and coaching in Wills Point that she came home for the weekend and we went out on a date. I took her to TJC where it had all started and proposed to her on a bench behind Jenkins Hall. She said “yes,” and we went for a romantic dinner at Grandy’s, where we had eaten lunch so many times while at TJC.
Susan and I were able to start our future with no college debt. We married, started a family and built a life together, which today is incredibly challenging for most college graduates. (The average 2016 graduate has nearly $40,000 in student debt with an average payment of over $4,200 annually.)
In my school district, over 70% of families earn less than $34,000 annually while the average cost for just one year at a Texas public university is more than $34,000. For most of our students, college and all the advantages it conveys seem impossible, but our school district and our community are going to change that. As part of TJC’s 90th anniversary, TJC and Grand Saline recently launched the Grand Saline TJC Promise Program. Over 60 Grand Saline 9th graders and their parents signed a pledge promising to work hard in school, earn good grades, attend all classes, volunteer in community service projects and graduate college ready with their classmates in 2020. All of our students who keep their promise will earn up to two years of tuition and fees to attend TJC.
Watching the parents and students sign their pledges was especially moving for Susan and me because, as Grand Saline ISD parents, we also signed the pledge with our son Grant, who is in the class of 2020.
The TJC promise programs at Tyler, Chapel Hill, Van, Lindale, and Grand Saline will transform our region by allowing our students to reach their full potential, and we won’t be leaving this incredible pool of talent behind. The Grand Saline community will do all it can to help and I hope all our other communities will as well.
- Biography
- Micah Lewis is the new Superintendent of Schools at his home town of Grand Saline. Micah graduated from TJC in 1990 and his wife Susan graduated in 1991. They have been married for 23 years and have three children: Grant in 9th grade, Gabbie in 7th and Gabe in 3rd. The Lewis’ live on a small farm in Grand Saline with a busy household complete with a few cows.
