Mineola High School graduates will soon have the opportunity to earn up to two years of a college education at Tyler Junior College through the “Mineola TJC Promise.”
The agreement between TJC and Mineola ISD was signed at the MISD Board of Trustees meeting Monday evening by TJC President Dr. Juan E. Mejia and Mineola Superintendent J. Cody Mize. The Mineola TJC Promise program will officially launch during August 2021, and the inaugural class will enter TJC during the fall semester of 2025.
Mineola High School freshmen will sign the Mineola TJC Promise pledge agreements and promise to meet established standards based on academic achievement, persistence, and community service. Their parent or guardian will also sign the pledge to provide an environment that will promote and encourage the student to achieve the standards during high school.
The TJC Promise helps East Texas students achieve their educational goals in high school and college and offers a pathway for them to earn a college education. It is a six-year, comprehensive program that spans from ninth grade through the first two years of college.
In 2014, the Rusk TJC Citizens Promise became Texas’ first community-based promise program when it was created in partnership with Citizens 1st Bank, the Perkins family, TJC,
and the Tyler Junior College Foundation. The Rusk TJC Citizens Promise offered TJC scholarships to qualifying Rusk High School seniors, and its first cohort graduated from TJC in May 2016.
Mineola ISD Superintendent J. Cody Mize (left), and TJC President Dr. Juan E. Mejia sign agreement for the “Mineola TJC Promise” at the MISD Board of Trustees meeting on Monday.
The TJC Promise scholarship initiative was established in 2016 to provide a pathway to college for high school students within TJC’s tax district including Tyler, Chapel Hill, Grand Saline, Lindale, Van, and Winona. The first cohort of TJC Promise scholars included 385 students who entered TJC in Fall 2020. The Mineola TJC Promise is a new program offered outside of TJC’s tax district.
Superintendent Mize, an alumnus of TJC, was part of the original leadership team that developed and launched the TJC Promise program in 2016 when working with Winona ISD. Mize stated, “I am proud that Mineola ISD is establishing this new program, which will encourage our students to be successful in high school and to pursue and complete a college education.”
President Mejia remarked “TJC values authentic partnerships that help ensure student success. We are very grateful to the community of Mineola and Superintendent Mize for collaborating with the College on the new Mineola TJC Promise.”