My name is Dean Garcia, and I am the Director of Adult Education at Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari. I have worked in higher education since 2008, but I got into the adult education field in 2016. I have worked in different departments of higher education such as in HR, payroll, student services, and business services. 

When I started in adult education, it was to work more with students who were trying to make improvements in their lives for them and their families. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but working with adult education students became something I am passionate about. Hearing their stories and experiences on what brought them to us made me realize some of the difficulties these students have had throughout their lives. Their passion for learning and to improve themselves is something I look forward to every day in my job. 

Throughout my 9 years in adult education I’ve seen the students that have come in unsure of themselves and shy, and I have seen many blossom in English language classes and high school equivalency as well. Many of these students have also gone on to post-secondary education, completed their education there, and are now in careers that they dreamed of getting into. Those success stories make our field great! 

I want to be able to continue to make those success stories happen for the people in our communities that we serve. Our rural area of the state that we serve brings unique challenges for our students and our program, but we also have the benefit of working with these students in one-on-one or small class settings so that we can really focus in on their needs and how we can best help them succeed. 

In my vision for the future of our program and our field, I hope that we continue to develop IET’s and workforce initiatives where students can get real hands on experience in a career field and go right in to the workforce in good paying careers. This helps our students, their families, and our communities become more prosperous for everyone involved!