United States Secretary of Education, Dr. Miguel A. Carmona, visited STC Ascender alumni, Mr. Adolfo Pecina’s classroom at Austin ISD Webb Middle School on Friday, March 10. Pecina, formerly from Rio Grande City, is currently a first-year teacher.

Dr. Carmona talked to Pecina’s students, who are recent immigrants, about the importance of education and being bilingual. Cardona is traveling the country to learn first-hand from local educators, students and parents about their multilingual and multicultural education programs. Cardona says, “We believe firmly that to get our students to succeed anywhere in the world we need to promote multilingualism. And we have $1.2 billion in the budget for multilingualism. (https://cbsaustin.com/newsletter-daily/)

Cardona’s stop in Austin comes after his Raise the Bar: Lead the World trip, where he promoted “academic excellence” and created “pathways for global engagements by providing every student with a pathway to multilingualism.” (https://www.kvue.com/amp/article/news/