Twenty years of free Catholic education

By Eddie Garcia

The Valley Catholic

BROWNSVILLE  — In 2002, Guadalupe Regional Middle School opened its doors with a mission to transform lives and create opportunities for low-income families in the Brownsville area. This year marks 20 years of GRMS shining as that beacon of hope in their community. Brownsville’s best-kept secret has been hard at work for the last two decades providing a strong foundation in education and faith formation.

“GRMS has brought academic opportunities for students to be accepted and excel in high school and colleges/universities.” Dr. Virginia Miller, the principal, also stated, “Those precious instructional minutes are spent enriching, extending, and taking students to deeper levels of learning and instruction to better prepare them for their secondary education.”

Under Dr. Miller’s leadership in the past four years, GRMS has seen many students go on to be Valedictorians, Salutatorians, as well as finish in the Top 5-10% in their graduating class.

Not only is GRMS a tuition-free Catholic school in Texas, but the school is dedicated to helping students prepare for college and strive for heaven. With support from community donors, GRMS has been able to provide a Catholic education to more than 400 students who would not have been able to afford this opportunity otherwise.

But like most Catholic schools, GRMS has seen a significant decline in school enrollment in recent years despite its free tuition, high excel rate in secondary education, and it’s enriching curriculum.

Raising its profile in the community is Dr. Miller’s biggest dream for GRMS. However, not many people are aware of this school's existence even in Brownsville.

Dr. Miller said that moving forward “with so much going on in the world,” she hopes “prayer, God, and faith in the classrooms” will prompt Catholic families to want a strong Catholic education. That, she said, could have students and families lining up on a waitlist to enroll at GRMS.