{"id":75095,"date":"2025-12-04T00:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/75095\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T00:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:09:12","slug":"tamusas-lights-of-esperanza-celebrates-a-decade-of-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/75095\/","title":{"rendered":"TAMUSA’s Lights of Esperanza celebrates a decade of tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas A&M University- San Antonio President Salvador Hector Ochoa dawned a Santa Claus hat before taking the stage for a countdown to the moment that more than 40,000 lights would illuminate the campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has become one of our university\u2019s most cherished events and traditions,\u201d Ochoa said Tuesday evening in front of hundreds of community members, students and university supporters. \u201cThis is not only a fun-filled holiday, but it also fulfills our mission of bringing hope and opportunity, of being a light to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"8-year-old Gabriella Casillas takes a ride on the snow tube slide at the Lights of Esperanza holiday light event at Texas A&M University-San Antonio on Tuesday. The annual event had free activities for students and families to participate in. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

This was the 10th anniversary of the young college\u2019s Lights of Esperanza, a tradition that opens up the campus to its community to kick-off the holiday season together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That evening Ochoa was joined by his wife Mari Ochoa, community members Fernando and Norma Reyes and mascot General the Jaguar on stage, to welcome the 3,000 visitors they expected at the celebration.<\/p>\n

Events like this one are a priority for Ochoa, he said during an interview, as these could make a difference in the lives of community members who might not feel represented or welcomed by traditional higher education institutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in South Texas, there was a university but I never went to that university,\u201d Ochoa said. \u201cSo for me it\u2019s very important to break down those barriers so that people can see what a university is and what it has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Local clothing, jewelry and food vendors, like G&J\u2019s Chicken on a Stick, added a holiday market experience to the annual Lights of Esperanza event at Texas A&M University-San Antonio on Tuesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Campus staff and students handed out Santa hats with the university\u2019s seal on them, a DJ played Christmas music, and attendees could enjoy free activities including a snow slide, a Letters to Santa station and an ornament decorating station.<\/p>\n

Local vendors lined the square in front of the Central Academics Building and Patriots Casa, selling everything from gifts like jewelry and stuffed animals, to food including chicken-on-a-stick, hot chocolate and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students mingled with their peers and the community, and they set up their own booths to sell snacks to raise funds for student organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows us how important it is to be engaged with our community,\u201d said student Ivey McCray. \u201cI came from a small school from Temple, Texas and we didn\u2019t have a lot of events like this\u2026 since I\u2019ve been here, I can definitely say that I\u2019ve felt [part] of the community here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Marketing and finance student Ivey McCray is in her first semester at Texas A&M University-San Antonio. McCray spoke about her experience at the university so far and the internship she landed with the help of university resources during the President\u2019s VIP Reception on Tuesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

McCray, 20, is seeking a degree in marketing and finance at TAMUSA, where she transferred this fall from Temple College. Having been homeschooled, she said her mother felt comfortable dropping her off at a campus that is not too big, but still big enough to give her that college experience she sought.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Right before the lights were scheduled to light up the campus, the presidentOchoa held a VIP celebration on the balcony outside of his office that overlooks the entire campus. There he thanked the staff, faculty, students and the community supporters who have engaged with the school over its short 16 years of existence.<\/p>\n

Community members Fernando and Norma Reyes, were invited to emcee the event along with Ochoa. They are both natives of San Antonio\u2019s South Side and said they grew up without this immediate access and exposure to a higher education institution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fernando Reyes is the founder of Reyes Automotive Group, a Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas supplier. <\/p>\n

TAMUSA and Palo Alto College, didn\u2019t exist in their neighborhood back then, and access to scholarships was not as widespread as it is today, they said. So their family has dedicated a good amount of their energy into helping raise money for scholarship funds to lessen this barrier. <\/p>\n

Fernando Reyes served as El Rey Feo LX in 2008, a role that is traditionally charged with raising funds for scholarships, he has also served in the San Antonio Fiesta Commission. The couple\u2019s two sons and daughter have also raised funds for education through San Antonio\u2019s Fiesta.<\/p>\n

\"\"Southside residents and community members Fernando and Norma Reyes were invited to kick off the Lights of Esperanza event with the annual switching of the lights at Texas A&M University-San Antonio on Tuesday. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomics should not be a reason why they don\u2019t go to school,\u201d Norma Reyes said. \u201cEvery parent wants their child to get a better education, to do better than they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

After 56 years of marriage and many moves around San Antonio, the couple say their home is still the South Side and are very proud to see the university welcoming their community with events that are centered around education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt opens the door for a lot of people, just the curiosity of seeing Texas A&M or Palo Alto College,\u201d Fernando Reyes said.\u00a0 \u201cIf you are interested in it and you find out that maybe you are able to be part of it, well then you\u2019ve taken the first step toward education.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas A&M University- San Antonio President Salvador Hector Ochoa dawned a Santa Claus hat before taking the stage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[37226,37227,37228,37229,37230,82,84,83,4937,35471,37231,20450,92],"class_list":["post-75095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-fernando-reyes","tag-ivey-mccray","tag-lights-of-esperanza","tag-norma-reyes","tag-salvador-hector-ochoa","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-south-side","tag-tamusa","tag-texas-am-san-antonio","tag-texas-am-university-san-antonio","tag-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}