MHS scholarship winner sees education as the ‘key to a better life’

The excitement - and anxiety - of graduation is steadily building for hundreds of thousands of US high school seniors ready to jump into the workforce full time or begin a new educational chapter. While some are unsure about their near future plans, that’s not the case with 18-yearold Marlin senior Reginaldo Bucio. Bucio was one of five distinguished students from across Central Texas to win a $1,000 Texas Success Scholarship on May 1. Texas State Technical College awarded the scholarship though its partnership with a Waco ISD program called Greater Waco Advanced Manufacturing Academy or GWAMA. As a participant in GWAMA’s robotics and electronics academy, Bucio said he’s always been interested in how electronics worked. During his sophomore year, he admittedly didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. That changed once he was introduced to the GWAMA program.

“I wanted to know how things worked. From smart phone layouts to games, I wanted to look deeper into that and find out how it worked and why it was limiting me. I had the opportunity to meet with one of the GWAMA assistants and he opened up the possibilities of what the program could provide for me. I’ve learned so much from just that one specific class.” Bucio says GWANA is a great opportunity because it positions him to attain OSHA and forklift certification. He noted that employers “see me as a much better potential employee because I’m already trained.” Creating a pool of better trained job applicants is right in line with what emerging career trends are calling for.

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