Dr. Manuel Flores was selected by the Texas Association for Bilingual Education as the Joe Bernal Community Service Honoree at the TABE conference earlier this month.
“It’s nice to be recognized for your community service,” Flores said. “I felt very honored to be honored by the Texas Association of Bilingual Educators.
“I am very familiar with bilingual education; it started here,” Flores continued. “We have the first bilingual education doctorate here at A&M Kingsville, we were the first ones. It was a result of the Chicano movement that was very strong here in Kingsville on campus. They asked to have a bilingual degree and we got it. State senator Carlos Truan he pushed for this degree and we were the first in the state to really get a solid bilingual program that we have now.”
Flores is familiar with the association and has given presentations for them before.
“It’s a big honor because this is a big state association and they only select people that they feel really deserve it” he said.
Flores stressed the continual need for bilingual education.
“Bilingual education is still needed so from that stand I feel honored that this very busy association took the time to give me an award,” Flores said. “Some people thought there would be a time where bilingual education would just fade away, well it’s not fading away and it’s not going to fade away anytime soon. It’s just a tool to help certain students get over the fear of doing well in school.”
Joe Bernal was recognized in 2013 by the TABE for his “contributions to the implementation of educational policies that promote equal educational opportunity and academic excellence. Dr. Bernal, a San Antonio native, has served as State Representative, State Senator, and as a member of the Texas State Board of Education. He has dedicated his life to promoting access to education at all levels,” as stated on the TABE web site.
“Dr. Flores is being recognize for his work at the Tejano Civil Rights Museum in Corpus Christi, where he has been instrumental in developing programming,” Todd Lucas, Department Chair of Communications, said.