Alamo Colleges District Board of Trustees Selects New Student Trustee

At a special meeting held on April 25, 2023, the Alamo Colleges District Board of Trustees selected San Antonio College student Brandon Aviado as the new student trustee.

Aviado will serve a one-year term that will begin May 1, 2023, and will run to April 30, 2024. The Alamo Colleges District is the only community college system in the state of Texas with a student trustee.

“We appreciate the outstanding service to the Alamo Colleges of our outgoing student trustee, Cara Sullivan, who was closely involved with representing the district at the state and national level,” said Alamo Colleges District Chancellor Dr. Mike Flores. “We are eager to see the valuable contributions that Mr. Aviado will make as a student representative on our board.”

Aviado returned to college after a nine-year hiatus where he served as a U.S. Army Medic and later in construction. At San Antonio College, Aviado is a non-traditional second semester student pursuing a pre-nursing degree to build upon his background in medicine. His extracurricular activities include the SAC Phi Theta Kappa chapter, student government association (SGA), and SAC Men Empowerment Network. He maintains a 4.0 GPA and has aspirations to obtain a graduate level degree to become a nurse practitioner or enter the field of healthcare administration.

During his time in the Army, Aviado served as a medic and a paratrooper and was on active duty for six years. During that time, it was part of his mission to ensure routine and emergency medical care for his fellow soldiers. Additionally, he also instructed soldiers in emergency medicine to be first responders. Countries that he operated in during his time in the Army were Israel, Croatia, Italy and Ukraine.

Aviado works at San Antonio College as a writing tutor and an academic peer coach, connecting students with any necessary resources on campus to encourage their academic success. He is also a husband and a proud parent to a nine-year-old daughter.

Aviado’s vision for his role as student trustee for the Alamo Colleges is to improve collaborative efforts between ISDs and the Alamo Colleges; have greater cooperation between cross-campus organizations like Men of Education and Phi Theta Kappa; and unify district efforts to increase sense of belonging among all Alamo Colleges.

Northeast Lakeview College student Arali Garcia was named as the alternate student trustee. She will attend board meetings if Aviado is unable to do so.

Garcia is a second semester NLC student studying Public Service. She is the secretary of the NLC SGA, President of NLC Thinking Well, and the secondary delegate of the Alamo Colleges Student District Council. She is active both inside and outside of the classroom and has strived toward academic success.