By Joey Gomez, STC

South Texas College students are helping to transform a developing 30-acre camp for children with Type 1 diabetes by utilizing their skills to build furniture, recreational features and sensory stations for the South Texas Juvenile Diabetes Association (STJDA).

For more than a year, STC faculty and students from multiple programs have partnered with STJDA to support its vision of creating a residential camp for children with chronic illnesses and special needs. Since then, STC programs including Construction Supervision, Architecture, Culinary Arts and Welding have contributed to the camp’s development on the outskirts of Willacy and Hidalgo counties.

What began with a request for picnic tables has grown into an ongoing collaboration that now includes constructing wooden tables, sensory activity stations and even a giant wooden chair designed to give young campers a playful photo spot.

Construction Supervision faculty member Israel Medrano said the partnership reflects the program’s commitment to giving back to communities in need.

“It’s super important for us to give back,” Medrano said. “We have always said that a commitment to community service is something we always try to instill in our students so they can strive to be better as they grow and provide for their families. Being able to build something knowing it will help these kids is just a wonderful feeling.”

Medrano said hands-on service projects help students learn by allowing them to step out of the classroom and make a difference for the people they hope to work for in the future.

“We are doing theory all the time,” he said. “Being able to build something for somebody in the community, especially on a project like this, is fantastic. It gets students out of their comfort zone and lets them experience what it means to give back.”

STJDA Executive Director and Cofounder Debra Franco said STC’s contributions have accelerated the organization’s dream of building a permanent camp facility. Last year alone, the nonprofit served more than 24,000 children across the Rio Grande Valley and expects to reach nearly 28,000 in 2025.

“Partnering with organizations and institutions like South Texas College means the world to us,” Franco said. “Funding is always streamlined and creating a beautiful space where children can feel at home and just be kids is so important. We are trying to create a positive safe haven for children here.”

Franco said the partnership began after she approached STC departments to explore opportunities for support.

Welding students recently joined Construction students to build tables for sensory activities while supporting special events and creating interactive outdoor spaces for children who often have multiple diagnoses in addition to Type 1 diabetes.

Franco said the impact goes beyond construction.

“Having all these students involved gives us an opportunity to spread our mission even further,” she said. “They fall in love with what we are doing and become advocates for us. The tables these students have built are something we have wanted since we bought this property three years ago. It would not have been possible without STC.”

For STC Construction Supervision student David Cardwell, the project is personal. Cardwell said his nephew’s recent hospitalization for diabetes reshaped his understanding of the challenges children face.

“Seeing what it did to my nephew’s life, I have seen just how much of a child’s life is affected and how their lifestyle changes in order to fight the disease,” Cardwell said. “It may hard for some people to understand, but I feel that my own perspective has changed just by getting out and helping through my Construction classes at STC.”

 

Photo Caption:

South Texas College students in partnership with the South Texas Juvenile Diabetes Association (STJDA) have spent the last year creating picnic tables and sensory tables to help create a welcoming camp space for children living with Type 1 diabetes and special needs.