Northwest Vista College welcomes Vada Garza as a senior specialist in the Veteran’s Center. Prior to NVC, she worked for Petco Corp. where she did logistics as part of the supply chain department.
She was at Petco for some years and was part of a massive layoff in 2018. However, this bad news turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to her. With her husband’s support, she enrolled back in school (before this the “perfect time to go back” never came). Vada enrolled and started attending NVC that fall of 2018.
She says, “I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to study so I started with some basic classes. I then found out that PAC offered Agriculture classes. So I continued my college path focusing on Ag and graduated in the summer of 2020 with my associate degree in Agriculture. While attending Alamo Colleges, I found myself engaged in so many different wonderful organizations. I was the PAC Lonestar Agriculture Club VP, Executive Officer of Senators at PAC, Student Leadership Institute Member, a member of the Student Activities Fees Committee, Horticulture Club Member and Phi Theta Kappa to name a few.”
“The reason I studied agriculture is because my family has a cattle ranch in Yancey, TX. I am also a proud lifetime member of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Committee (SASS&R). I have been working with the Sheep & Goat sub-committee for seven years. The SASS&R gives millions in educational scholarships each year to children of all ages. How awesome is that? It makes me happy and proud to be able to help give back to my community.”
Vada is happily married and has three children. Her eldest is 25 and she is an ICU RN, and her son is 23 and graduated from Texas A&M San Antonio this past fall with his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology. Her youngest daughter is 15 and is in high school.
“I absolutely love what the Alamo Colleges stands for and I am very thankful to have been given this opportunity to come work for them.”