By Edmond Ortiz
This edition of Education Briefs features a family honored in the Alamo Colleges District, a North East ISD school memorializing a late student, and Northside ISD construction students gifting a hand-built home to a veteran.
Alamo Colleges District
A building at the Alamo Colleges District’s headquarters now bears the name of a notable local family that ACD officials say has made a positive difference in the lives of local students.
A May 8 ceremony at the district’s central complex at 2222 N. Alamo St. included the renaming of Welcome Center at ACCESS to the Carlos Alvarez Family Welcome Center.
The Welcome Center at ACCESS, which opened in 2025, links first-time students, returning and adult learners and those seeking new career pathways with information about programs and opportunities available across ACD.
According to a press release, the welcome center’s renaming honors more than two decades of support from the Alvarez family and The Gambrinus Co., and their efforts to expand access to higher education for San Antonio-area students.
In 1986, Carlos Alvarez founded Gambrinus, which sells and markets beers, namely Spoetzl Brewery’s Shiner Beer from Shiner, Texas. The family and the firm have provided more than $3.5 million in scholarships to Alamo Colleges students over the years.
“On behalf of the Carlos Alvarez family, we are deeply honored to be part of this moment,” John Brozovich, president and CEO of The Gambrinus Co., said in a statement. Carlos Alvarez was Brozovich’s father-in-law.
“We believe that education is the most powerful tool to open doors to a better future. When you invest in a student, you invest in a future filled with possibility,” he added.
Brozovich said the family has valued relationships with students and their families.
“What means the most is not the recognition; it’s the relationships. We have cherished every opportunity to meet the students whose lives were changed through our scholarships, to hear their stories, and to celebrate their dreams,” Brozovich said in a statement.
ACD officials said the Alvarez family has extended financial support toward helping programs such as the district’s AlamoPROMISE initiative, which offers eligible graduating Bexar County high school seniors the chance to attend an ACD campus tuition-free.
“The Alvarez family has been a transformational partner in advancing our moonshot to end poverty through education and training,” ACD Chancellor Mike Flores said in an announcement.
“Their support reflects a belief in the power of education to change lives, strengthen families, and uplift our entire community. The Carlos Alvarez Family Welcome Center will stand as a lasting tribute to their legacy of access and opportunity.”
Northside Independent School District
U.S. Army veteran Kara Turner was gifted May 9 with a tiny home built by Northside ISD students who are interested in working in the construction industry.
NISD’s Construction Careers Academy held its annual Tiny Homes Showcase May 9 at Warren High School, where CCA students get to display and sell projects that they have built throughout the school year.
CCA students study various elements of construction, such as architecture and design, construction management, applied engineering, carpentry, electrical/HVAC, or plumbing/pipe fitting/welding. The program is based at Warren.
This year, the Tiny Homes Showcase included a presentation of a student-built tiny home to Turner, a local veteran and her child, as part of the school’s new “Home for a Hero” initiative.
According to a news release, the presentation took place in conjunction with the San Antonio Veteran Outreach Program and local businesses in a collaborative effort meant to give back to the community and address the critical needs of veterans, such as housing instability.
The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimated in 2024 that more than 32,000 veterans experience homelessness nationwide.
Turner’s new home measures 970 square feet, and features two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sleeping loft, a full kitchen, a living room, two porches, a three-zone mini-split AC system, a refrigerator, a washer, a dryer, and a tankless gas water heater.
“I am so touched and overwhelmed that students built this and now it will be my home,” Turner said in a statement. “I had no idea that programs like this and resources like this were available.”
North East Independent School District
Bulverde Creek Elementary School community members gathered May 4 to pay tribute to a student who died in last summer’s Hill Country floods.
The North Side campus hosted a ceremony to dedicate new soccer goals and nets in the memory of Madelyn “Emmy” Jeffrey, who was killed in the Hunt, Texas area during the July 4 flooding event on the Guadalupe River.
Madelyn, 11, was with her grandparents, Penelope and Emlyn Jeffrey, both 70, at a family cabin when fast-rising flood waters knocked the structure off its stilts. The grandparents also died.
Surviving family members and friends were joined by school students, staff and others in the ceremony where they recognized Jeffrey’s love of soccer. Jeffrey’s club soccer team also contributed by donating soccer balls.
The event included a performance by the choir from Tex Hill Middle School Choir, where Jeffrey was set to attend classes last fall.
Additionally, a mural created by PTA members was unveiled. NEISD representatives said the mural is a reminder of Jeffrey’s impact on the community, and public strength that surrounds her family.
