UHV staff member’s student recruiting pitch comes from personal experience
When speaking to prospective students about the advantages of attending the University of Houston-Victoria, Oscar Torres likes to emphasize quality education, personal attention and affordability.
However, Torres, a UHV student recruitment coordinator, draws from more than talking points when recruiting. He can talk about his own great experience at UHV earning a Bachelor of Business Administration.
That’s what he did on May 19 when the UH System Board of Regents held its meeting on the UHV campus. Torres gave a presentation to the board as an example of a UHV success story.
“The confidence and trust that my co-workers had in me really made the experience that much smoother,” Torres said. “It was an honor to represent Student Affairs in speaking about the positive impact UHV is having on its students and the community, as well as sharing my experiences here on campus.”
Torres, a Victoria native, attended Memorial High School and graduated in 2010 as part of its last graduating class before Victoria West and Victoria East high schools opened. Torres compared the experience to watching the final season of a popular 10-year-old television show.
“The experience was bittersweet,” he said. “Knowing that you are going to be part of the last graduating class, you cherish the moments you spend with your friends, classmates and teachers.”
He chose to pursue a business degree with a concentration in management because of his father.
“My dad was able to start his own business in Victoria, Oscar’s Pest & Termite Control,” Torres said. “When I was growing up, he worked three jobs at one point just to put food on the table.”
This year, Torres is focusing on recruiting students from Victoria, Matagorda and Wharton counties. During his first year on the job, he recruited students from Brownsville and Harlingen, along with smaller cities in the Rio Grande Valley.
As a Victoria resident, Torres has seen the growth of the university and the impact it’s had on the community.
“I have seen an increase in support within the Victoria community,” he said. “In the future, I see UHV continuing to help Victoria in a variety of aspects.”
Torres now is pursuing his master’s degree from UHV in adult and higher education. His long-term goal is to work as a director in higher education.
“No matter where my master’s degree will take me, as long as I am serving others, I am happy,” Torres said. “As I mentioned in my speech before the Board of Regents, ‘I want to serve others rather than be served.’”
Staff Feature is an online profile highlighting staff members at the University of Houston-Victoria. To nominate a staff member, contact Jeremy Shapiro, UHV communications manager, or call 361-570-4296.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
