Reyna Gómez Tippetts always valued education, but her journey was not easy. She went from living in a shack with walls made of cardboard, metal pieces and scrap wood as a young child in El Moralillo, Veracruz, waking up at 5 a.m. and walking miles to high school in Tampico, Tamaulipas to becoming the new Lone Star College-East Aldine Center Dean.
“I grew up in a poor and dysfunctional family and my mother did not understand the power and importance of education,” she said. “Where I come from school was for the rich and more likely for boys.”
Tippetts’s passion forced her to tune out the naysayers and focus on getting the best education that she could. She excelled in classes, and thanks to her teachers’ motivation and support, Tippetts earned fifth place in the state for her grade point average (GPA). After graduating from junior high school with honors, she moved to Tampico and enrolled in an afternoon technical school (P-TECH program). Although this transition was not easy, Tippetts graduated in the top 10 of her class.
“Moving to Tampico was difficult because I only had the support of my family the first semester, I worked odd jobs, scrabbled for food and was homeless from time to time,” she said.
Although Tippetts wanted to continue her education, she moved back to Ebano to help her mother. There, her life changed dramatically after attending a holiday party.
“In late 1997 I met my husband, a widower of two gorgeous boys and moved to the United States in spring 1998,” said Tippetts. “A year later I had our daughter, but the desire for education and a professional life was still there.”
Now a wife and mother of three, Tippetts wanted more for her and her family, but she understood that her language barrier limited her opportunities. She began working part-time as a housekeeper at LSC-North Harris (known then as North Harris Community College District) in 2001 and became full-time in 2002. Tippetts served as lead custodian at LSC-Montgomery in 2004.
“I was mesmerized and inspired as I cleaned, walked the hallways and watched students and faculty interacting in the classroom,” Tippetts said. “My first supervisor was amazing because she took children’s books and taught any custodian who wanted to learn English.”
Tippetts started her college journey at LSC in 2006 and graduated in 2010 with an Associate of Applied Science degree in Professional Office Studies. She also earned a Legal Office Administrator Certificate and a Microsoft Office Specialization Certificate. Tippetts earned a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Accounting from Our Lady of the Lake University and a Master of Business Administration Degree in Organizational Leadership from Lamar University.
“Higher education increases career stability opportunities and satisfaction,” said Tippetts. “Many times I’ve seen an individual such as myself who has all the required skills to perform a job, but without the education they lose out in favor of those with a degree or certification.”
Tippetts worked in various other departments at LSC, ranging from the police department to advising. Before being named Dean of LSC-East Aldine Center, she was the advising director at LSC-North Harris.
The LSC-East Aldine Center opened in 2019 to provide greater access to higher education and better serve the East Aldine community. The center offers day and evening classes, university transfer courses, workforce certificates, computer and office skills, English as a Second Language (ESOL), Graduate Equivalency Diploma (GED) and developmental studies.
For Tippetts, it’s been a long and challenging journey from her difficult upbringing to becoming an LSC Dean. Her experiences profoundly changed her life and afforded her an opportunity to help students achieve their educational dreams.
“Our circumstances do not dictate our future; we do,” she said. “Education is the most secure investment we can accomplish because no one can take it away from us.”
To read more about Tippetts’s journey, visit https://www.lonestar.edu/East-Aldine-Dean.
Lone Star College enrolls over 80,000 students each semester providing high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education. LSC is training tomorrow’s workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., serves as Chancellor of LSC, the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and has been named a 2022 Great Colleges to Work For® institution by the Chronicle of Higher Education and recognized by Fortune Magazine and Great Place To Work® as one of this year’s Best Workplaces in Texas™. LSC consists of eight colleges, seven centers, eight Workforce Centers of Excellence and Lone Star Corporate College. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.