By RAUL GARCIA JR

The Mercedes Enterprise

Our Lady of the Lake University President Dr. Abel Chavez didn’t get to where he is now by chance.

He said it took a lot of hard work to become the latest President of Our Lady of the Lake University. He boiled down his recipe for success down to, “Just show up, and do the work.”

Chavez has taken the lead of the University, he is the tenth President and the first Latino to hold the duty of President.

Chavez was in the Valley recently to visit the Our Lady of the Lake Campus located in La Feria.

“It’s my first time here, and I love it,” Chavez said about the campus. “I invite the community to come and see us and check us out. It is a phenomenal campus.”

He was also in town to meet some of the area’s local leaders, and to get aquinted with the Valley.

 “The University must be and can be a partner to the community to move the entire community on both sides of the border forward,” Chavez said.

Our Lady of the Lake University is a Catholic, private university with its main residential campus in San Antonio, additional campuses in Houston and the Rio Grande Valley that are designed for working adults, and online programs that serve students across the U.S.

“One of the opportunities I see is how can we embrace our community in the Valley to tackle and convene individuals, professionals, the community, learners, and parents around some of the bi-national cross-border challenges of our time,” Chavez said. “Those range from entrepreneurship, economic development bi-nationally, to education, to building a workforce for the next century.”