Mercedes Academic Academy campus administration invited Guadalupe “Lupe” Casares, a successful author, to give a presentation to the students on his story, and his struggles through life, and how he managed to overcome them through education.

“In my mind, I always wanted to go to school… it would be different from picking cotton, picking tomatoes,… year after year, summer after summer.” Casares recounted.

After his presentation was over, Monica Bustamante, an academic coach at the academy, said that this story is not a unique one, and that many of the students present could take the words to heart, emphasizing that they all have a choice in life. 

“We can either choose to continue to push ourselves behind, we can choose to make wrong decisions and make easy money, or we can choose a different path, and like he said, he’s not rich in money, but he’s rich in education,” Bustamante said. “I think that in itself is a story. Versus a story of somebody else that could’ve chosen prison, could’ve chosen drugs, could’ve chosen stealing.” 

Principal Rodolfo Canales said that they must do right by these students, and he hopes to continue pursuing the ultimate goal of getting the kids to where they need to be in order to be successful in their lives.

“Success doesn’t come easy, the only place you find success before work is the dictionary! You gotta work before you have success, and that’s the bottom line!” he said.

The Mercedes Academic Academy was recently recognized as a Texas Education Agency A-rated institute for the 2025-26 school year. 

Rodolfo Canales, the principal of the academy, said that he is very happy to have been able to get the prestigious A-rank for the school, and that he owes much of the thanks to not only the teachers, but the students as well.

“Our motto is Forward Every Day,” Canales said. “So our concept of taking this campus and going forward entails a lot of teamwork from the admin working together, understanding data, and understanding kids” 

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