Bridges program offers students road to success

Minorities targeted for master's degrees

By Icess Fernandez Caller-Times
July 6, 2004

Tomas Vasques, 29, knows a lot about chemistry. So much, in fact, that he and his professor, Apurba Bhattacharya, joke about who knows more.

"You know, he knows more than me," said Bhattacharya, pointing to Vasques.

"I know," Vasques said.

"You see what I have to put up with," Bhattacharya said, smiling.

Vasques is the first graduate of the Bridges to Doctorate program at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. The nationwide program, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, provides scholarships for minority students to receive their master's degrees at A&M-Kingsville and then to continue on to a doctoral program at a participating school.

Vasques will attend the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston in August.

But before he entered the program and was accepted to one of the nation's leading universities for biomedical research, Vasques was an undergraduate chemistry major at Texas A&M University in College Station. He dropped out his junior year.

"I was just tired of being in school," he said "I made some friends on campus the first year and after the first year they dropped out. So I decided to leave. I also lived off campus after the first year. I decided that place wasn't for me."

Two years would pass before he would continue his education. Vasques went home to Hebbronville, where he worked at whatever he could find. Small jobs, odd jobs, night jobs, or day jobs, Vasques did what he could to earn money. But one thing was certain, he knew eventually he had to return to school.

"I knew I had to get out of there because I knew I wasn't going anywhere," he said.

It wasn't until Vasques came to A&M-Kingsville that his life started to change. Under the tutelage of Bhattacharya, assistant professor of chemistry, Vasques was able to finish his degree and enter the master's program. Bhattacharya recalled Vasques at the undergraduate level.

"He was not confident and it seemed to me it was his economic condition," he said. "We all went through a time when no doors were open. I could see that he was brilliant and that he was smart but I could see a lack of confidence."
As an undergraduate, financial aid and working as a lab teaching assistant paid for Vasques' education. His parents couldn't provide financial assistance.

As Vasques continued to grow as a scientist, Bhattacharya became more important in his life, encouraging his protege to continue his education in graduate school.

Vasques left briefly for a job in Houston but when he returned to A&M-Kingsville, Bhattacharya accepted him into the Bridges to Doctorate program without hesitation.

The two-year program has grown from six to nine students with master's since it first began.

Vasques was the first in the program and the first one to graduate, a goal made possible by the grant.

"That basically supported me through my master's," he said.
It's students like Vasques that Bhattacharya targets for the Bridges to Doctorate program. Before the program, Vasques was a gifted but shy student sitting in the back of the classroom, Bhattacharya said.

"I think what he needed was someone to have faith in him," he said. "When he saw that someone like me had faith in him, he realized what he's really made of. "

Vasques said his success is made possible through Bhattacharya's mentorship.

"He's taught me a lot," Vasques said.

Some students in the program now look up to Vasques. Victor Villarreal, 27, is also part of the special program. He's known Vasques since 2000.

"We all look up to him," he said. "That's why we can't believe he got low grades as an undergraduate. He just wasn't guided."

Bhattacharya doesn't measure Vasques' success by his master's degree, his acceptance into an exclusive doctoral program or the promise of a bright career. He measures his success by the student's spirit.

"If Tommy didn't have this opportunity, he'd be a wasted soul," he said. "All he needed was a little help from all of us. He inspires me. It's funny to say because I'm his mentor. But when he's gone one day I'll be down and I'll think Tommy was here and Tommy was successful."

Sudents interested in the Bridges to the Doctorate program may contact Bhattacharya at 361-593-2664.