Sonny Melendrez enrolled at San Antonio College as part of the college’s inaugural class of radio and television students in 1964.
Peering into a small window at what is now the McAllister Auditorium excited Melendrez, who saw equipment that would allow SAC to become Texas’ first community college to operate a radio station, KSYM, two years later.
“I practically lived there on campus,” Melendrez said, recalling his fast-evolving love for radio. “SAC was a launching pad for me.”
Melendrez said SAC’s radio-television-film program inspired him to pursue his dream of becoming a radio broadcaster, a career track that has seen him become one of the nation’s renowned media personalities.
“SAC was always affordable, and it has a robust curriculum. It’s an incredible institution that treats students like family,” he added.
Melendrez is one of many alumni who are joining current students, longtime faculty members and administrators in celebrating San Antonio College’s 100th anniversary this year.
Officials at the near-downtown college campus said formal centennial celebrations will begin this September and continue through the 2025-2026 academic year.
Francisco Solis, San Antonio College’s interim president, said many community members have connections to SAC. After leading a recent informational session about Alamo Colleges District’s $987 million bond proposal, Solis was approached by attendees who either studied at SAC or have teenage children going through the district’s pre-college programs.
“Everybody was stopping me. One person said they went to SAC in 1977 and graduated from the nursing program. Then there’s a group of parents who introduced me to their children who are enrolled in either our high school programs or in the Alamo Promise program,” Solis recalled. “The work that we do at SAC and across Alamo Colleges District continues to change lives.”
How it started
One of the oldest community colleges in Texas, San Antonio College was established as University Junior College in September 1925 by the University of Texas at Austin. The original offices were housed on part of the Main Avenue High School campus, which later became Fox Tech High School.
In 1926, UT-Austin transferred control of SAC to the San Antonio Independent School District, which changed the campus name to San Antonio Junior College. SAJC employees and students then relocated to South Alamo Street.
In due time, state legislation spurred the creation of junior college districts, and administrators at local community colleges initiated a campaign to develop the San Antonio Union Junior College District.
The SAUJCD in 1945 assumed control of San Antonio Junior College and St. Philip’s Junior College, then dropped the word “junior” from those colleges’ monikers in 1947.
SAC was relocated in 1951 to its present site along San Pedro Avenue across from San Pedro Park.
SAC officials said the college has served more than 500,000 students since 1925, including three U.S. Congress members — Albert Bustamante, Henry B. Gonzalez and Ciro Rodriguez — Michael Nesmith, band guitarist for The Monkees, and Francis Scobee, an astronaut who was killed in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger accident. SAC officials renamed the campus planetarium in Scobee’s memory.
Solis said SAC administrators in the 1960s made a key move by initiating an array of vocational, technical and adult education programs. SAC now offers 70-plus academic programs. Solis said programs such as nursing, dental assisting and mortuary science are well-known across Texas.
”Our nursing program is 60 years old. You can’t be in a hospital or a doctor’s or dental office without meeting someone who came through our nursing or dental programs,” Solis said. “You can’t attend a funeral without meeting someone who graduated from our mortuary science program.”
Students find their passion
Another alum, poet and journalist Don Mathis, attended classes at SAC from 1974-1978. He said the school’s range of programs convinced him he was studying at the right college. He considered multiple majors until he opted to focus on journalism.
“I liked English, composition, history and drama, so I learned to like journalism. It was an organic, natural fit for me,” Mathis said.
Having been raised an Army brat, Mathis benefited from the G.I. Bill while working at then-Kelly Air Force Base and taking night classes at SAC.
“I was getting tuition and books for $100, and the [Veterans Administration] was paying for it all,” he said.
Mathis returned to SAC in 2014-2015 to serve with international student services, where he helped incoming students prepare for college life.
This summer will mark San Antonio College alum Tricia Buchhorn’s 30th year working in SAC’s journalism/photography department.
“Advisors in the journalism department recruited me while I was in high school,” Buchhorn recalled.
Buchhorn expressed satisfaction in having helped to advise countless photography and journalism students and their parents. She added that SAC’s academic and budget-friendly reputation continues to drive all sorts of students to the college.
“San Antonio College has expedited how you earn a degree, and it expanded the number of degree pathways you can take,” Buchhorn said.
One of those students who Buchhorn advised was Carolina Vela, who has spent 10 years as a reporter with Univision.
A Mexican native with basic knowledge of the English language, Vela enrolled at SAC in 2012. She wandered the campus and reviewed her course syllabus until a chance meeting with Buchhorn convinced her to study journalism.
Vela learned English while at SAC and wrote for The Ranger student-run newspaper. The publication, now named The Sundial, turns 100 in 2026.
“I was obsessed with writing great stories, taking great photos and just learning new things,” Vela said. “Thanks to SAC, I found my passion. Thanks to SAC, I’m now at Univision.”
Jerry Townsend spent 39 years as an instructor at SAC’s journalism department. He said strong department support from SAC leadership enabled faculty to carefully nurture students interested in mass communication careers.
“SAC’s culture was one of dedication and people being committed to each other,” he said.
Alumni return as staff
Carmen Santiago, SAC’s dental assisting program coordinator, graduated from the same program in 1999. She relishes the fact that many former SAC students have returned to campus as a professor or a staffer.
“We breed our own talent. We alumni come back and give back to current and future students,” she said.
Michelle Payne, coordinator of SAC’s American Sign Language interpreter training program, graduated from the same program in 1997. She said the ASL program has grown in the last 30 years, preparing students to be ASL interpreters or deaf support specialists.
“We all love SAC,” Payne said of herself and her colleagues. “I love being a SAC graduate and working on campus. People even outside the United States know about us.”
Education for everyone
Francisco Solis said the growth of San Antonio College and the impact it has made with its various academic programs and workforce development initiatives have helped SAC earn community support for multiple past capital projects.
The Alamo Colleges District’s current bond proposal, which goes to voters in May, would allocate $120 million to San Antonio College to improve architecture, engineering and drafting programs, and to build a new nursing and health professions school in the Medical Center.
Solis said, over the next 100 years and beyond, SAC will keep reinventing itself to meet the evolving needs of students and workforce demands of local industries.
“We are still committed to the same three principles: Having a rigorous academic program, paving a path to a university and ensuring education is for everyone,” he said.
