Chris Carcerano

Chris Carcerano's training as an actor nurtured a key skill that he uses daily at South Campus' Center for Academic Success. "If you can find out what motivates people," he said, "you can help them." 

Nothing prepared him better for his CAS coordinator role than theater studies, the El Paso native said. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in theater from Texas Christian University and Northern Illinois University. "Most of the actor training I got involved reading people and what they want." 

That's a critical skill in Carcerano's work -- helping students achieve success. "Many of the students that I see need help handling multiple roles. Many realize that their academic skill set is incomplete and come to the CAS for help completing that skill set." 

Carcerano, reared in a family of educators, says the students he works with generally fall into one of two groups: the traditional 18- to 22-year-old population and the nontraditional over-30 population. 

Typically, the younger group's challenge is "to take ownership of their education as a long-term investment," he said. The nontraditional group must learn that "the idea of being smart and being a skilled learner are two very different concepts." 

Both groups benefit from TCC's aim, Carcerano said. "If we haven't challenged students to find the things within themselves that will help them overcome adversity, then we haven't really done our job. We're not here to make things hard for them, but to teach them how to work through hard things."

- By David House