Johnny N. & Nena S. Cavazos Scholarship Endowment

Johnny N. & Nena S. Cavazos
Scholarship Endowment
Established in 2004 to be awarded to deserving young scholars
who enroll full time and are U.S. citizens or resident aliens
pursuing an academic program in the area of education with
first preference to kinesiology majors. The scholarship is to be
utilized during the fall and spring semesters for tuition and fees
and is renewable upon the recipient maintaining a minimum of a
C average.
The couple has used their success to benefit those who follow them. Their creation of a $500,000
scholarship endowment at UTB/TSC is helping kinesiology and elementary education majors pursue their
education. Their generosity created one of the largest family scholarship endowments in UTB/TSC history.
While understanding the hardships and remembering their own experiences struggling to pay for college,
they established the Johnny N. and Nena S. Cavazos Scholarship Endowment at UTB/TSC in 2004
for students majoring in kinesiology.
“It is sad to think that a child with potential to continue is unable to because of financial reasons,” Nena
said. “It’s just a good feeling to know that you were able to help them. We made it on our own through
the college years borrowing and working all kinds of odd jobs. If we can do it, today’s students can too.”
“Brownsville has been very good to us and we are firm believers in education, so we feel that we should
give back to the community,” Johnny said.
The couple has been sponsoring scholarships for college-bound Brownsville student-athletes since there
was only one high school in Brownsville. They established BISD’s first ongoing scholarship
endowment. They have been active in the community for decades, giving scholarships to deserving
Brownsville high school graduates for many years.
Their love for their hometown university, Texas Southmost College, began in the 1950s. After graduating
from high school, Johnny and Nena Cavazos enrolled at the junior college where they met on the TSC
campus. Back then, the campus had recently moved from its downtown location on Palm Boulevard to its
current location on the historic Fort Brown. The campus was much smaller than today. Enrollment was at
about 600 students.
Mr. Cavazos grew up on a ranch in rural Brownsville and Mrs. Cavazos was from nearby San Benito.
They knew each other from their high school days, but it was during their first year at the junior college
when their mutual friendship turned to love and their partnership truly began. Mr. Cavazos says it took
three years, but he finally convinced Mrs. Cavazos to marry him. In those days, students wanting a
bachelor’s degree had to go away to college, and eventually both earned degrees from universities in San
Antonio. They returned to Brownsville, however, to make their home.
While both began their careers in education – Mr. Cavazos was a coach and Mrs. Cavazos taught
elementary school – in 1965, they struck out on their own to form an independent insurance agency. In
the following 40 years, they built a successful business, first offering general insurance policies, and now
specializing in group medical plans for businesses, school districts, city governments and the like.
Congratulations________________________________________________________, recipient of the
Johnny N. & Nena S. Cavazos Scholarship Endowment.