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Hello, 

Please allow me the opportunity to introduce myself, I am Mario Castillo and proud to be the fifth chancellor of Lone Star College. My personal journey proves what an education can do for someone looking for a better life. I'm the first person in my family on my mom's side to go to high school and the first person on my dad's side to go to college. I'm also a first-generation American and I was the very first person to go to college in my family.

As you can see, education is very personal to me. When I served as interim LSC-Kingwood president, my focus was to make sure students came first. When someone would approach me with an idea, the first question I asked is “how does this help students?" That kept everyone focused on the same page with everything they do.

 A top priority for me will be making sure we not only offer top-tier education, but important services like mental health and wellness resources and assistance with food, clothing and child care. I know that life can get in the way of someone’s dreams of going to college and we should not allow students to be distracted or discouraged from achieving their goals.

I have made the commitment to teach one class per year. Our faculty, both full time and part time, play an incredibly important role in helping our students. My goal is to experience what they face in the classroom and address any challenges that may arise.

Ultimately we are here to serve the community. Our employees could work at many different places and in many different fields, but they choose to work at Lone Star College.  We may choose to work here for many reasons, but I hope that one of those central reasons is that we have the opportunity to not just earn a living but to make a difference in students’ lives.