By Erin Reid P’01,’05

This month marks 52 years since Carlos Garcia ’77 first set foot on the Hotchkiss campus. “I can still see myself driving from Brooklyn in my uncle’s Volkswagen Beetle, along with my father, heading through rolling hills and fields toward a place I had never even seen before,” he recalls. “I was filled with anticipation, unsure of what boarding school life would be like, but confident that it would change my life for the better.”

Garcia’s career has spanned decades at the New York State Education Department, where he has helped improve graduation rates and worked in programs dedicated to access, equity, and inclusion. His personal journey with education began through the encouragement of his junior high school guidance counselor, who urged him and a group of classmates from the accelerated program at George Gershwin Junior High School to take the PSAT and apply to boarding schools, including Hotchkiss. He arrived in Lakeville as a prep along with Mark Miranda ’77, a junior high classmate who was also accepted as a Bearcat.

“Access and inclusion have always been central to America’s promise as a land of opportunity. That promise is realized only when individuals are given the chance to develop their talents in environments that prepare them to contribute fully to our nation’s success,” Garcia said. “For me, that opportunity came through A Better Chance, an organization that continues to help underrepresented students attend boarding schools across the country.”

Hotchkiss’s association with programs for historically marginalized communities began in the 1960s, through the U.S. Grant Program, by Hotchkiss graduates attending Yale. At that time, the School started its long partnership with A Better Chance and launched the Greater Opportunity (GO) Program to provide teenage boys from disadvantaged backgrounds with a transformative academic and cultural experience. The program, which ran for nine years, educated some 250 boys from New York City, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford. Eighty-two percent of GO's graduates went to college. A joyful 60-year GO reunion was held on campus in June. 

Following his time at Hotchkiss, Garcia matriculated at St. Lawrence University and enrolled in the New York State Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), designed to support students who were economically and educationally underrepresented. “While I sometimes wrestled with the labels that accompanied admission to elite institutions through designated affirmative action programs, I came to understand that such programs were essential responses to systemic inequities,” he says. “I am a proud beneficiary of America’s civil rights struggles, and the lessons that I have learned have allowed me to move forward without absorbing the negative weight that language can sometimes carry.”

After graduation, Garcia began his career working as an assistant director of HEOP at St. Lawrence, then continued at Columbia University HEOP. During that period, he pursued graduate study in counseling psychology, ultimately earning two master’s degrees. “St. Lawrence President Laurence Gulick later recruited me back to St. Lawrence to help diversify their staff, and my path eventually led to the New York State Education Department, where I worked in programs dedicated to access, equity, and inclusion.”

In 2003, Garcia’s leadership of the Science and Technology Entry Program and the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program led him to the White House, where the programs received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, and Engineering Mentoring from President George W. Bush.

Garcia has now spent 36 years at the New York State Education Department and is “wrestling” with the idea of retirement. “I have the honor of leading the Liberty Partnerships Program, the nation’s only statewide dropout prevention program for youth. We not only have a retention rate of over 90 percent, but our graduation rate of 86 percent equals the New York State graduation rate,” he explained. “Our office helped launch the nation’s only statewide My Brother’s Keeper initiative for improving outcomes for boys and young men of color and is now preparing to expand with a My Sister’s Keeper initiative. I have the privilege of working with nine Native tribes in the state through the My Brother’s Keeper Indigenous Education Grant. My career also took me into leadership roles beyond education, including serving as secretary-treasurer of the Public Employees Federation, one of the nation’s largest white-collar unions. Through it all, I have drawn upon the intellectual rigor, critical thinking, and communication skills that were sharpened during my days at Hotchkiss.”

As a former vice president of the NAACP’s Albany chapter, Garcia said he is “deeply concerned about our nation’s current struggles. Demographic changes have sparked polarizing ideologies, but the truth remains: America’s destiny will always be shaped by underrepresented peoples whose talents and determination drive us forward. My life ministry has been a testimony to the fact that diversity, opportunity, equity, and inclusion make a positive difference.”

Garcia credits the mentorship of several Hotchkiss faculty members for his accomplishments, including Walter J. Crain Jr. P '86,'89 and Art Eddy P'78,'80,'81, GP'23. “They are Hotchkiss faculty giants who guided me during my Hotchkiss years. As a teenager with boundless energy and, at times, poor judgment, I easily could have derailed my future. Their strength and care kept me on track.” 

He continues to support Hotchkiss because he has seen “remarkable progress” under the leadership of Head of School Craig W. Bradley. “The international scope of our student body, the great faculty and staff, dramatic physical plant updates, and an engaged alumni body will keep Hotchkiss at the forefront of preparing the next generation of leaders, both domestically and internationally. My two terms on the Hotchkiss Alumni Board of Governors have shown me a community willing to confront its challenges while holding fast to its strengths.” He expressed his gratitude to his fellow Governors, Bradley, Director of Alumni Engagement Caroline Sallee Reilly '87, and Chief Advancement Officer Ninette Enrique.

“God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, children, and grandchildren, along with my Hotchkiss family,” he said. “¡Feliz Mes de la Herencia Hispana! Happy Hispanic Heritage Month to all.”