Pflugerville High School
College and Career Center
College and Career Center Team
Mr. Howell joined Pflugerville High School in 2019 as the College and Career Advisor after 14 years of experience in College/University Admissions. Previously he held roles from Admissions Counselor to the Director of Recruitment and Enrollment at Western Michigan University, Texas State University, University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Houston.
He currently holds a Bachelor's Degree in Organizational Communication from Western Michigan University (Go Broncos!) and a Master's in Education from Angelo State University.
If you cannot find Mr. Howell in the College and Career Center, he is probably at Disney World! If you could not tell, his favorite Disney character is Pluto!
Mrs. Barrera joined the College and Career team in September 2020 after 18 years as a stay at home mom. Previously she worked in Human Resources at Red McCombs Automotive in San Antonio and then briefly taught 7th grade English. She graduated from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and she received her teacher certification through UTSA. She never thought she would be a stay at home mom, but it was the right decision and it's one she has never regretted.
Once her children started kindergarten, she volunteered in the library at Caldwell elementary then at PMS for a total of 8 years. She loved spending time in the library because she not only got to see her own kids, but she also got to help all of the other kids coming into the library. Reading is one of her passions, so getting kids excited about reading is high on her priority list. She also became very good friends with the librarians and the memories created during her time in the libraries are some of her favorites.
In addition to reading, Mrs. Barrera loves to travel. She took her first cruise in 2010 and now she tries to cruise at least once a year. That same year, she took her first trip to London and fell in love with the city. Travelling to London led to her love of reading historical fiction books and watching British dramas, which they show on PBS. She hopes to pass this love of travelling and reading to her children and any other children that might be interested. Combining her two favorite passions of travelling and reading leads her to tell everyone "Even when travel isn't possible, you can just pick up a book and be transported to another country in an instant."
Favorite quote:
The World is a Book and those who do not travel read only one page.
Jeff Jones currently works with the UT Youth Engagement Center-Austin (formerly UT Outreach-Austin) at The University of Texas at Austin. He has worked with UT-Austin for over 15 years in various capacities. He was born and raised in Austin and attended The University of Texas at Austin and majored in Economics. He most recently attended Sam Houston State and got his Masters in Higher Education Administration. He currently works with 12 high schools in the Austin area but Pflugerville has always been one of his favorite schools because of the drive and determination he sees in the students at Pflugerville HS. This will be his second year helping Mr. Howell in the College and Career Center and he looks forward to working with the wonderful students again this year. During his down time, you can find him training his 4 year old daughter to watch football with him, reading a good book, and most recently playing the popular tile game Mahjong!
Josh Garcia
My Brother's Keeper
josh@mayaconsultingllc.com
737-239-9072
Mr. Garcia is on campus as the Coordinator for the My Brother's Keeper Scholars. This program began in Central Texas during 2017 and is now available throughout Austin, Pflugerille, and Elgin to support junior and senior male students who identify as Black/African American or Hispanic to find a successful path for postsecondary attainment. Whether or not a student is certain of their plans, Mr. Garcia is here to provide one-on-one and group support for College, Career, and Military Readiness. He also serves as the Co-Manager for this campus's MBK Ambassador Program, which is a near-peer mentoring program that pairs previous MBK Scholars Alumni from PHS with current PHS students to provide mentoring and support.
Previously, Mr. Garcia served the Austin Community College Office of Student Life, UT Arlington Office of International Education and the Department of Multicultural Affairs, and also as an adjunct faculty for Tarrant County Community College. He holds a Bachelor's in English from the University of North Texas and a Master's in Political Science from UT Arlington.
In his free time, he enjoys spending time with family and friends, being outside, anything involving music, and bouldering at the local climbing gym.