Roadie: Tecnológico de Monterrey

The CETEC towers, or "The Napkin Holder," at the Monterrey Campus. (7/30/13)

Though I've been back home for nearly a week, I have yet to share all the pictures of places my mother and I visited while in Monterrey, Mexico, and Houston, Texas. The pictures and reflections in this post reflect our sixth day in Monterrey. After lying low for a day following our return from Zacatecus and La Quemada, we headed to the Monterrey Campus of Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), commonly referred to simply as “TEC.” As part of his responsibilities on staff at TEC, he teaches classes on the main campus as well as facilitates research at the off-campus medical facility.

As the Institute is a multiple campus university, most programs and general academic policies are shared among them. However, the Monterrey Campus is significantly more selective in its admissions, requiring a grade average of 80 or 90 in high school (on a 100-point scale) for those willing to transfer or apply as a freshman since 2007. As of January 2008^[update], 50% of its freshman class had an average grade of 90 and 25% had an average grade of 95 out of 100 at high school level.



The Rectorate at the Monterrey Campus. (7/30/13)

The Old Library Building, and current Rectorate (above), was designed by Enrique de la Mora, displays a bas relief by Jorge González Camarena and holds one of the largest collections of Don Quixote incunabula, an original edition of L'Encyclopédie and other bibliographical treasures.



Duck. (7/30/13)

My rbotera nd mother know of my affinity for photographing birds, and the TEC campus turned out to be a wonderful location at which to do so. A number of different water fowl have the run of the campus, and being very socialized, are easy targets for my prying lens.

Dos ducks. (7/30/13)

Cactus Garden. (7/30/13)

The campus i beautifully maintained with wonderful gardens and arrangements throughout. This is true of many of the places we visited in Monterrey, and really, all of Mexico: where there are nice "things" (buildings, gardens, streets), they are impeccably maintained.

Classrooms. (7/30/13)



Statue of school mascot, Borregos Salvajes. (7/30/13)

Many pieces of art, including sculptures from a variety of medium, grace the campus. Birds (and deer, too, though we did not see any) mingle and interact with the artwork freely. The peacock pictured below was a surprise as I came across it without notice. It was surprisingly large, about the size of the larger wild turkeys that often cut through my mother's back yard back home.

Peacocks also roam the campus grounds. (7/30/13)

Flags representing the countries of origin for students are updated each
academic year based upon enrollment. (7/30/13)

As of January 2008, some 1,100 foreign students from 56 countries were studying at the Monterrey Campus, half of them as regular students.

Large artificial pond on campus. (7/30/13)

Muscovy ducks beside the artificial campus pond. (7/30/13)

One exciting outcome of our visit to TEC was my being able to see and photograph a type of duck I had not previously seen, the Muscovy duck! The Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata) is a large duck native to Mexico, Central, and South America. (I actually took quite a few pictures that I'll post at a later time.)

Security is strict at the campus. (7/30/13)

While digging around the Internet looking for information about TEC, I came across an article (in Spanish) about two students murdered on campus in 2010. That might account for the incredible level of security on campus. While most American colleges declare that they are "secure", rarely, in my experience, do they actually follow through all procedures with every visitor. For example, in America when you go through a checkpoint you often don't need an ID. At TEC, we needed to show our driver's licenses to gain access with my brother who also needed to show his faculty ID.

Secured paths beneath the public roads ensure a degree of safety. (7/30/13)

The TEC Campus at Monterrey is immaculately designed and very well maintained. It was also clearly for those who could afford the security and safety of an excellent secondary (and post-secondary) education in Monterrey. Aesthetically soothing to the eye, it would be easy to see how students of many ages would be inspired to learn (and relax) on such a fantastic looking campus.