Assayer of Student Opinion.

The Prospector
Assayer of Student Opinion.

The Prospector
Assayer of Student Opinion.

The Prospector
Jesie Garcia

Jesie Garcia, Arts & Culture Editor

Jesie Garcia is a senior at UTEP with a major in multimedia journalism and a minor in Chicano studies. She is The Prospector’s arts and culture editor. After graduation she hopes to one day work for NPR and pursue an M.A. in Linguistics with a concentration in sociolinguistics. Garcia runs her own blog focusing on Mexican-American food, culture, and travel and accredits her passion for journalism to her love for her community. 

All content by Jesie Garcia
Two customers sit by one of the establishment's windows and share a conversation. Cocol’s success skyrocketed past Carlos’ initial expectation and is commonly hustling and bustling for brunch hours, especially on weekends.

Cafecito en Socorro: CoCol dedicate their love to family and delicious recipes

Jesie Garcia, Arts & Culture Editor • July 10, 2025
CoCol is a coffee house in Socorro, Texas whose owner shows her love for family through her passion for food and beverages.
Read Story
Pop music has peaked in popularity again with female artists such as Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande.

Pop music is changing with the times and creating brand new eras

Jesie Garcia, Arts & Culture Editor • June 30, 2025
Pop music is so back and has been back as die-hard pop fans feel the nostalgia from previous eras of pop while still appreciating all it has to offer today
Read Story

Sun City Pride Parade creates a space for love on The Border

Jesie Garcia, Arts & Culture Editor • June 30, 2025
People waved their pride flags up high to celebrate the 19th annual Sun City Pride Parade and came together to celebrate themselves and support each other.
Read Story
Ramos’s flag waves as she wears it around downtown. The youth of El Paso’s LGBT community don’t feel unaccepted on the Border, but they still push to have space to be their most authentic.

LGBTQ+ youth build a home in El Paso through flipping narratives

Jesie Garcia, Arts & Culture Editor • June 25, 2025

Pride month is a time for members of the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate themselves and recognize their history. However, because of El Paso’s mass Latinx population, identities tend to intersect and create multiple perceptions of people. El Paso’s...

Continue Reading
Each market in El Paso brings its own personality, reflecting different corners of the community.

Farmer’s markets provide the El Paso community a chance to have fun and support local businesses

Jesie Garcia, Arts & Culture Editor • June 25, 2025
El Paso offers a variety of art and farmers markets to attend on the weekends. Vendors and buyers are supportive of anyone and everyone supporting local communities.
Read Story
A UTEP graduate holds up a custom cap honoring loved ones, highlighting the tradition of personalized messages at graduation.

Heart on the head, grad caps tell a story

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • May 17, 2025
The decorating of graduation caps has been upheld for many generations and is practiced by UTEP students to express gratitude, passion, and interests.
Read Story
Angelica Rodriguez, a social work student at The University of Texas at El Paso, has overcome many difficulties to reach her graduation.

Using adversity as a motivator for success and kindness

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • May 2, 2025
Despite strenuous situations arising, social work student Angelica Rodriguez uses her past as motivation to connect with and support people like herself after graduation.
Read Story
Alexa Carranco, a Chicano studies major from the College of Liberal Arts, is recognized as a Top Ten Senior at UTEP for her academic excellence and leadership.

UTEP’s Top 10 Seniors and their undying ambition

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • April 30, 2025
Top 10 Seniors are recognized for their well-rounded success in their education and community. These three Top 10 Seniors use community to fuel their fire for a successful future.
Read Story
Maria Rojas is a local fashion designer that has been making waves recently, with her most recent fashion show held on March 1, where models walked the runway showcasing many of her designs and styling.

Feel the sting with Maria Rojas

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • April 28, 2025
Maria Fernanda Rojas has been making clothes since she was five. Now she is 18-years-old and holds a love for design that she wants to take far.
Read Story
The Muñekita Fashion Show, hosted by EPCC fashion student Ximena Mata, took place at the Magoffin Home.

Muñekita honors Magoffin Home with unique concepts

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • April 28, 2025
Models make their way down the runway at El Paso’s historical Magoffin Home to tell a story about growing up. EPCC’s fashion promotion class built a community while putting together the unique fashion show.
Read Story
Tag team partners featuring Lobo and Lobito are a father and son duo who wrestle in the Lucha League Wrestling company.

The art of wrestling, enriching bi-national communities for almost a century

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • April 16, 2025
Lucha libre on the border has a rich history as it originated in the Sun City, but it has the potential to have an enriching future bringing even more communities together as lucha libra has done over the last century.
Read Story
Brianna Cooper has been working a campus job since her undergrad years and has the opportunity to continue her career with the university.

Enriching your resume with campus jobs

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • April 14, 2025
Many students at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) work part-time and full-time jobs while going to school. However, some students have discovered the benefits of working one of the varieties of on-campus jobs that UTEP offers.
Read Story
In today's age, it is more common to express oneself through different types of piercings and tattoos.

Your body is not a temple, it’s a canvas

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • April 11, 2025
It’s seemingly more acceptable in the modern days to treat the body as a canvas for expression through tattoos and piercings. This cultural shift even has older generations going against the grain.
Read Story

Cafecito en Socorro: Café Piro

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • April 11, 2025
Incense cleanses the energy of a small adobe coffee house, Café Piro. With Native American art and culture displayed unabashedly, visitors are greeted with a scent of citrus and a warm welcome by the owners and baristas, who aim to satisfy the stomachs and brains of their patrons through the café’s cultural experience. Explore a truly historic, unique and homelike cafe to enhance your palate throughout El Paso, Texas.
Read Story
Learning and growing from the college experience

Learning and growing from the college experience

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • April 9, 2025
The college experience does not have to come from frats, parties and internships as not everyone has the luxury of that. It comes from taking the situation you’ve been handed and finding a way to build from there.
Read Story
Barista Rebecca Ruiz prepares a seasonal drink using flavored syrup at Cafecito.

Cafecito en Socorro: Cafecito, Bodega Loya, and their contribution to sweet drinks and local artists

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • March 31, 2025
Cafecito’s coffee bar sits at the entrance of an old home in Socorro, and the other rooms are filled to the brim with art, making grabbing a coffee a museum-like experience, all while giving back to Socorro and its local artists.
Read Story
Gabe Padilla infuses each plate with the history, flavors, and traditions of the Piro people.

Cafecito en Socorro: Owners of Café Piro pass on the legacy of the Piro tribe through food and culture

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • March 19, 2025
Cafe Piro, owned by Gabe and Mel Padilla, pays homage to the Piro tribe’s ancestral roots, their coffee, food and art tell a bigger story about the café.
Read Story
Throughout the McKelligon Canyon trail, there are several landmarks scattered to ensure that hikers do not lose sight of the path and get lost.

Hiking through the beauty of West Texas

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • March 15, 2025
The trails in West Texas make for a fun, yet challenging hobby to pick up as spring break rolls around. The desert trails allow one to maintain their physical and mental health as they hold unique desert life and great views.
Read Story
A Juan Gabriel impersonator performs at 'Together Juntos' to offer the attendees some musical relief as they collect information on organizations and services that may be helpful to them.

[Photo] The more you know, the more you grow: ‘Together-Juntos’

Vianah Vasquez, Contributor/Writer • March 14, 2025

Dozens of local organizations and services make an appearance at 'Together Juntos' such as Las American Immigrant Advocacy Center and The Community First Coalition.

‘Cobra Kai’s’ finale crane kicks viewers with spontaneous life lessons

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • March 7, 2025
“Cobra Kai” leaves viewers and fans with a fulfilling conclusion tying in all aspects and struggles of life both inside and outside of the dojo.
Read Story
“Judithe Hernández: Beyond Myself, Somewhere, I Wait for My Arrival” is an ongoing exhibit on the second floor of the El Paso Museum of Art until April 20.

Southwest depiction meets Chicano femininity in two same-floor EPMA exhibits

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • March 5, 2025
The El Paso Museum of Art opened two new exhibits, “Tom Lea and Contemporaries” and “Judithe Hernández: Beyond Myself, Somewhere, I Wait for My Arrival” on Saturday, Feb. 15. Both exhibits show drastically different styles and narratives but still impact museum goers and collectors all the same.
Read Story
A crowd of students gather around the Christian protestors at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

Trump’s ‘Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias’ order will reexamine and reinstate Christian policy

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • March 3, 2025
President Donald Trump signed an executive order “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias” on Feb. 6. This will implement a Task Force initiative to reexamine existing law that may now be deemed anti-Christian and reinstate Christian values into the USA.
Read Story
A performer reaches out as her fellow dancers hold her back in a scene from "Monomyth", illustrating the struggle between resistance and perseverance.

‘Monomyth’ using common adversity to create an impactful performance

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • February 26, 2025
UTEP’s Theater Dance production, “Monomyth” takes the stage on Feb. 20 to show a display of the hero’s journey in everyday life and societal issues. Dancers use their own struggles to face a vulnerable role and leave an impact on the audience leading to self-reflection and an understanding that they are the hero of their own lives.
Read Story
The Women’s Volunteer organization gathered on Feb. 8 at Madeline Park to inspire kindness and community involvement. Founded by Karmen Corona, the organization creates a safe space for women and encourages them to give back through volunteer efforts and acts of kindness.

Paying kindness forward through the Women’s Volunteer Organization

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • February 19, 2025
The UTEP Women’s Volunteer Organization makes an impact by providing a safe space for women and offering a hand to those in need. President of the organization, Karmen Corona, keeps her grandfather’s legacy alive by creating a community of women to pay kindness forward.
Read Story

‘Swingin’ through the city: Building community through jazz

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • February 19, 2025
The Jazz Exchange’s 2025 music series, “Jazz Around Town” is a way of bringing community together while reconnecting to El Paso’s jazzy roots. The weekly jazz shows allow people to have a drink, a laugh and bask in the sound of smooth jazz.
Read Story
Common ‘tween spaces’ have faded out within recent years, and tweens have moved over to a digitized world.

The social evolution of tween spaces

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • February 17, 2025
When there’s economic shifts in the adult world, the cultural norms for tweens also change. The current socioeconomic climate pushes tweens online for their development to be at the mercy of their devices. They can no longer be found at the mall, but they can be found on social media, forums and online games.
Read Story
Adrian Aragones and Carolina Cardoza-Herrera help students at La Fe Prep develop their English language and thinking skills through podcasting.

UTEP professors bridge the gap at La Fe Preparatory School

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • February 17, 2025
Students at La Fe Prep are building their confidence and English language skills thanks to Adrian Aragones and Carolina Cardoza-Herrera. Their outreach and work at La Fe help students connect their education to their personal lives, setting them up for a successful future.
Read Story
Cristina Ramirez reads from her book to retell her grandmother’s stories and provide historical context.

Cristina Ramirez: Recovering lost voices by keeping ancestral spirits alive

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • February 12, 2025
Cristina Ramirez’s book, “A Story of Stories,” amplifies her Mexican American grandmother’s unpublished voice. It holds a special meaning for her research reviving lost work from Mexican women, and for her grief.
Read Story
A demonstrator raises a sign reading "Migration is not illegal" during a Jan. 29 protest.

El Paso community comes together in wake of unprecedented political climate

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • February 10, 2025
The El Paso community came together at Memorial Park on Wednesday, Jan. 29 to support immigrants in the current sociopolitical climate. Many shared stories, tears and resources to hold onto community during a rough era.
Read Story
Crystal Lee, 24, owner of Daizy Baby displays unique handmade jewelry made of resin and real flowers that are locally sourced.

The Upper Valley Market ties El Pasoans closer and makes dreams come true

Jesie Garcia, Staff Reporter • January 24, 2025
The Upper Valley Market is a place where the community comes together. Vendors and buyers create a unique community of support for each other. Buyers get their hands on unique crafts and products that help local businesses make a name for themselves. These local businesses have a dream, and the Upper Valley Market makes them come true.
Read Story
Menu
Activate Search
Home
Jesie Garcia