Q&A: Learn How TMCC Supports its Latino Students with Dr. Olga Mesina

Tucked inside the Red Mountain building on the campus of Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) is the counseling center. There, a team of mental health professionals and counselors, some bilingual, work to provide generalized and personalized support to the potentially 11,000 enrolled students of the organization across their system.

Join Noticiero Móvil on a tour with Dr. Olga Mesina and learn how TMCC’s counseling center operates and helps all students, particularly Latinos. Video by Mayra González-Hernández.

Editor’s Note: This video was produced in Spring 2025 and there have been some important changes in the leadership at TMCC. Dr. Jeffrey Alexander is the current president, succeeding Dr. Karin Hilgersom who retired in June 2025. Estela Gutierrez is still at TMCC, but on sabbatical and returning spring 2026.

Olga Mesina: Hola Mayra!

Noticiero Móvil: Hola Olga! How are you?

Mesina: I’m good and you?

Noticiero Móvil: Doing great!

Mesina: I’m actually getting ready for my walk. Come with me.

Noticiero Móvil: Okay, let’s go.

Mesina: This is the combined counseling and disability resource center and then as you come out, this is our main student services area because we have our Center for Community and Global Connections. We have our Student Activities and leadership area as well as our Student Life Office, which has the majority of our services that we offer.

Noticiero Móvil: What is your role here at TMCC?

Mesina: Okay, so my role here at TMCC is, I’m the mental health professional. I’ve been at TMCC now for about 13 years. In this current position, I help students in the Counseling Center, both with counseling and then also resources out in the community or here on campus, depending on what they need, right?

One of the great partnerships that we do have is with our Health and Human Services Office. If students need medical insurance or are in need of food, those types of things, like SNAP benefits, then I can definitely assist them.

Another project that we have is our Naloxone training. That’s to prevent overdosing from a fentanyl-type product. Now we’re going to be able to expand that to our students which is phenomenal, since I also have run our recovery program.

Keep coming with me. As you can see this is where our campus has our bookstore as well as our art gallery.

Noticiero Móvil: What percentage of TMCC students identify as Latino?

Mesina: At this point in time 36% of our students identify as Latino, Latina, Latine. That helped make us a Hispanic Serving Institution. The minimum that you need is 25%, so, we’re definitely over that which is amazing. We are a majority-minority institution. That means that the majority of our student, so 52%, identify with one of those categories that identifies as a minority. That’s another really cool fact.

Noticiero Móvil: How do the counseling services specifically support its Latino students?

Mesina: TMCC counseling is here for all of our students. Specifically for our Latino students, we do have Las Platicas, as well as two counselors that are bilingual. Both myself, Dr. Olga Mesina, as well, as Skyler Cruz. We’re both bilingual in espanol.

Las Platicas is here to really help students identify their strengths and really discuss what those weaknesses may feel like, right? Being able to say I have one community culture at home and then I feel like I have a different one at school. But how can we bring those together and feel like you’ve got strength in all of them?

Noticiero Móvil: How does TMCC support the work that Counseling Services provides to its Latino students?

Mesina: We’re really blessed in being able to say that TMCC is very supportive of all of its students and especially, like I said, we’re a Hispanic-serving institution.

From the top: Dr. Karin Hilgersom, who’s our president; both of our two vice presidents, Estella Gutierrez, that’s in student services and Dr. [Jeffrey] Alexander, who is over in academics. Being able to say, “hey, this is something that we feel would be beneficial to the community. Is this something we can try?” First and foremost, I run it by my boss who is Yvonne Allen and she is amazing. And so, she’s able to go ahead and give us a go-ahead.

All our services are for our students. I can refer them out to whatever the community liaison might be right. it might be the resource center at their local high school. It really is about understanding and knowing the needs and where the resources are and so that’s kind of what I’m able to do. Juana Reynosa-Gomez is part of our Student Connections Office and we’re really lucky to be able to have that.

We recently brought in UNLV to come and talk to faculty staff and students about their civil rights. And we also have in our Student Connections, Campus Connections office, we have our civil rights cards, as well, that are available. If anyone does have a need, anyone wants to talk about whether they fear for themselves, the fear of friends, family, whatever that might be, we’re here for everybody. Estamos aquí para todos.

Noticiero Móvil: How do TMCC or counseling services work with the Reno community and its Latino residents?

Mesina: That’s where these referrals come in really, really handy. Being able to refer to Tu Casa Latina or being able to refer them to Health and Human Services, right? We also have our Recruitment Center and they are bilingual as well. So, they also go to the high schools, and they provide information both in English and in Spanish, both for enrolling at TMCC and for our financial aid offices as well.

Well, it’s been great. I need to get back to the office.