Guillermo Garcia, a seventh-grade student at SSG Manuel R. Puentes Middle, was honored as a national 2026 Read 180 award winner after successfully overcoming learning challenges with hard work, determination and a commitment to improving his reading skills.

Garcia was one of only 43 students nationwide and the only one from El Paso to receive this award, which recognized his remarkable growth in reading comprehension and vocabulary, as well as his ability to overcome academic obstacles.

“It just feels like good to win because you have to work hard for it, and there's like a lot of different people that could win, and I'm like the only one from El Paso,” Garcia said.

Read 180 is a comprehensive reading intervention and literacy program developed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH). It is designed to support students in grades 3–12 who read two or more years below grade level. The program combines adaptive computer software, teacher-led instruction, and independent reading to improve reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency.

Through the program, Garcia learned strategies that helped him cope with his dyslexia and become a better reader. Words like “discover” and “information” were challenging for him until he learned to sound them out, break them into smaller parts and tap out the syllables.

“Now I can read more words that I didn't know,” Garcia said.

Garcia was nominated for the award by his teacher, Melissa Peña, who said he deserved recognition for going above and beyond to improve his reading skills, including completing more work than required. While students were required to complete eight segments throughout the school year, Garcia had already finished eleven. He had also read seven or eight books during that time and successfully balanced his schoolwork with his baseball schedule.

Peña emphasized that Garcia was not only a role model for his classmates, but he also highlighted how a student with dyslexia can overcome barriers to achieve success through hard work.

“I want people to know how capable, how talented, how intelligent these students are (and) that yes, they have a condition that can be challenging, but they find all these creative, amazing ways to make it work, and they bring other gifts,” Peña said.

Click here to watch a video of this story on SISD-TV News.

Puentes Middle School national Read 180 Award event photos