By Jasmine Lozano, VMHS Public Relations Intern
For Patriot Engineering and Business Professionals of America (BPA) students, giving back to the community is something they enjoy profoundly.
The Veterans Memorial High School Engineering and Business Professionals of America clubs have joined forces to operate and run an official IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site.
VITA Tax Counseling for the Elderly is a free income tax service offered to community members who make less than $58,000 a year. Members of both clubs take on a critical role each season as they process dozens of income tax forms. Together, they have successfully helped more than 60 clients at the VMHS location alone.
VMHS Engineering & STEM Teacher Veronica Burgoa started working with BPA Sponsor Yvette Chavez at the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. Together, they worked toward applying and getting approved and qualified for an official VITA center.
“In order for us to get approved, we had to start in September and try to get the application submitted and then wait for the IRS to verify we’d meet the required standards. We have since been approved and have met the IRS standards to host a VITA site,” Burgoa said.
Upon getting approved, the students trained and practiced for nearly five months to earn the needed certifications. A total of 30 VMHS students were IRS certified in the following areas:
- Volunteer Standards of Conduct
- Intake/Interview
- Basic Exam and Quality Review
Senior Fernando Gonzalez, who has been in the Patriot Engineering Club for four years, said the VITA program has been a challenge from the start, but with the support from the rest of his team, he was able to push through and accomplish a lot more than he expected.
“At first we were inundated with so much work, but we finally got everything in check,” Gonzalez said. “We stayed late every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday to get as much practice as we could. We also had to go through training on Saturdays to get better prepared to serve our community. After settling in, my team and I looked forward to getting to meet and work with clients.”
BPA Vice President Montserrat Garza-Huerta shared that after school, VITA appointments filled her with adrenaline as she and her peers learned how to communicate information about income taxes.
“The moment a client walks through the doors of the school and is greeted by our staff, my VITA mode was switched on,” the 11th-grade student said. “All available BPA members were ready to perform a series of questions on our client and make sure they received our full attention. We received clients one after the other and though I was left out of breath, I couldn’t wait to rush back to the entrance and repeat the process once again.”
The group of students were recently paid a visit from the IRS to inspect their running site and not only did they pass the inspection, but they were encouraged to begin reaching out to other high schools on the benefits of having students run a VITA site.
“What I like the most is that they learned how to apply their experience to make decisions, be a problem solver, know how to use math and reasoning skills, and how to develop confidence,” said Veronica Burgoa, an on-site coordinator. If any of our students had a question, they are not afraid to contact the IRS, especially since this is our first year, so I commend them for being direct.”
Congratulations to the members of team 12450 Jager from Patriot Engineering and Business Professionals of America members for being a part of MCISD’s first official student-run VITA site.
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