Pinal group honors Chavez, hands out scholarships
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Valencia de la Vega, a West Point graduate and technical program manager for Intel, speaks Friday night during the sixth annual Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Committee of Pinal County dinner at The Property Conference Center. (Donovan Kramer Jr./Dispatch) |
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| Donovan Kramer Jr./Dispatch, Valencia de la Vega, a West Point graduate and technical program manager for Intel, speaks Friday night during the sixth annual Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Committee of Pinal County dinner at The Property Conference Center. |
By DONOVAN KRAMER JR.
Managing Editor
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| Donovan Kramer Jr./Dispatch, Valencia de la Vega, a West Point graduate and technical program manager for Intel, speaks Friday night during the sixth annual Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Committee of Pinal County dinner at The Property Conference Center. |
Chavez, a labor and civil rights leader who was born and died in Arizona, worked not only for civil rights but for equal opportunity and urged students to devote themselves to their studies, said Alejandro Chavez, a political activist in Phoenix and grandson of Cesar Chavez.
Valencia de la Vega, a West Point graduate and technical program manager for Intel, said she had sought the most challenging paths in the Army and in her business career.
“Ask for the hard,” she said while urging the students to plan their lives carefully by asking questions, including “What do you love? Who do you want to be like?”
“You don’t have to quit liking the cool stuff,” she said in urging the students to “do a lot of things.”
She also urged them to serve their communities by saying simply “It’s fun.”
Brian Kramer, a previous scholarship recipient who is graduating from Northern Arizona University this spring in business management, talked about his joy in working in his home community for Casa Grande Valley Newspapers Inc.
“After you graduate, come back here, because you and I are the next generation of our community,” he said.
Ralph Varela, chairman of the committee, gave special recognition to member Gloria Leija, recently retired Casa Grande city clerk who now has become a teacher.
Dolores Underwood spoke of the nature of the committee’s work in honoring Chavez and raising scholarship funds, “not just as Latino and non-Latino, but as friends.”
The event at The Property Conference Center included an auction, although much of the money is raised through donations. Arizona Public Service Co. is a platinum sponsor, and several other donors are gold, silver and bronze sponsors.
The high school and college students receiving scholarships, listed with their high school, are:
— Coolidge, Jacob Aguayo, Erika Aguirre, Jonathon Michael Cardenas, Miranda R. Contreras, Cody Lawson Dumas, Alexis Garcia, Jacob Gomez, Stephanie Hudson, Christine Miles, Benjamin Montgomery, Miranda Moore and Anthony Trevino.
— Vista Grande, Brianna Alvarez, Carlos Beltran, Jesus P. Galaz and Justin Stabley.
— Casa Grande Union, Larissa Amador-Quiñonez, Alex Arveson, Daniel Anthony Arveson, Shelby Calvillo, Alanna Case, Marisol Cervantes, Ashley Fitzgibbons, Danielle Garcia, Jeremy Gonzalez, Shirley Espinoza Gutierrez, Shannon Hanes, Jamee Mason, Amanda Morris, Lorenzo Norrid, Fernando Padron, Louis Ramirez II, Victoria Rasmussen, Armando Salinas, Austin Santilli and Katherine Wallis.
— Santa Cruz Valley Union, Tianna Cann, Loida Lizrae Nunez and David Vasquez.
— Casa Verde, Alan Garcia and Erica Esther Gonzalez.
— Desert Winds, Rhiannon Garcia.
— Florence, A’Vanti Glenn.
— Seton, Erin McCarville.
— Ray, Anne Palmer and Paula Real.
— Superior, Shayna Wickwire and Jesse Zavala.