| October 2, 2019 | Gunner Young | campus editor |
|---|
Scholarships, food and community are the highlight of the annual Abrazando al Éxito event to celebrate Hispanic Heritage month.
The event is the focal point of the month, and is open to students, faculty and staff and community members.
“This is a culminating event that brings all of the Hispanic Heritage Month events together,” said Pedro Portillo, admissions registrar coordinator and co-chair of the event.
To celebrate the 10th year of this event, the speaker from the first ever event, chief education officer Mateo Raul Magdaleno, is returning to give a speech.
It will pay tribute to the first event through its theme of “past, present and future.”
There will also be entertainment such as a mariachi band and then an introductory speech by Chancellor Giovannini.
The main event will be rewarding of various scholarships.
The primary scholarship is the Magdalena de la Teja Abrazado al Éxito scholarship with TCC Foundation which will give the winner a full year of tuition, and multiple other scholarships from private donations that will give the winner a three-hour class for free.
The event didn’t start as a scholarship banquet, but during the first event, someone stood up and offered to give out money, assistant to the president Serafin Garcia said.
It seeks to break the barrier between faculty and students since that can be an intimidating thing to do, Portillo said.
“It gives us the opportunity to just take off the tie for a while and say ‘Look, we are just here sharing a meal together,’” Portillo said.
The location for the event rotates yearly from campus to campus, giving students a chance to connect with people from other campuses.
“The most important thing for me is that we bring all of the campuses together,” NW coordinator of intercultural student engagement Alex Vargas said.
She encourages students to bring family, friends or significant others along since the event is all about coming together.
Abrazando al Éxito is ultimately a chance for the community to get together and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month together.
“The biggest thing is the relationships,” Garcia said. “Nobody gets anywhere by themselves.”
The 10th annual Abrazando al Éxito scholarship and dinner event is being held 5:30-8 p.m. Oct. 10 on TR Campus.
