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Hispanic Scholarship Consortium Reception at West Lake Hills home
It’s a sharply attired club. Generally well-off, but not showy. Socially fluid. Worldly, but hardly cynical. In fact, forthrightly humanitarian.
That describes the social band that backs the Hispanic Scholarship Consortium, which provides not just cash, but steady mentoring for Latino students on the college track.
Monica Peña and Jessica Mejía
It’s always a little cooler in West Lake Hills than downtown, thanks to breezes. So the Consortium’s biggest annual assemblage pressed out onto the widescreen-ready balconies of the David Garza-John Hogg hillside home.
Entrepreneur Monica Peraza told me more about her son, a racecar driver. Travis County District Clerk Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza shared news about opera composer Daniel Catán of Mexico, now in residence at the University of Texas, her social series, La Noche de Opera, and the vast Limon family of Austin (Virgil Limon was one of her clerks).
Arturo Frausto and Monica Peraza
Milton Torres, publisher of Popular Hispanics, recounted his recent travels reporting for the online magazine and his hopes of taking it into print. Garza and I kidded about his new, less metallic look and handsome smile.
Ben Sifuentes told me an enthralling story about searching out his family roots in Castile, including an ancestral castle named Cifuentes. (The name was twice corrupted from Cien Fuentes, or 100 Fountains.) He feels his clan is drying up because there are so few around with his last name (as compared to, say, the Limons).
Milton Torres and Travis County District Clerk Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza
U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett was there, as was former state Rep. Diana Maldonado and state school board candidate Rebecca Bell-Metereau, who teaches English at Texas State University. I met her husband, who arrived in this country from France as a youth with barely any knowledge of English, and now teaches the subject at Texas Lutheran University.
As is the custom at the “I Am a Number” reception, scholarship students introduced themselves to the guests. I talked with an international business major from Texas State and a human development major from UT.
Because I had agreed in advance to be identified as an honorary host, people thought I’d worked to make this party, catered by David Garrido, such a success. I did not. I just showed up to enjoy the company.
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By John Hogg
March 25, 2011 3:33 PM | Link to this
Thank you Michael for serving as an Honorary Host Committee member. When you are there sharing your time with the students, and then they read about it in your column, it underscores that we are all believing and investing in them. They realize that are not "just a number', but rather, our future.
By Laura Duran
March 25, 2011 12:34 PM | Link to this
Michael,
We are always delighted to see you. Thank you for serving as an honorary host, and for helping HSC to advance our mission to empower Latino students through scholarship, mentorship, and leadership.
Undoubtedly, the financial investments made by donors through HSC’s “I Am a Number" campaign will make an exponential impact in the lives of HSC Scholars and our community. Thank you for your support!
Laura Duran
Executive Director
Hispanic Scholarship Consortium