CELEBRATING EDUCATION
Hispanic Forum Scholarship Gala
By DANIELLE ANTHONY
2016 HISPANIC FORUM
T
he 19th Annual Hispanic Forum
Scholarship Gala will take place
at the Brazos Center in Bryan on
July 15. The goal is to give out at least
63 scholarships to students in the Bryan
College Station area at the gala for a
grand total of $100,000. Several people
in the community will also receive other
awards. The night is a celebration of
students and community leaders and
will be complete with live and silent
auctions, as well as entertainment from
the Texas Unlimited Band and David Lee
Garza featuring Ram Herrera.
The students will be awarded
scholarships ranging from $1,000
to $10,000. These students come
from the Bryan and College Station
Independent School Districts and some
B/CS private schools. The Hispanic
Forum ranks students based on their
GPA, school ranking, extracurricular
activities, volunteer hours, letters of
recommendation, and financial need to
decide who will receive the scholarships.
“There’s so many deserving students,
choosing is a difficult task,” Hispanic
Forum President Irma Pineda says.
Community leaders will be honored at
the gala with awards such as “Person of the
Year,” “Lifetime Achievements,” “Educator
of the Year,” and “Student of the Year.”
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INSITE May/June 2017
‘Our group has a
passion for helping
students further
their education’
— Irma Pineda
The gala is their biggest fundraiser
of the year, according to Pineda.
Community members may donate a
platinum sponsorship of $10,000, a
gold sponsorship of $5,000, a silver
sponsorship of $2,500, or a bronze
sponsorship of $1,250. Individual tickets
for the gala are also for sale for $125 per
person. The Hispanic Forum also hosts
other fundraising events throughout the
year, including a golf tournament held in
April and a 5K run in the fall.
The forum will also hold a raffle at
the gala for a piece of jewelry donated
by Montelongo’s Fine Jewelry. The Gregg
Ruth, four-carat with 18 carat white gold,
three-strand tennis bracelet is valued at
$12,000. Raffle tickets are $10 each and
can be purchased from any member of
the Hispanic Forum or via the email link
on the Hispanic Forum website. Tickets
are sold until the day of the gala and the
drawing is held that night.
The Hispanic Forum started as a
banquet that awarded three scholarships
and recognized community leaders and
has grown into an organization large
enough to award $100,000 in 2016.
“Our group has a passion for helping
students further their education,”
Pineda says.
Students receiving these scholarships
have gone to colleges across the state and
the country, with some students attending
Ivy League schools.
“I feel such a sense of pride with the
students we have in the area and their
drive to be successful and their longing
for an education beyond high school,”
Pineda explains. “I hope they remember
that someone helped them out and that
they will want to do the same thing. I hope
that each student always remembers that
giving back is important.”
For information about Gala
sponsorships and to purchase
Gala tickets and raffle tickets, visit
HispanicForumBCS.org or email
[email protected]. i