It was a poignant scene at Centro Hispano last Friday evening when community members and officials gathered to both celebrate the contributions of residents around Dane County while simultaneously mourning the loss of several families have endured after harrowing raids by ICE.
During Centro’s 29th annual celebration ceremony many people were openly emotional. Among them was Rosemary Martinez U’Ren, who is the Human Resources Director at American Family Insurance as well as a member of the BECA committee at Centro Hispano. The BECA Committee gives out scholarship awards to deserving youth and makes huge contributions to the lives of young scholars in the Latino community.
On Friday, U’Ren was the recipient of the Marcus S. Miles Volunteer Award, an award designated to the volunteer who does the most to advance the goals and mission of Centro Hispano.
The award is named after Miles, who wore many hats in the community and whose photography graced this very news outlet frequently. Miles was a beloved figure who gave of himself freely to many organizations and causes.
For U’Ren, being put in the same breath as him had tremendous honor and meaning.
“I feel really honored to be compared to someone like that,” U’Ren told Madison365. “It’s a high standard to live up to and I am very grateful for the award and happy I could be compared to someone the community felt so warm towards. It was apparent to me that so many people had known him for so many years. He was truly an individual that people loved.”
U’Ren has worked tirelessly for the committee she formed at Centro and has been the most consistent mainstay throughout the years. The BECA Committee has made a lot of progress in terms of fundraising and creating programming for students. As Dreamers across the country have been under scrutiny, U’Ren has made sure Centro keeps pace with the changing climate.
“This year our Dreamers have been more directly impacted by the politics in front of us,” U’Ren said. “So it’s even more critical because they have so few resources in pursuing their education. We need more resources with schools. We’ve looked at expanding the scholarships we give and my goal is to continue to build.”
U’Ren said that when the program first began it gave out more scholarships worth smaller amounts of money. But over the past few years the program has grown and the committee is giving out scholarships for both high school and college students.
The criteria for students to receive a scholarship is that they must be active in the community, doing things like volunteering or mentoring or giving back in some way. They must maintain a solid grade point average as well as go through an application and interview process.
The scholarships themselves will be given out on November 10 during a luncheon at the Discovery Building on the UW Campus. The event is going to be a fundraiser used to support the giving of the awards and will run from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
Giving out the scholarships is always meaningful for U’Ren. But as she described that process, her thoughts went ever back to the jarring scene at which she received her own award last week.
“It was a very emotional crowd,” U’Ren said of the gathering at Madison’s Park Hotel last Friday in the aftermath of arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dane County and more than 80 statewide. “With the week we had here with ICE, in that respect people were a bit high on emotions and the event was sold out, which demonstrated we have a lot of support from the Madison community,” U’Ren said. “This community has great energy and a lot of passion.”
