For one night, the Madison community forgot about their problems and worries and the stress of a never-ending presidential election cycle to let loose in the name of honoring young scholars. The mood was lively and festive at the 27th annual Centro Hispano Banquet on Saturday, Nov. 12, at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, which was a chance to honor young Latino students for their hard work and to bring the community to together around the good work that Centro does.
For many Latinos and gringos alike, this is the annual event that they look forward to all year to come together to recognize the achievements of area youth and successful leaders in our community and to honor the gracious community support that has made Centro’ Hispano’s successes possible. This year’s banquet was simply titled “DREAM” and eventgoers were encouraged to tweet out pictures and video of the event to #CentroDREAM.
Alondra Quechol, a Roberto G. Sanchez Scholar, delivered a spoken-word piece and Centro Board President Sujhey Beisser gave the official welcome. High school awards and community awards were presented by Anahi Gallegos, Escalera Scholar, and Mario Garcia Sierra, Centro Board vice president.
Diego Campoverde-Cisneros, senior communications, PR and marketing coordinator at Unity Health Insurance, was presented with the Ilda Thomas Award. Over 30 years ago, Ilda Conteris Thomas was the first-ever executive director at Centro Hispano. The award presented in her name honors an individual whose efforts ensure a strong Latino voice in the community.
“I share this award with many in this community. It belongs to you,” Campoverde-Cisneros told the crowd. “Thank you very much for embracing me and for supporting me throughout these almost 15 years [in Madison]. I know that it’s been a very difficult week for all of us. It’s been a tough, rough week. But I would like to share my dream.
“My dream is for the undocumented community to have opportunities like everybody else to thrive and to live without fear,” he added. “We will continue to push for a comprehensive immigration reform no matter what. We won’t stop. All of us can make this dream come true. No wall will stop us. We won’t give in and we won’t give up.”
Gerardo Mancilla, director of Education Administration of Edgewood College, was honored with the Roberto G. Sánchez Award which honors an individual, group or organization that has demonstrated leadership in advancing educational and career opportunities for Latinos.
“I am so humbled and honored to receive the Roberto Sanchez Award. His work is truly inspiration and something someday I hope to achieve,” Mancilla told the crowd. “I have seen firsthand the impact that Professor Sanchez has had on so many youth in the Madison area.”
Mancilla thanked his mom who was once a poor, struggling, single mother raising three kids who came to the United States from Mexico looking for opportunity and a better life for her children.
“My mom was very instrumental in achieving my dream. I remember going to her and being frustrated and crying about being undocumented and angry about the situation. I said to myself, ‘How is it possible that not having a social security number can put so many barriers in your own career?’” Mancilla said. “My mom gave me the best advice I could ask for. She said, ‘Think about life like a puzzle. Your social security number is just one piece of that puzzle. Work on getting all the other pieces in place so that once you have the last piece, your puzzle will be complete.’ That was the best advice that I could get. Thanks to that advice, I am where I am today.”
Menendez Coller presented a surprise award to Centro Board President Sujhey Beisser for her lifetime of work and commitment to Centro. Menendez Coller then gave her closing remarks with the scholarship award winners still standing behind her.
“The reason why I wanted them to stay on the stage is because I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them and we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the community that we serve,” she said.
Menendez Coller said that two years ago those who attended Centro’s annual celebration might have remembered her describing Centro as “the heart and soul of this community.”
“To be the heart and soul, each of your voices and input and support and encouragement is needed for us at Centro to be sustained even at the most challenging of times,” she said. “I, personally, count on you to feed Centro with your ideas and your advice. Our families expect each of you to be a piece of a puzzle that when put together is a unified, strong Latino community who says, ‘we will make our presence known.’
“In recent weeks, I have reflected how much of a heavy load our agency takes on day in and day out – 5,000 clients come to us annually with dreams,” she added. “Our goal is to help them usher those dreams into reality. I personally pledge here tonight – and I hope you will, too – to work even harder to turn our community’s dreams into a reality because they deserve it.”
