By Miranda Ebersole
This college’s Public Administration Club is gearing up for the Henry B. Gonzalez Award Ceremony Nov. 17.
This ceremony is at 10 a.m. in Room 120 of the visual arts center.
The event gives scholarships and awards in honor of the late U.S. Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez, public administration Coordinator Sylvia DeLeon, club adviser, said Monday.
Gonzalez was born in San Antonio in 1916 and attended San Antonio College in the 1930s and was named the first Outstanding Former Student in 1982.
He became a state senator in 1956, making him the first state senator of Mexican descent.
In 1960, Gonzalez was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and held that position for more than 30 years.
In 2001, the club approached Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, D-Texas, one of Henry B. Gonzalez’s eight children, to ask permission to host these annual ceremonies in his father’s honor, DeLeon said.
The scholarships at these ceremonies have been awarded to students at this college, Hurricane Katrina evacuees and students from Travis Elementary School, DeLeon said.
This year, three students from American Sunrise Learning Center, an after-school program, are being awarded $250 scholarships to this college.
The money for these scholarships is raised by the Public Administration Club through fundraisers, DeLeon said.
In addition to the scholarships, five awards will be given.
Club members nominate someone who they think deserves an award, and the nominees are then narrowed down to five, DeLeon said.
One of the recipients of these awards is Luis Alvarez from National Urban Fellows Inc., DeLeon said.
The National Urban Fellows Inc. is a private nonprofit organization that offers a leadership development program.
This program awards a Master of Public Administration after completion of two semesters of academic work and a nine-month mentorship.
Alvarez served as president of the organization for almost 30 years.
He will be presented with the Henry B. Gonzalez Lifetime Achievement in Public Service Award at the ceremony, DeLeon said.
The Henry B. Gonzalez Outstanding Community Partnership Award was created to thank members of the community who have partnered with the club through donations or participation, DeLeon said.
The recipients of this award are James and Gina Gray.
James Gray is a principal and founding partner of Rialto Studio, a local landscape architecture firm, and has helped the club since 2001, DeLeon said.
Rialto Studio hosted an art auction that the club organized as a fundraiser.
Another award being presented will be the Henry B. Gonzalez Public Service and Integrity Award to Norma V. Cantu, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
She was the assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education in the Clinton administration.
Prior to that, she worked locally for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
The introduction of the award recipients and the presentation of the awards themselves will be made entirely by the students, DeLeon said.
“We want to expose our students to leaders as much as we can,” she said.