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Saint Mary’s Institute for Latin American and Latino Studies (ILALS) has announced the recipients of the Brother Camillus Chavez Student Award for the spring of 2022. The award, established in 2019, provides financial support for students who are studying Latin America or Latinx diasporas. 

The recipients of the award are: Daisy Buenrostro ’24, Kinesiology major with an emphasis in Exercise Science and Psychology minor; Alex Cardona ’22, Justice, Community, and Leadership major with a concentration in Multiple Subject Teacher Education, and Ethnic Studies minor; Andrea Diaz-Garcia ’22, Business Administration major with a concentration in Marketing, and Music minor; Bianca Guzman ’21, English major with a dual emphasis in Literary Theory and History, and Creative Writing; Maya Patel ’22, Business Marketing and Justice, Community, and Leadership double major; and Ashley Hernandez ’23, Clinical Psychology major with an emphasis in Counseling. 

As the co-president of the student club Ballet Folklórico Guadalupano (BFG), Diaz-Garcia shared her commitment to increasing the presence of Latinx students on campus and educating the wider community through regional Mexican dance. 

“We made it our mission this year to educate our dancers about the history behind it. Thankfully to my co-president, Maya Diaz-Villalta ’22, we were able to introduce danza azteca [Aztec dance] and reconnect with our culture that way. And for many dancers who are not Latino or Hispanic, they’re still learning as well, and they wanted to do it because they wanted to learn. This is something about dance specifically that brings people together.”

“This scholarship helped me pay for my textbooks this year, and it also helped me pay for my graduation fee. I’m going to cross the stage because of this, so I’m very grateful for that,” said Diaz-Garcia, who hopes to expand her creativity in business marketing after graduating this spring. 

Cardona said the Brother Camillus Student Award helps her pay for teaching exams to become a bilingual teacher. Now in her second bilingual teaching appointment, Cardona stressed the importance of bilingual education and Latinx representation in higher education. 

“Working directly with students who identify as Latinx was already such an incredible experience. I grew up going to school with a majority of white folks or not in many diverse spaces, so it was really great to finally be able to enter a classroom where it felt like home, where I felt like I could connect with these kids and the kids could connect with me. It was a really important moment to bring everything I’ve learned from Saint Mary’s, everything I’ve learned from Justice, Community, and Leadership, and implement it into the classroom space.”

ILALS named the award after Brother Camillus for his embodiment of the College’s mission and identity as a liberal arts, Catholic, and Lasallian institution, and his influence on students for over 40 years at the College. 

This year’s award will be given in honor of the late Josefina De Alba, a Mexican immigrant from Jalisco, Mexico, and the mother of History Professor Myrna Santiago. “My brother, Rene Santiago, did the fundraising after she died a year ago, at 88,” shared Santiago. “My mom believed in education deeply, and in educating women in particular. She made it through the sixth grade in Mexico but didn’t go past elementary school because, as the first-born, she needed to help the family: seven siblings! Like so many immigrants, she worked crazy hard. She was a cook’s helper; she canned chiles in a packing plant; she glued soles in a shoe shop; and she was a seamstress for decades until she retired.… What a better way to honor her life than to support the education of our Latina students?” 

Join ILALS on Wednesday, April 27 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Brother Cornelius Art Patio for a reception honoring the recipients of the Brother Camillus Student Award. 

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