Reflejos presents reader choice excellence awards
Four suburban Latino students and various community groups, businesses and individuals were recognized Wednesday at Reflejos' fourth annual Reflecting Excellence Awards at Elgin Community College.
Reflejos' readers chose the award recipients based on nominations. Among them were four outstanding Northwest Suburban High School District 214 students chosen for the Latino Student Leadership Award — Kristina Dominguez of Buffalo Grove High School, and Martha Adame, Ricardo Valladares, and Illiana Mendoza, all of Wheeling High School.
“It's the first award I have received,” said Mendoza, 17, of Wheeling, a Wheeling High School senior and a junior ROTC cadet. “My sergeant actually wrote the recommendation for the award. I'm so grateful. It feels really nice.”
Mendoza is on the school's drill and African step dancing teams, which have won eight Illinois Drill Team Association and Illinois Stepping League championships. She also has been involved in debate, student council and Latino Dance Club. She said she wants to study business management and pre-law after she graduates in May.
Each student will receive a $1,000 scholarship matched by ECC and National Louis University of Chicago, should they choose to study there, said Linda Siete, Reflejos manager of sales and operations.
“Our future are our students,” said Siete, adding Reflejos is looking to expand partnerships with other educational institutions so scholarship winners have more college options. “We wanted to give these kids the best start we possibly can.”
Each of the recipients also have to write 500-word essays about what qualities make a great leader; the essays will be published in Reflejos next year, she said.
Reflejos, a bilingual weekly newspaper devoted to education and highlighting the contributions of a burgeoning suburban Latino population, has been serving Latino communities from Waukegan to Aurora, from the Fox Valley through Schaumburg and into Chicago for 24 years. The publication looks for ways to highlight organizations, businesses, government agencies, and individuals, including future leaders, within the eight counties it serves.
Winners of the Reflejos Reflecting Excellence Awards were: Gail Borden and Indian Trails public libraries in Elgin and Wheeling, respectively; Boys 2 Men; Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin; Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois; ECC/Accelerating Opportunity; Lake County Latino Coalition; Spanish Community Center of Joliet; Wintrust; Waubonsee Community College; Reventon Promotions; Cantigny Park; Waukegan 2 College; Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce; Des Plaines History Center; La Chicanita Bakery; Carmen Solano De-Carrier; Chantel DeJean and DeJean Family; “Union Latina” ESPN DePortes (1220 FM); Coalition for a Safe and Healthy Elgin/Renz Center; Luis Acosta; and Smithfield Foods.
Rosa Salazar Arenas, an award-winning soap opera screenwriter for the largest television network in Mexico, Televisa, gave the keynote address. Arenas was head writer for the popular TV series “Mujer Casos de la Vida Real,” whose reruns now air in more than 12 countries.
“I am so happy and honored to be here fighting for education and grants,” Salazar Arenas said. “Don't take failure or rejection as a 'no' in life. Take it as an opportunity. Never stop studying. The first and the only obstacle is within you.”