A decade later, scholarship recipient gives back
While the Mexican American Committee on Education banquet is
sold out almost every year, the 37th annual event promises to be
special.
Ten years ago Veronica Lezama received a scholarship from MACE
and this year she has been elected as president of the
organization.
A decade later, scholarship recipient gives back
While the Mexican American Committee on Education banquet is sold out almost every year, the 37th annual event promises to be special.
Ten years ago Veronica Lezama received a scholarship from MACE and this year she has been elected as president of the organization.
“She’s the first MACE recipient to become president,” said Rolan Resendiz, the current vice president. “It shows how MACE has gone full circle. She got a scholarship and went away and got her degree. Now she’s back working in the community.”
Lezama is a transportation planner for the county and coordinates the ride share program. In addition, for the last three years she has been active with MACE.
“The MACE scholarship banquet is our platform,” Lezama said. “We want to raise as much money as we can to give back to the students.”
During the last 36 years, MACE has raised $326,000 and granted scholarships to more than 400 students.
Most years, the community scholarship committee is able to give out $10,000 total to graduating seniors in San Benito County.
While the focus of the event is the scholarship fund-raiser, the banquet doubles as a Cinco de Mayo festival and the honoring of people who have made a difference in the lives of students. This year’s honorees include Manuel Chavez as MACE man of the year and Beatrice Gonzales-Ramirez as MACE woman of the year. Joe Ostenson will recive the MACE Education Achievement Award.
The honorees are selected each year by nominations from MACE members or from the community.
“They are everyday people who work,” Resendiz said. “There is a retired CHP officer, an educator and a music teacher. They are people who are doing work that is really important and helping to build a future for these kids.”
Ostenson has taught music in Hollister for 42 years and continues to teach jazz band, marching basics and competition concert band after school to middle school students. He has led the bands in competition to multiple awards. Ostenson’s Rancho-Maze Middle School band even performed in KFOX radio’s “School of Rock” contest two years ago and won first place.
“Competitions raise the level of their interest,” Ostenson said. “They get more involved – they try harder. They want to achieve and it’s a reward.”
The MACE Education Acheivement Award is an honor, Ostenson said, but he has been receiving positive feedback through his years as a teacher.
“I have kids – they’re adults now – the kids come back as parents,” Ostenson said. “It’s the most wonderful thing for a teacher when they want to bring their kids back to have the same experience.”
While retirement is still a few years off, Ostenson said he is still doing what he loves in teaching music to his students.
“For 42 years, I’ve been teaching and if I could I’d do it all over again I would,” he said.
Chavez also was nominated for his dedication to working with students.
“He was nominated by a family member who wrote a wonderful letter,” Lezama said. “Sometimes it takes someone from the community to point out people.”
Chavez, a retired California Highway Patrol officer, coached just about every sport imaginable in San Juan and Hollister over the years. He coached little league, Pop Warner, recreational soccer and then coached at San Benito High School.
“I coached here at the high school for 10 years – baseball, softball, football,” he said.
He was first involved with MACE in 1989 on the scholarship committee.
“That year we had 31 recipients and we didn’t want to let anyone not get a scholarship,” he said.
As the father of five children – all of whom went to college – he said he understands the importance of the scholarships.
Since his retirement from the CHP, Chavez continues to influence high school students as a bus driver.
“Hopefully I’m a role model,” Chavez said. “They look up to you out of respect.”
Beatrice Gonzales-Ramirez is another role model for local students. She became a Hollister School District board member in November 2006, but her own path to education wasn’t always an easy one.
As a teen, Gonzales-Ramirez dropped out of high school in 10th grade to take a job. After a while, she decided she wanted to continue her education and worked with the principal at San Andreas High School to make up her lost credits. She graduated in 1980 and went on to study at Gavilan College and California State University, Monterey Bay.
Through the years, she has worked as a peer tutor and become involved with the League of United Latin American Citizens.
