After 30 years of giving scholarship money to Latino students in
San Benito County, the Mexican-American Committee on Education or
MACE is preparing for another scholarship fund raiser this May 5.
On the ticket are a Chicano Oldies band, dinner and the appearance
of one of Pancho Villa’s sons with all proceeds going to the MACE
scholarship fund.
Hollister – After 30 years of giving scholarship money to Latino students in San Benito County, the Mexican-American Committee on Education or MACE is preparing for another scholarship fund raiser this May 5. On the ticket are a Chicano Oldies band, dinner and the appearance of one of Pancho Villa’s sons with all proceeds going to the MACE scholarship fund.
Over the years, the scholarship fund has helped numerous high school graduates afford to attend college. Graduates just like Gustavo Gomez. Almost 25 years ago, Gomez was a high school senior with big dreams, but little money to help him get there. An immigrant from Guadalajara, Mexico, he was headed for Stanford University, but wasn’t altogether sure how he’d pay for the tuition, which cost around $11,000 a year at the time. He applied for a scholarship from MACE and won $500. The money was barely enough to cover some expenses such as books, but coupled with several other scholarships and grants, Gomez sailed through two years of college without having to pay a single dollar.
Today, Gomez, 42, is a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, where he works on criminal misdemeanor cases. And he credits MACE with being at least partially responsible for his success.
“Five hundred dollars may not be a huge amount, but when you combine it with other grants, it adds up,” said Gomez, who is one of many of San Benito County recipients who have benefited from MACE since its inception in 1971.
MACE’s scholarship give an average of $15,000 a year and a total of $284,000 to date.
“We want to encourage young kids to not say ‘no’ to college,” said Mickie Luna, one of the founders of the scholarship organization.
Scholarships range from $500 to $1,000 and are primarily need-based. There is also a $3,000 scholarship for one student to attend the Monterey College of Law, a community law school on the Monterey Peninsula that is opening this year.
Luna is also the founder of the San Benito County chapter of the League of Latin American Citizens or LULAC, a Latino civil rights organization which besides fighting discrimination in housing, employment and education, distributes scholarship money to local students both Anglo and Latino. Like MACE, it has plenty of success stories of Hollister kids who went on to become nurses, doctors and judges.
One of them is Patricia Lezama, the daughter of migrant farm workers who received $500 from LULAC in 1995. She used the money to buy text books at Cal State Stanislaus and today works as a reporter for Univision in Monterey.
“Money was a challenge growing up,” said Lezama, 28. “But I knew I always knew I wanted to be in the news business.”
LULAC is planning a golf tournament in spring of 2006 to raise money for its scholarships and Luna and Ruben Lopez, president of LULAC, have no plans to stop their generous activities.
“We want to encourage all kids to go to college and be successful,” said Lopez. “That is why we started this.”
