Hispanic Excellence Scholarship Fund to award $52,000 to CSUB students

About 30 students from low-income backgrounds will each get a $2,000 scholarship to help pay for college thanks to the work of a Bakersfield foundation.

Approximately $52,000 in scholarships for that purpose will be awarded at the annual California State University, Bakersfield Hispanic Excellence Scholarship Fund Awards Program scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 20 in the Student Union Multipurpose Room.

Ed Herrera, who has been president of the scholarship fund's board of directors for 20 years, said most of the scholarship recipients over the years have been children of farmworkers.

"A lot of people strive for a lot of things in life, but the only thing that matters in life is that you help a young person achieve a dream," he said.

The keynote speakers for the event will be Bakersfield attorneys David Torres and Alekxia Torres Stallings, who are father and daughter. Entertainment will be provided by Mariachi Sol y Luna.

David Torres said his message will be aimed at parents and focus on the importance of allowing students to pursue opportunities outside Bakersfield. Many Latino fathers and mothers prohibit their children, particularly daughters, from doing so, even when they have great potential, he said.

"I've seen this too much," Torres said. "I want to talk about how important it is for students to spread their wings as human beings."

Torres, who has been involved in countless high-profile cases as an attorney, has a deeper appreciation for the scholarship than most. He was one of its first recipients in the early 1980s, when the fund was still associated with Fresno State.

CSUB President Emeritus Tomás A. Arciniega established the Hispanic Excellence Scholarship Fund in 1984 to increase college access for underrepresented students who have demonstrated academic excellence and leadership potential. Since then, the fund has awarded more than $3.1 million to about 1,800 recipients.

This year, businesswoman Laura Arredondo will sponsor five scholarships in honor of her brother, Jose Arredondo, a car dealer and philanthropist who passed away in 2019. Awardees are selected regardless of race or ethnicity.

"It's really a statement of the progress at Cal State Bakersfield that such a program has been going on for 41 years," says Professor Emeritus Tomas Martinez of the Department of Public Policy and Administration, who has been involved with the project since its inception. "People don't understand that Arciniega transformed the university."

One area that has seen major change, for example, is the percentage of Latinos on campus, which has risen from about 11 percent in 1983 to approximately 67 percent this year.

The awards program is free and open to the public, but those who plan to attend are asked to notify Professor Emeritus Martinez at 661-549-5923. Those who wish to donate can make their checks out to the CSUB Foundation (HESF scholarship fund).

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