Hispanic students raised awareness of academic achievement and funds for scholarships at the first Noche de Gala Scholarship Award Dinner at Fresno Pacific University.
The event was 5-7 p.m. Saturday, April 27, on the lawn in front of Bartsch Hall. Amigos Unidos, a campus organization, is sponsoring the dinner, and alumni, faculty, staff and friends are invited.
The goal of the event was twofold: to honor top Hispanic graduating students for academics and service, and to launch the Adelante Scholarship for Latino students.
FPU's Hispanic students are helping the institution reach its goal of 25 percent Latino enrollment in the traditional undergraduate program. (Current enrollment is 22 percent.). The 25-percent mark qualifies FPU as a Hispanic serving institution with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) and allows the university to apply for federal grants to further encourage the enrollment of Hispanic students.
HACU represents more than 280 colleges and universities in the United States, Puerto Rico, Latin America and Spain. The association's goals are to promote the development of member colleges and universities; to improve access to and the quality of post-secondary educational opportunities for Hispanic students; and to meet the needs of business, industry and government through the development and sharing of resources, information and expertise.