SMU students, faculty and staff gathered in the Hughes-Trigg Ballroom Saturday dressed for an evening of “Old Hollywood Glamour” as they celebrated this year’s accomplishments during the Fourth Annual Multicultural Gala Awards.
The Asian Council, Association of Black Students and College Hispanic American Students act as the umbrella organizations for all multicultural organizations on campus. According to program adviser, Fernando Salazar, “This Gala is the one event that brings together the Multicultural Community for an evening of celebrating accomplishments and priceless memories.”
Department of Multicultural Students Affairs advisers Salazar, Jennifer Jones, Ke’Ana Hardy and Nessa Duque, presented the awards for the Most Outstanding Program of the Year and Most Outstanding Organization of the Year to the Asian American Leadership and Educational Conference. The Most Outstanding CONNECT Mentor of the Year was awarded to Teonray Mills.
“It’s really cool to see everyone all together in one place at one time and to be able to see what they are doing,” said SMU senior Amen Amachigh. Amachigh is a member of the Association of Black Students, Voices of Inspiration and Black Men Emerging.
The celebration began with a musical performance by SMU senior John Holiday during a formal dinner. Presidents of the Asian Council, Association of Black Students, and College Hispanic American Students each recapped the highlights of their organizations for the year.
Outgoing President of the Association of Black Students Lee Hinga said SMU Homecoming was one of the association’s biggest successes this year. “We may not have won awards, but we had the liveliest float,” said Hinga.
Other accomplishments include the ABS Fish Fry, Night Expressions, the ABS Field Day and the renewal of the National Pan-Hellenic Council’s Step Show. This year’s Step Show, hosted by 97.9 The Beat, filled up McFarlin Auditorium and was so successful that the Council has already scheduled a Step Show for the fall semester.
Shawheen Molavi, president of Asian Council, congratulated the executive board and members of Asian council for not just maintaining the status quo. “I am so happy to say everyone pushed boundaries this year,” said Molavi.
Highlights this year for the Asian Council include the Student-Teacher Mixer and the success of Outlook with more than 150 students.
Yuritza Vargas, president of the College Hispanic American Students, said the organization sponsored more than 20 events this year. One of the more memorable was the Latino Social, where Hispanic staff and faculty attended for the first time. Other highlights included Latino Rhythm and the CHAS Hispanic Alumni Round Table. Vargas said, “I look forward to what CHAS and other Multicultural organizations will accomplish in upcoming years.”
Each organization gave awards for the Most Outstanding Male and Female First Year Students, the Most Outstanding Male and Female Upperclassmen and the Most Outstanding Executive Board Member.
The award for Most Outstanding Male and Female First Year Students went to Dan Salta and Angeline Nguyen, Asian Council; Albino Garces and Esmeralda Castro, College Hispanic American Students; and Ne’andre Broussard and Tifani Horton, Association of Black Students.
Most Outstanding Male and Female Upperclassmen went to David Tiro and Kruti Patel, Asian Council; Kym Gonzales, College Hispanic American Students; and Brandon Jackson and Shalisha Galloway, Association of Black Students.
The Most Outstanding Executive Board Member went to Shawheen Molavi, Asian Council; Yuritza Vargas, College Hispanic American Students; and Lee Hinga, Association of Black Students.
Eleven other organizations presented awards in these categories.
The National Society of Black Engineers, Voices of Inspiration, Sisters Supporting Sisters and Black Men Emerging gave awards as a part of the Association of Black Students.
The East Asian Students Association, Indian Students Association, Vietnamese Student Association and Asian-American Leadership and Educational Conference presented awards as a part of the Asian Council.
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers distributed awards as a part of the College Hispanic American Students.
Although Global Connections and the Multicultural Greek Council are not “under the umbrella,” they presented awards as well. According to the Vice President of Global Connections, Danielle Wong, the organization has the same purpose of working together to build relationships, and tonight is about celebrating those accomplishments.
The Department of Multicultural Student Affairs advisors expressed gratitude for the students’ hard work throughout this year of change. This year of change includes the wall coming down between the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs and the Student Activities Center creating the Student Activities and Multicultural Student Affairs, Jones’ promotion to assistant dean of Student Life and director of SAMSA, and the addition of two new advisers.
“We can’t do what we do without you. You have to care and you have to believe in your community to be here,” said Jones.
The evening ended with a slide show presentation created by VP Council, the sponsor of the event, and dancing with the DJ in the Hughes-Trigg Ballroom.
