MCC Presents 2017 Hispanic Heritage Month Leadership Awards
Manchester, Conn. (October 13, 2017) – In honor of Manchester Community College’s 2017 Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, the college bestowed its annual awards at a closing ceremony October 11 in Great Path Community Commons.
Award winners: Student Leadership, Chastity Flores; Employee Award, Edgar Chavarriaga, assistant director of information technology; Community Award, Yvonne Zayas Martin, strategic global customer relationship and sales management, Otis Elevator Co., and an MCC Foundation board member since 2012.
Student Leadership winner Chastity Flores, of Manchester, has turned tremendous challenges, including the loss of her father at a young age and her mother’s chronic illness, into personal inspiration to succeed in MCC’s Radiography program, where she has dedicated herself to being a compassionate attendant to people dealing with difficult medical conditions. She notes, too, that she feels she can serve as a “friendly face” to Hispanic patients and their families in her local community. As a first-generation college student, she has also served as peer mentor to other Hispanic students in MCC’s FIRST Learning Communities program and has been an orientation leader as well as a volunteer at college events.
Employee Leadership Award winner Edgar Chavarriaga ’97, a native of the nation of Colombia and current resident of Hartford, serves MCC as assistant director of information technology and played an instrumental role in the Student Services Center 21st Century Classroom upgrade during Summer 2017. He has also served as a key volunteer for the Evening of Fine Wines. In addition to serving as sommelier since 2008 at the annual signature MCC Foundation fundraiser for student scholarships and academic programs, his role on the Planning Committee has involved tireless work to ensure that logistics run smoothly. His efforts to support the requirements for the silent auctions, which rely on an IT network for mobile bidding, as well as for the live-auction stage setups are an invaluable contribution to the event’s success.
Community Leadership Award winner Yvonne Zayas Martin, of Marlborough, has been a valuable contributor to the MCC Foundation for the past five years, serving on the board and co-chairing the Governance and Nominating committees. She has led the Connecticut Chapter of Prospanica, an organization dedicated to advancing the educational and professional accomplishments of Hispanics and, at United Technologies Corporation (UTC) — her place of employment — she is co-founder of the UTC Hispanic Leadership forum. She played a major role in that group’s 2016 annual fundraiser, which directed $12,000 to community veteran’s programs. In 2013, she was recognized as one of the Top 25 business executives by Hispanic Business Magazine.
