MCC Presents 2018 Hispanic Heritage Month Leadership Awards

MANCHESTER, Conn. (October 23, 2018) – In honor of Manchester Community College’s 2018 Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, the college bestowed its annual awards at a closing ceremony last week in Great Path Community Commons on the college’s campus.

Award winners with MCC staff. From left, T.J. Barber, director of student activities; Rojas; Wanda Reyes-Dawes, counselor; Diaz; Dr. Tanya Millner-Harlee, interim CEO; Flores

Award winners are Student Leadership: Nelizabeth Diaz; Employee Leadership: Dr. Carolina Flores, professor; Community Leadership: Jason Rojas, Trinity College chief of staff and assistant vice president for external relations, who also serves as a Connecticut state representative and is an MCC Foundation board member.

Student Leadership winner Nelizabeth Diaz, of Bristol, has overcome tremendous challenges. She was born in the United States to Mexican immigrants, and so she struggled during her early education because of limited English-language mastery.  She credits the “amazing” teachers she met in high school and at MCC with helping her to overcome shyness and a lack of confidence. Currently studying psychology with plans to transfer to the University of Connecticut after completing her degree at MCC, Diaz is the president of the on-campus internet radio station, ICE Radio, and is a member of the college’s poetry club.

Employee Leadership Award winner Dr. Carolina Flores, a native of Zaragoza, Spain, and current resident of Meriden, teaches in the MCC Music Studies program. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Spain before moving to the United States to further her studies and earn second bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. Currently, in addition to teaching at MCC, she serves as the first woman artistic chorale director of the Manchester Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, and is also the director of music and choirmaster at St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church in Trumbull, Connecticut, and has sung with the Yale Camerata and Chorus pro Musica. She is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the national 2016 NISOD Excellence in Teaching Award.

Community Leadership Award winner Jason Rojas, of East Hartford, has worked in higher education for nearly his entire career. In addition to his role at Trinity College and work on the MCC Foundation board, he has also served on East Hartford’s Town Council and Board of Education, and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Public Secondary Schools. Rojas is 9th House District representative – the first Latino to be elected in a suburban district and also the first Latino to be chair of the legislative Finance, Revenue and Bonding committee. He sits on the Billings Forge Community Works board, the Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance, and is a trustee for the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford.

MCC is proud to educate a diverse group of students. Based on students who self-identify a race and/or ethnicity, the population of Hispanic students has been increasing steadily over the last decade. As of fall 2017, the most recent data available, some 22 percent of the student body self-identified as Hispanic.