The University of Florida’s Hispanic Latino Affairs honored four of the company’s former student ambassadors which includes a small graduation ceremony on Wednesday.
The ceremony was brought back last semester following a short hiatus, but it is definitely the students with HLA stoles to honor their commitment and work for the corporation.
Gabe Lara, director of Hispanic Latino Affairs and interim associate director of Multicultural Diversity Affairs, said while the tradition is starting out small with current HLA ambassadors, he envisions holding a bigger graduation ceremony sometime soon to honor all Latinx students at UF.
Uuniversities like Berkeley and UCLA have implemented similar ceremonies that pull in many students and fogeys, as outlined by Lara. He was quoted saying ceremonies such as these are necessary simply because they set the expectation.
“It always seems shocking when other individuals examine people in our community who graduated like, ‘Oh wow, they graduated.’ But, bit by bit we’re changing that. It’s actually not if they graduate however when,” Lara said.
Students like Jacob Diego Tern, among the list of ambassadors being honored, feel this ceremony embodies the struggle some could have faced for getting here.
“It’s tricky to place into words, but I have been really reflective because I’m graduating. I’m sure this really is the cherry at the top not only for in my situation or my children but our ancestors that came before me. My parents are immigrantsCI’m getting emotionalC but naturally these products I conducted it. I’m here,” Tern said.
