The First Coast Hispanic Chamber of Commerce recently hosted it’s annual Achieving the Dream (ATD) Scholarship Luncheon, “Lunch with the Stars” on May 30th, 2024. The presenting sponsor was the Jaguars Foundation. The event was held at Florida Blue‘s Deerwood Campus. FCHCC Secretary, Michelle Kaplafka and Chief of Staff, Sahira Longoria were Chair and Co-chair respectively.
Whitney Meyer spoke on behalf of Presenting Sponsor, Jaguars Foundation. She is Senior Vice President and Chief Community Impact Officer for the Jaguars Foundation. Tenikka Hughes was the Master of Ceremony for the luncheon. Tenikka is a three-time Emmy Award-winning evening anchor with CBS47 & FOX30 Action News Jax. Andy del Rosal was the keynote speaker. Andy serves as Bacardi’s Vice President of Product Innovation and Liquid Quality.
Other speakers were: Joshua Stewart of Aaron Group and who is FCHCC’s ATD Scholarship Selection Committee Chair and Yanira “YaYa” Cardona who stood in for Mayor Deegan who could not attend the ceremony. YaYa is the Hispanic Outreach Coordinator, City of Jacksonville / Public Affairs and Owner/Founder of YaYa Productions.
This year, FCHCC and its Community Development Fund awarded $24,500 in scholarships valued at $2,000 to 11 deserving and competent Hispanic Students of Northeast Florida and the 2024 recipients were honored. Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, one of the Gold Sponsors, donated laptop computers to all the ATD recipients.
Congratulations goes to our ATD Class of 2024!
| Student | College | Major |
| Andrew Palma | University of Florida | Aerospace Engineering |
| Camila Isabella Pena | University of North Florida | Marketing |
| Carlos Balbuena Munoz | Georgia Institute of Technology | Mechanical Engineering |
| Chanttal Martinez | Colorado State University | Biological Science + DVM |
| Gretchen Garcia Cintra | University of Florida | Communication Sciences and Disorders |
| Marina Caraballo | American University | International Relations |
| Melody Angelica | University of North Florida | Sports Management |
| Mia Vazquez | University of West Florida | Fine Arts |
| Soleil Martinez | University of North Florida | Junior/Child Psychology |
| Veronica Shoff | Rollins College | Biology |
| Lucas Cardosa Bertran | University of North Florida | Mechanical Engineering |
More photos are on our Flickr photo gallery, click here!
About the ATD Scholarship Program: FCHCC’s ATD Scholarship program was designed to assist Hispanic students continue their educational endeavors. The First Coast Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (FCHCC) has supported the education of Hispanics for many years with over half a million dollars in scholarships that have been awarded. Furthermore, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Jacksonville (FCHCC), is proud to have impacted the lives of more than two hundred fifty (250) earnest and qualified scholarship recipients during its 30+ years of existence.
The ATD Scholarship program not only enables students who have worked hard and achieved academic excellence to start or continue their education, it gives them the opportunity to become future successful entrepreneurs.
Thank you to all our sponsors:
- Presenting sponsor: Jaguars Foundation
- Gold sponsors: VyStar Credit Union and Coca-Cola Beverages Florida
- Scholarship sponsors: Arlington Toyota, Fisher Tousey Attorneys at Law, Alive Credit Union, Deutsche Bank, Decons Energy, Florida Blue, VyStar Credit Union, University of North Florida, Jimenez-Bellisario Family Trust and Clark Vargas Scholarship.
- In-Kind sponsors: DEX Imaging, MiAddVantage, Shonky Studio and Sherrie Imaging
Thank you to our Strategic and Large Corporate Partners: Florida Blue, iHeart Media, CMG Cox Media Group, Southeastern Grocers, Prospera USA, Norsan Media, Sherwin-Williams, VyStar Credit Union, Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA), Adams Homes, CSX , MiAddvantage, Dominion Inc., Jacksonville Electric Authority, PNC Bank, UNF Coggin College of Business and Citi.