Hispanic Network To Talk Impact At Summit

Former and current students will converge March 1-2 for the Texas A&M Hispanic Network’s 14th summit, focusing on advocating and supporting Hispanic concerns and issues at Texas A&M.

The annual event aims to educate former students about the current state of the school and provide a forum for TAMHN, a chartered Constituent Network of The Association of Former Students, to discuss and plan on how to further its mission, TAMHN President Monica Menzel ’93 said.

“Our network was established years ago when at that point the Hispanic enrollment at the university was below commensurate levels with the state of Hispanic students,” she said. “We started to bring attention to that and do all we can to bring attention to underrepresented Hispanic students at Texas A&M.”

The annual event features a number of speakers, including this year’s keynote speaker Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp '72, who will speak to the summit’s theme of “Act Locally, Impact Globally,” said Roger Martinez ’85, TAMHN sponsorship chair and director of the Office of the Provost who works as the liaison between the network and the university.

“Our demographics are changing. To get Hispanic students here and into different majors, across all majors is only going to help the state of Texas as we move forward,” Martinez said. “Diversity is an initiative that the university is high on and always working towards. It also makes huge business sense that we educate all students of Texas to help us as we grow.”

The event will take place on campus and registration is open now and available here.

While mostly former students attend, current students are invited, especially to a social where they can network with former students. TAMHN also gives out six $1,000 scholarships during the summit, a part of its overall recruiting initiative to encourage more Hispanic students to attend A&M, an effort Menzel said is always top of mind for the network.

“We’ve got a very passionate former student base that loved their time at A&M and want to encourage students to attend A&M so we want to connect them to students to stay motivated,” she said. “We’ve talked about mentoring and student organizations and how we can stay engaged with them.” 

Menzel encouraged anyone interested to attend and see how they can give back.

“Anyone and everyone is invited to participate in the summit,” she said. “If folks are looking for ways to get involved after graduation, to learn about how the network works together, to identify ways that you can give back, if you’ve had a great experience at A&M (you should attend). Just because we’re Aggies (we) are looking for ways to serve. If your experiences can help somebody else who’s considering A&M, our network can help connect you to do that.”

Above photo: Derek Vincent '16 poses with his parents in 2016 after he was presented with the Outstanding Student Award by the Texas A&M Hispanic Network.

To learn more about TAMHN visit here; for more on chartered Constituent Networks visit here.

The Association organizes and facilitates a bevy of events and programs for former students to keep Aggies engaged after they've graduated, including Class programs, Reunions, Clubs and Constituent Networks. This is only possible with the support of the Aggie Network. Visit tx.ag/give to make a gift.