Plant City’s LASA sponsors Hispanic heritage event

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Panel fields questions from participants

  The Plant City Campus Latin American Student Association (LASA) celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month by inviting a panel of Hispanic guests from the Tampa Bay Community. The panel included Simon Canasi, Vice President of Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney Wealth Investments; Dr. Dania Alarcon, Cancer Researcher, Vice President of FHB Draft, New York and HCC Adjunct; and Dr. Richard F. Gaspar, Professor of Mass Communication, Ybor City Campus.

   The event was engaging and successful. Students had the opportunity to interact with real life professionals, dedicated to their careers, HCC and the community. It makes a big difference when we have visitors who are willing to open up and interact the way our panelists did.

   The students walked away with a great experience and learned that hard work, education and motivation will take you far in life, regardless of your cultural background.The most important tip I received was to never give up on my dreams and aspirations.

   In attendance were Dr. Ken Atwater, HCC President; Dr. Felix Haynes, Plant City Campus President; Dean Mills, Counselor Jamie Young, Dean Finsley Satterfield, students, families, and community members.

   The event was moderated by Plant City’s Advising Generalist, Mrs. Gaspar, who gave an emotional account of her ethnicity and shared the many sacrifices her parents endured to move to the United States from Cuba and to raise a family in, “a democratic society”.

   At the conclusion of the presentation, Dr. and Mrs. Gaspar presented Dr. Haynes and the HCC Plant City campus with a painting by Dr. Ferdie Pacheco for the campus to display.The painting is from an Associated Press photo showing Dr. Gaspar’s father, Frank Gaspar, in one of his final fights for the New England Golden Gloves championships which he won in three different weight classes for three consecutive years (1955-1957).

   Dr. Pacheco, a medical doctor, was Muhammad Ali’s  fight doctor for seventeen years. He has earned two Emmy Awards for boxing commenting during his tenure with NBC. He has published 14 books, many articles, columns, and reviews for many major newspapers in America.

   Dr. Pacheco’s contributions, along with the panelists, bring to light the importance of celebrating success and giving back to the community.