The Long Beach City College Puente program hosted their first event of the semester, Noche de Familia, held in the form of a potluck with students sharing foods that hold symbolic meaning to their families.
Vidal Vargas, Puente program counselor, welcomed Puente members along with family and friends to the event that took place on Tuesday September 24th at the LAC-campus in building T1200, celebrating puentista’s and their educational supporters.
“The majority of the plates that you will see out there will have little short paragraphs or maybe a sentence that students wrote about the significance of the food,” Vargas said.
Vargas then introduced Vice President of Student Support Services Mike Munoz as a recipient of the Puente program and part of the Puente team alongside other LBCC Administrators.
“I was a puentista myself, when I started community college I had a daughter who was six months old and I went back to school when I was nineteen years old but I was lost and confused and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life,”
“The Puente program at the college that I went to really illuminated a pathway for me – a pathway out of poverty,” Munoz said about the guidance he received from the Puente program during his speech.
Puente students attending the event engaged in the festivities of community building while enjoying tasty food like ceviche, conchas, and beverages like agua fresca de piña.
First year student and Puente member Leslie Solis shared similar sentiments regarding the Puente program’s ability to help students on their paths to success.
“It’s beneficial in the sense that they push me to help lead me on the right path for transferring to a university,” Solis said.
Noche de Familia connected parents with information on the programs upcoming agenda like providing information regarding their scheduled tour of the University of California San Diego, also encouraging parents to support their student puentistas.
Student speaker and current Puente student assistant Valeria Padilla, gave words of encouragement to new Puente students.
“Whatever happens don’t fear what’s in your path, if you’re scared of success and what’s next then you wont get too far so don’t dwell on that,” said Padilla.
Puente English Instructor Darya Myers ended the night with a reminder on what the Puente program strives to do for LBCC puentistas.
“The mission of our Puente project is to increase the number of educationally under served students to enroll in four year colleges and universities” Myers said.