Bridges to Success Newsletter - Valencia College

Bridges to Success Newsletter 

June 6, 2011 

On April 11, 2011 the Bridges to Success held 

its annual Bridges Recognition Program. 

All students were presented with plaques and 

certificates. We would like to thank the entire 

Bridges staff for assisting with this event! 

June 

6 

June 

June 

June 

New Student Orientation 

(west) 

8 

9 

21 


(east) 


(osceola) 

New Bridges Student 

Arrive (Summer Term B) 

The program was held to honor those students 

who have excelled academically while meeting 

the program requirements of the Bridges 

program. Many of the students honored had 

exceptionally high grade point averages. We 

also recognized our Spring 2011 Graduates. 

4.0 GPA Awards 

Ashley Kimmel, Jeffrey Ortiz, Edwin Vega, 

Michelle Ortiz, Andres Cotamo Florez, Camtran 

Nguyen, Sherah Xavier, Stacy Martinez, 

Frances Jackson, Petra Baptiste. 

3.9-3.5 GPA Awards 

Katia Rosario, Angela Edet, Juliana Sierra, 

Grace Guambo, Sanya Harjani, Quinton Arrington, 

Giovanna Diaz, Jonathan Lamones, 

Jonathan Tenjo-Palacios, Careena Blanc, Angelica 

Montilla Tapia, Dennise Salazar, Joy Garcia, 

Lesline McIntosh, Elvis Perez, Boris Saint Jean, 

Sasha Tewari, Sebastian Gomez, Jannelle

Matos, Tenneshia Harvey, Vianeybert 

Toussaint, Gabriela Sosa, Brenda Camacho, 

Brandon Sabedra, Hilburn Hunkins, 

Esteban Urrea, Dennis James, Imena Valdes, 

Sarah Cook, Neisha Albert, Katie Camacho, 

Danielle Archer, Joel Rivera, Lindsay 

Keller, Jeremy Hardy, Alyssa Romero, 

Ivette Fernandez, Krystal Almanzar, Jenny 

Martinez, Lisha Reyes, Yiraliz Crespo, 

Zashira Rodriguez, Enma Pineda, Grace 

Mancebo, Courtney Miller, Talym Perez, 

Daviana Gonzalez, Quynh Phan, Lisa 

Ramos-Hernandez, Lauren Caban, Kristen 

Basco, Corey Lorini, Marissa Gonzalez, 

Ibrahim Shofiquel, Nigel Sealy, Cristal 

Rodriguez, Julie Lamberty, Rossy Molina, 

Quynhanh Nguyen, Rose Faustin, Ashley 

Crawford, Itzamar Vargas, Melissa Tisnes, 

Jose Garcia, Arvind Goberdhan, David 

Rodriguez, Astrin Luke, Lungowe Mutemwa, 

Tuyetnhung Ha, Johanna Salazar, 

Wendell Smith Jr., Zilauleymi Hernandez, 

Angela Poitier, Leydis Montero, Coralys 

Rivera, Ghasan Atshan, Bria Williams, Nicole 

Reid, Kayla Rooplal, Andrew Cuadro, 

Yuliana Bravo, Mercedes Nunez, Layra 

Troncoso, Ashley Jean Baptiste, Kristine 

Young, Lyne Auguste. 

Bridges to Success Newsletter


Bridges Spring 2011 Graduates 

Alix Joseph, Andrea Williams, Angely 

Serrano, Antonia Britt, Ashley Venson, 

Bryant Figueroa, Cecilia Pereira, Christian 

Torres, Dennis James, Edwin Harvey, Elvis 

Perez, Geraldine Athus, Jasmin Pichardo, 

Jasmine Cintron, Jazmine Brown, Jeff 

Ortiz, Jenny Martinez, Jonathan Lamones, 

Jonathan Valderrama, Josh Perez, Juliana 

Correa, Kristie Goris, Madeline Castaneda, 

Marie Louis, Mia James, Michelle 

Rodriguez, Nancy Prevalus, Nicole Vargas, 

Noel Suarez, Ralph Elie, Tenneshia Harvey, 

Terrieka Richards, Vanessa Maje. 

UCF Minority Community 

College Transfer Scholarship 

Bridges Students who are considering 

attending University of Central Florida 

should consider applying for the Minority 

Community College Transfer Scholarship. 

Scholarship Forms will be posted on the 

Bridges Website in May. 

For students preparing to transfer from a 

Florida public community college. Awards 

may be based solely on merit; based on 

financial need with an acceptable GPA; 

or based on a combination of need and 

merit. Students may apply in May if they 

completed the A.A. or A.S. the previous 

December, that May, or expect it that 

August. Scholarships are awarded for Fall 

and Spring semesters only (summer funding 

is not available). Renewals for up to six 

semesters are possible, with appropriate 

academic progress. The award level for the 

past year was $1600/year, $800/semester. 

EO/AA Office posts the information 

annually in the Spring on this website. See 

Forms section of this website for application 

materials. Students are encouraged to 

carefully observe all requirements (including 

deadlines) and contact this office if 

needed. The Career Goals Statement and 

Letters of Recommendation are examined 

as carefully as the academic record when a 

decision is made regarding the application 

as a whole. 

The following definitions from the U.S. 

Census Bureau are used to implement this 

process: 

Ethnicity: The first part of the two-part 

question asks whether or not the respondent 

is Hispanic/Latino. 

Hispanic or Latino: A person of Cuban, 

Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central 

American, or other Spanish culture or 

origin, regardless of race. 

Race: The second part asks the respondent 

to select one or more races from the 

following five racial groups: 

American Indian or Alaska Native: A 

person having origins in any of the original 

peoples of North and South America 

(including Central America), and who 

maintains a tribal affiliation or community 

attachment. 

Asian: A person having origins in any 

of the original peoples of the Far East, 

southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent 

including, for example, Cambodia, China, 

India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the 

Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. 

Black or African American: A person 

having origins in any of the Black racial 

groups of Africa. 

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific 

Islander: A person having origins in any 

of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, 

Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. 

White: A person having origins in any 

of the original peoples of Europe, the 

Middle East, or North Africa. 

Look also at the Student Financial Assistance 

website, where other scholarships 

are listed. 

Questions about the Minority Community 

College Transfer Scholarships? 

Call (407) 823-1EEO, UCF EO/AA.

Bowling Social 


Candy Gram 


Soul Fest 


Annual Health Fair

Black, Brown College Bound 


FAMU Fair 


Florida College Tour 


Spring Break Tour 


Parent Symposium 



Mentoring Programs Mentees of 

the Month of March 

LATINA 

As incoming President for LATINA, 

Alessandra Gomez is ready and up for 

the leadership opportunities. She has 

officially been in the mentoring program 

for 1 year and is very excited about the 

upcoming year. 

MOSAIC 

Darrel Raymundo is the newest member 

of MOSAIC. He has officially been 

in the program for 1 year. He is smart 

young man, with ambition and drive. He is 

excited about MOSAIC and its leadership 

opportunities for next year. 

ELITE 

Yiraliz Crespo is always ready and willing 

to volunteer her time to assist with events 

and tasks that need to be completed. She 

is quick to respond in order to volunteer, 

and maintains a great attitude while doing 

so. Her diligence and service is exemplary 

of an “ELITE” leader. She maintains a 

3.5 GPA, and is always pushing herself 

to do well in her academic career. It is an 

absolute pleasure to have as an ELITE 

member. Keep up the great work, Yiraliz! 

MOSAIC and LATINA held their annual 

awards ceremony on April 20,2011 

and they receive awards for Most Spirited 

Member, Volunteer Award, & High Academic 

Achievement. They even crowned 

the new Miss LATINA & Mr. MOSAIC, 

they received a “paper crown” and a 

plaque. 

This semester, the ladies of Lambda 

Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc. the 

Beta Theta chapter from UCF, conducted 

their annual presentation on sisterhood 

and service. The ladies of LATINA 

enjoyed their presentation. 

IMAGES Power Luncheon 

Valencia Community College, Bridges To 

Success, IMAGES Power Luncheon held 

on West Campus, 1:00PM, HSB 105, April 

8, 2011. Dr. Stan Stone, Valencia College, 

Vice-President, Human Resources and 

Jonathan Sebastian Blunt, Sebastian Communications 

were both guest presenters 

at the Mentor Program Power Luncheon. 

They spoke about success is possible and 

that they shared their personal experiences 

and how they achieved success. 

Health Summit Article 

On Saturday April 23, 2011 IMAGES 

Bridges mentoring program volunteered 

with Crossing Bridges Teen Health Summit. 

There were approximately 200 teenagers 

across central Florida that attended 

this event. 

These young men had the opportunity to 

be influential in the community by communicating 

the importance of going to 

college.

IMAGES Awards Ceremony 

On April 16, 2011 IMAGES Bridges 

mentoring program hosted their annual 

awards ceremony at Golden Corral. At 

this ceremony IMAGES recognized the 

following awards: graduates, community 

service champion, outstanding attendance, 

and highest GPA. David Vaughn, former 

Orlando Magic basketball player was 

the guest speaker. At this ceremony Mr. 

Vaughn empowered IMAGES with words 

of wisdom. His words of wisdom included 

the importance of reaching for success in 

college in pursuit of a successful career as 

well as the outcome of life choices. 

IMAGES stands for influential men applying 

gifts and employing strategies. These 

young men believe that gaining the wisdom 

of guest speakers such as Mr. Vaugn is an 

essential part of being an influential on 

campus and in the community. 

IMAGES Career Development 

IMAGES Bridges mentoring program believes 

that career development is necessary 

to remain influential in the community. 

March 2011 was “Career Development” 

month for IMAGES. On March 18, 2011 

IMAGES invited Career Advisor, Andrea 

Bealler to conduct a resume building 

workshop. In this workshop Ms. Bealler 

gave IMAGES the opportunity to ask 

questions on preparing a resume. 


Getting Involved in 

Your Leadership! 

By Yiraliz Crespo 

The “Leadership Symposium” that was 

presented on March 30, 2011 at West 

Campus was an awesome experience. 

The event was well-organized, entertaining, 

as well as informing. The event was 

split into two separate portions: the first 

part a guest speaker that presented on 

the qualities of a leader; and the second 

part of the evening consisted of a dinner 

etiquette lesson, which was helpful in 

knowing how to have proper mannerisms 

while networking, for attending conferences, 

and socializing. 

The guest speaker, who introduced himself 

as “Tom”, was an excellent speaker. 

He was full of energy, excitement, stories, 

and he even made the audience laugh. 

It was evident that you wouldn’t have 

wanted to miss this because he involved 

the audience in every way possible. 

Layout Design by Jonathan Tenjo. 

Written by Dr. Carter and Yiraliz Crespo. 

He challenged us to think outside of the 

box. For example, instead of listening to 

him speak the entire session, he had the 

audience get out of their seats and interact 

with each other by giving someone 

that we don’t know a hug. This made the 

audience think of how simple on-campus 

activities and simple gestures can spark 

creativity and create campus involvement. 

For the second part of the evening, the 

conference room was transformed into a 

dining room in order to replicate a highclass 

restaurant in which we had a full 

course meal served by waiters. It began 

with the utensil formation at a place setting, 

and describing the purpose for the 

many utensils! Each bite was bite-sized; the 

“Etiquette Queen” suggested that “one 

would never stuff his or her face or fill 

your mouth with too much food. Take 

your time,” she stated. The Leadership 

Symposium was a great learning experience 

for ELITE. This got us all to brainstorm 

ideas of how we can create spontaneity 

and creativity in our mentor program on 

Osceola. We left the symposium fresh and 

ready to be “ELITE Leaders”.

Bridges to Success Newsletter - Valencia College

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