Student Leadership Award

The Association of Latino Alumni is pleased to present the recipients of the ALA Student Leadership Awards. Given each year, this award recognizes a Latino/a senior who has demonstrated leadership, advanced diversity at Penn through student activities or community service, and exemplifies excellence.

The 2011 ALA Student Leadership Award was presented to Enmanuel Martínez, C'11 a member of the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, who studied Comparative Literature and Literary Theory, as well as Latin American and Latino Studies. He served as President of both Cipactli, Penn’s Latino Honor Society, and the Latino Dialogue Institute (LDI). He was also Penn’s Delegate to two major events: the Latino Ivy League Conference at Dartmouth College, and the Creating Change Conference, National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce. He was honored by La Casa Latina with the Freshman Latino Award, and ALA is proud to have recognized him at the end of his senior year for his continued efforts to promote cultural understanding.


ALA Board members Jasmin Perez, NU'08 & Cecilia Ramirez, C'05 ALA Student Leadership recipient SW'10 Enmanuel Martínez, C'11
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The 2010 ALA Student Leadership Award was presented to Sheyla P. Medina, C’10 on Apil 9, 2010. Sheyla majored in Health and Societies with a minor in Nutrition. Throughout her time at Penn, Sheyla balanced her challenging course load with her passion for minorities and health care issues and her commitment to community service. Sheyla was active in the McNair Scholars Program, Digital Partnerships with Indian Communities, Penn Institute for Urban Research, and Undergraduate Research on Evaluation of Community Partnership Recess Program to name just a few.

In addition, this year's recipient of the James Brister Society Student Leadership Award was Rami Reyes, W'10. Rami majored in Finance and Real Estate with a minor in Psychology. He served as the Chairman of the Latino Coalition, worked with the UA and Admissions on translating Penn admissions materials to Spanish to assist parents of prospective students. He also resurrected and served as President of Lambda Upsilon Lambda, the Penn’s only Latino fraternity, which has helped increase the social, cultural, and community opportunities available at Penn.

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The 2009 ALA Student Leadership Award was presented to Lany L. Villalobos, C '09 on May 1st, 2009. Lany, of Dallas, TX, is a history major with a near-perfect GPA and an equally impressive commitment to community work. From helping La Casa Latina develop a Community Resource Guide of Regional Latino Organizations to building homes and educating Latino immigrant workers about their labor rights in New Orleans, Lany has selflessly given of her time and set an example worth following.

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The 2008 ALA Student Leadership Award was presented to Jasmine Perez, NU'08 on May 2nd, 2008. Jasmine, who graduated from the School of Nursing, has already been admitted to the Master of Science in Nursing program in Women's Health and Midwifery. She has served as President of ACELA, Asociacion Cultural de Estudiantes Latino Americanos, where she co-organized a college student panel consisting of students from different schools at Penn for Latino students in North Philadelphia. She hosted a program title "We Struggle", which compared and contrasted African American and Latin American Slavery, and organized Salsa & Flamenco workshops to educate the community about dance in Hispanic culture.

Below is the full list of ALA Student Leadership Awardees
2011 - Enmanuel Martinez, C'11
2010 - Sheyla P. Medina, C’10
2009 - Lany L. Villalobos, C '09
2008 - Jasmine Perez, C'08, NU'08, GNU'10
2007 - Raimundo J. Guerra, W'07
2006 - Naomi M. Adaniya, W'06
2005 - Celia E. Castellanos, W'05 and Jesse A. Salazar, C'05
2004 - Nicolas Rodriquez, C'04
2002 - Maribel Wan, C'02
2001 - Marcela Poveda, C'01
2000 - Adrianna Lopez, C'00