NHI announces its latest group of award winners

Reviving a tradition that harkens back to the heyday of pre-pandemic events, the National Hispanic Institute has honored two college students, representatives of two high schools, and representatives of a school district for their contributions to the organization. 

In tandem with the Person of the Year award, a New Year’s Eve tradition started by NHI founder and president Ernesto Nieto (awarded to Sophia Lugo), NHI gathered nominations for award winners in December and unveiled awards to the winners earlier this month. 

We gathered reflections from the award winners. 

Marisol Gonzalez Flores, College Student of the Year

Currently a junior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Marisol’s NHI journey involved her contributing to the Northeast region’s growth as a student at Kennett High School in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, starting with the Northeast Great Debate at Cabrini University in 2019. While her NHI journey was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic the following year, she returned as soon as possible to staff multiple LDZ programs, including serving as a Dean of Women and a senior counselor.

She will stay engaged in NHI while majoring in geoscience and criminology, aiming for a career involving science policy and environmental justice. 

She says, regarding why she volunteers, “NHI magic, of course, and giving back to the participants what you once felt as a participant.” 

“The Northeast is really special to me, because we, especially in the Great Debate, do a really good job about maintaining a bilingual program,” she observed. “A lot of our demographic comes from the Dominican Republic, plus students from Mexico and Puerto Rico, For me, it’s become a great way to be immersed in other Latino cultures.” 

Nathan Lara, College Student of the Year

On track to graduate from the University of Texas at San Antonio in just three years this coming spring with a finance degree, Nathan began his NHI journey at Central Catholic High School in San Antonio, participating in the Texas Great Debate in 2019 before the pandemic interrupted his journey. He doubled up on programs in 2021, becoming Speaker of the House at the Colorado LDZ and then participating in the first-ever CWSx, the online version of NHI’s capstone program. 

Since then, he’s served as a major force in NHI@SanAntonio’s local chapter, a trainer for “Heroes, Heroines and Legends,” as an LDZ Assistant Secretary of State, a Great Debate Director of Judging, and a CWS umpire, enjoying the roles he’s played in helping students benefit from what NHI offers, and plans to stay connected to the organization while pursuing a law degree. 

“I definitely was a very shy person before I came to NHI,” Nathan said. “I really didn’t know how to communicate on a professional level. After doing the Great Debate, I learned quite a bit from it, and then obviously doing LDZ and CWS just enhanced it even more.” 

“I also learned how to look at things through other people’s perspectives, rather than just my own, meeting people from different cities, different states, and different countries,” he added. “NHI gave me a bigger insight into what the Latino community actually was.” 

Jeff Goebel (Global Community High School, Las Vegas, Nev.), High School Official of the Year

Global Community High School is relatively new to NHI, but was able to send four of its 30 freshmen to the California Sol Great Debate program last summer, working with NHI and community partners, including Las Vegas Sands, to provide scholarships – including two who won first place in the Athenaeum competition. 

As principal Jeff Goebel explains, his school is distinct in its approach, and Global Community students enhanced NHI’s vision of a global Latino community. 

“All of our students have lived in the United States for less than three years,” Goebel shared. “We only have about 190 students; all of our students are learning English. They come to us from all over the world. I have students from almost every Spanish-speaking country in South America and Central America, from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, and we also have students from Africa and Asia.” 

He said, of the 2024 group’s experience, “When they came back from the conference, they were just on fire. They loved it. It was a life-changing experience.” 

Marshalltown High School (Marshalltown, Iowa), High School of the Year

Dr. Theron Schutte, superintendent of the Marshalltown Community School District, was familiar with NHI since his time with the Bettendorf Community School District and its engagement with the Midwest Great Debate at nearby Augustana College. When he returned to Marshalltown nine years ago, having graduated from its high school, he thought NHI would be a perfect fit for a district that is about two-thirds Latino. 

“The reality is our students who have participated in it have been able to help us successfully sell it to other students and families,” Dr. Schutte said of Marshalltown’s role as one of the region’s most engaged schools. 

That owes in large part to Jacque Wyant, former MHS Principal, who Dr. Schutte said was charged with getting the program off the ground at MHS and determining a sustainable funding source to support students attending NHI programs. 

Its success also owes a great deal to Assistant Principal Hector Campos, who has made NHI a club at the high school, encouraging students to practice the NHI Fundamentals and fundraise to bring more students to enroll in the leadership series. 

“These are students that are centered along lines of doing community work as social justice work, and also they have entrepreneur hearts,” Campos said. “The students organized with their parents, they brainstormed, and they decided that they would be willing to open up a little store at the school. That magically transformed into kind of a commercial operation, not necessarily large scale, but in terms of sophistication.” 

Having previously marveled at the time management skills that NHI students exhibited and encouraged in others as student leaders, Campos sees those fundraising efforts taking the students to a whole other level. 

“It’s fascinating how their energy and get-go spirit is now transforming them into student leaders helping other students understand business principles.” 

Corpus Christi ISD (Corpus Christi, Texas), School District of the Year

Look at NHI rosters, especially those in Texas-based programs, and W.B. Ray High School and Richard King High School are two that are well represented. But at the most recent Texas Great Debate, students from Mary Carroll High School and St. John Paul II High School were among the individual award winners, helping the Corpus Christi team reach the podium for the Texas Ambassador Great Debate Championship portion of the tournament. 

“Our students are performing higher on state assessments,” said Dr. Roland Hernandez, who has been superintendent of Corpus Christi ISD since 2014, crediting early childhood programs, setting higher standards that students are rising to meet, and partnerships like the one between his school district and NHI in broadening high schoolers’ horizons.

“They’re growing in confidence,” Hernandez said of the students who participate in NHI. “Many students here stay local. They don’t really get exposed to other universities and other programs outside of the city or outside of South Texas. So the fact that they’re hearing from leaders that can influence them in so many different areas, being exposed to other leaders, whether it’s at their school or other parts of the state, that is what makes them stronger students and stronger leaders.” 

He shared that upon learning of the School District of the Year honors, he was contacted by a parent who, as he told it, “just talked about how the kids really thrived with everything that they’re getting from this program. That’s what I like to hear from parents.”