TC Williams and the Campagna Center’s Building Better Futures program sponsored a special Titan Pride: Hispanic Heritage Program for the students earlier this month. Five T.C. Williams alumni appeared as special guests and described their experiences of attending school as part of a small minority and the paths they chose to make the most of their school years.
Alexandria Fire Department Captain Luis Santano ’78 came to the U.S. from Guatemala. Santano said learning the English language was invaluable in his success. Ivan Silva ’93 now works with Strayer University.
Douglas Garcia ’97, a native of El Salvador is now Gov. Tim Kaine’s assistant secretary of Education in Virginia. Garcia recalled working at the family restaurant while attending Northern Virginia Community College. In his junior year he transferred to JMU. At JMU he was assigned a room with a student from Honduras. Garcia at first was dumbfounded as to how the two had been picked to share a room as their native countries had gone to war once over the outcome of a soccer game. The differences were soon minimized by what they and the small Hispanic group at the University held in common.
Sindy Benavides ’00 was born in Honduras and now works as a staffer for the Democratic National Committee in Washington D.C. Cinthia Renderos ’04 from El Salvador holds a position in D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty’s Office. The program concluded with a motivational speech by comedian Ernie G.
Executive associate principal of T.C. Williams Steve Colantouni ’74 appeared as the program moderator.