VOLUME XIV, NUMBER 2

2 INNOVATION ABSTRACTS

PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD}, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION,

Mee aes aga 4 as TEXAS AT AUSTIN « WITH SUPPORT FROM THE W. K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION AND THE SID W. RICHARDSON FOUNDATION

 

The Amado M. Peiia, Jr., Scholarship Program

Everyone has heard that “life imitates art,” and art has
been used to bring life to one institution’s financial aid
program. Noted Southwest artist Amado M. Peiia, Jr.,
grew up in humble surroundings in the Texas border
town of Laredo. At the completion of his formal educa-
tion, he moved his dreams of being a wage-earning artist
250 miles north to Austin, the capital of Texas. His earliest
work was peddled on street corners across from The
University of Texas for the meager sum of 50 cents.
Today, some of these early works sell for thousands of
dollars. His career has led him and his work to many of
the world’s finest art galleries, and in many circles his
name is synonymous with the artistic style of the South-
west. He has, in a word, “made it.” Fortunately for a new
generation of young Hispanics, he has never forgotten
where he has been or what his responsibilities are to
others.

In 1989, he agreed to establish the Amado M. Peiia, Jr.,
endowed scholarship program for Hispanic students at
Austin Community College. Not only did he establish the
program, but he has worked tirelessly to ensure its long-
term success.

For the program’s first fund-raising effort, an original
work by Perla was reproduced in poster form, in a limited
edition. The posters sold for $50 each, and the total sales
(more than $60,000) went directly to the program endow-
ment. About the piece, Los Cuentos, Pefia wrote:

I was a teacher in Austin for 16 years, and I have
seen educational opportunities transform many
lives. As a matter of fact, the artwork I have
produced to establish the scholarship fund is about
the storyteller, or teacher, who encourages us to be
more than we thought we could be. My special
teacher was my grandmother. This portrait is
dedicated to her and to all teachers.

When the Los Cuentos original was sold, Pefia donated
10% of its price to the scholarship fund. From the first
year’s effort, eight scholarships were awarded.

In 1990, Amado Pefia offered another original work.
The even more limited edition was of a signed and
numbered serigraph, Dos Mujeres. Sales revenues reached
$15,000.

Then in the summer of 1991, Pefia arranged for an art
auction to further benefit the fund. He approached other

Southwest masters, asked them to donate original works
for auction, and donated works from his own personal
collection as well. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba,
Stand and Deliver, and Young Guns I and II) responded to a
call from his friend Pefia and flew from California to serve
as celebrity auctioneer. This event raised an additional
$27,000 for the scholarship program.

Pefia has twice served the college as an artist-in-
residence, on each occasion spending twe * ‘I days
teaching a wide range of art topics to aspirin, artists; he
would not accept an honorarium.

SECS

No individual can better describe the need for help in
financing an education than the person who must seek it.
In awarding the Pefia scholarship, ACC asks students to
describe in writing their need for financial support and
their aspirations. Two such responses are offered here.

1 am originally from Lampasas, Nuevo Leon,
Mexico. I would like a better education than my
parents had. My father graduated from sixth grade.
My mother went only to second. Since my father’s
death three years ago, we have lived only on social
security. Iam hoping to get this scholarship so that
my dreams for a good education can come true.

‘Growing up on the rough side of town’ I had the
opportunity to experience the pain and struggles of
the poor. I feel that poverty in minorities is itself
one aspect of society that desperately needs atten-
tion. Hopefully, my completed studies will open the
doors for me to help the kinds of people I grew up
knowing.

Amado Peiia’s roots in the Rio Grande Valley have
given him an uncommon understanding of the problems
of the socioeconomically disadvantaged; his earliest
experiences have never been forgotten. The students
whose comments are featured here are real people,
dependent on others who have been successful and who
can now offer a helping hand. Amado Pefia understands
and embraces this critical need.

 

 

THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STAFF AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (NISOD)
Community College Leadership Program, Department of Educational Administration
College of Education, The University of Texas at Austin, EDB 348, Austin, Texas 78712