(L-R) Honorees Wally Edgecombe and Bill Aguado with NYS Senator José M. Serrano.
Since its founding over 56 years ago, Hostos Community College has been supported, guided and elevated by remarkable people in the community whose dedication to the mission of the College has helped it weather the constant challenges and persevere in its efforts to provide social mobility through education in one of the most underserved areas of the nation. On Thursday, November 21, the College paid tribute to some of its most stalwart champions whose contributions have helped define and sustain the institution as a beacon of hope and opportunity in the community.
Hostos President Daisy Cocco De Filippis addresses the crowd in the A-Atrium.
In a moving ceremony marked by loving remembrances of cherished friends and colleagues, Hostos President Daisy Cocco De Filippis presided over the unveiling of the Hostos Champions Hall of Fame, a series of bronze plaques adorning the wall in the soaring atrium of the A Building, which honor ten men and women whose legacies are forever intertwined with that of the College: José E. Serrano, Evelina Antonetty, Elba Cabrera, Bill Aguado, Magda Vasilov, Jerry Meyer, Wally Edgecombe, Isabel Li, Antonio Martorell, and Angelo Romano.
College Archivist William Casari is a steward of Hostos history.
The Master of Ceremonies, Associate Professor and College Archivist William Casari steered the proceedings with aplomb and shared several amusing anecdotes about the honorees while encouraging the attendees to do the same. In her welcoming remarks, President Cocco De Filippis set the tone of reverence and undying gratitude to those pioneers who laid the foundations for the institution and created pathways of opportunity for generations of students. Hostos Foundation Chairman José Sánchez-Kinghorn then took the stage and shared that the work he and the Board do to support scholarships at the school is a labor of love and a way of carrying the torch lit by the honorees.
Senator José M. Serrano’s father, US Representative José E. Serrano, was instrumental in saving Hostos from closure in the 70s.
Then New York State Senator José M. Serrano got up and spoke about how much his father, U.S Representative José E. Serrano, who regretfully could not attend due to health challenges, valued the College and had always felt compelled to support it as a way to empower the community. “But beyond all of that is the emotional connection that this school has for all of us in our family and how much we see this school as a beacon in our lives and in our community. How this school has been a place where we come for education, but that we also come here to meet, to enjoy the arts and culture, to understand the different cultures and celebrate them in a way that few other schools do. So at a time when our society is more stratified than it has ever been before, when people are pushed into their respective corners and they refuse to budge one inch, this place was the place that brought everyone together. And they put aside their differences and they understood what connected us. And that, I think, is the special magic of Hostos Community College and what it meant to my father in his 46 years of public office. And he thinks about how this was so important to him, and he is so in deference to all the other pioneers that we are honoring here tonight.”
Wally Edgecombe recounted the contributions of all the inductees.
Honoree Wally Edgecombe, the founding Director of the Hostos Center for Arts and Culture, followed the Senator with his first-hand account of the early turbulent days of the College working alongside the other inductees. “I’ve known them well, each and every one of them. I've worked with them on countless projects, devised policies and strategy with them, walked picket lines with them, wept with them, toasted life with them… We call each other “cómplice”, that is Spanish for accomplices, a title that I apply proudly and wholeheartedly to our inductees today. The pioneer of our accomplices was Evelina Antonetty, who, with leaders of the Latino and African-American community in the 1960s, envisioned and campaigned for an institution of higher learning dedicated to meeting the higher educational needs of the South Bronx.” He went on to recount how each of the inductees had contributed to sustaining the College and helped build a lasting legacy of service to the community.
Finally, the curtain was pulled back and the wall of plaques was unveiled as all the attendees raised their glasses of sparkling cider to toast the Hostos Champions. Then, honoree Bill Aguado, former Executive Director of the Bronx Council for the Arts and a community activist, spoke admiringly of his fellow inductees and had the crowd laughing with his wry wit. He was followed by some emotional words from Professor Emeritus Jerry Meyer’s daughter, who along with several family members, came to honor the memory and contributions of one of the College’s valiant champions.
Inductees and family members in front of the Hostos Champions Hall of Fame plaques.
The inaugural cohort of ten Hostos Champions will eventually be joined by other names of people who provided invaluable support to the College and the community it serves.