The Spanish American Club, Inc.

By Herman Santa

The Spanish American Club, Inc. is proud to recognize one outstanding student selected to receive one of the six club’s 2023 scholarship awards. The recipient is Paola Villaroel of Martin County.

Paola Villaroel

Paola Villarroel was awarded $1,000. Paola was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She moved to the United States in 2019 by herself. Her parents are German Villarroel and Carolyn Díaz. They were born in Caracas Venezuela. She attended Clark Advanced Learning Center in Stuart, Martin County, Florida. She will be attending the University of Central Florida where she will be pursuing a degree in Biomedical Science with a Neuroscience track.

This year scholarship committee Chair by Nancy Rozon and Co-chair by Pamela Peña Elizabeth Mejía and Herman Santa along with the board of directors Carlos Bonet, President; Nancy Rozon, Vice President; Evelyn Carrillo, Secretary; Josephine Guadalupe, Treasurer; Vivian Megaro, Public Relations: Pam Peña, Director; Mary Figliola, Substitute Director did a magnificent job selecting the students and running the program smoothly. The committee selected the students for their achievements, trustworthiness, character, responsibility, fairness, and academics.

The scholarship was established in 1992 for low-income students. Over the past 28 years, the club has awarded more than $40,000 in scholarships to 64 High School seniors of Martin and St. Lucie counties. The board raises money for the scholarships by having garage sales, 50/50 raffles at the monthly dance parties and committee events.  The board also organizes other events such as picnics, cruises, and garage sales. The committees organize events such as bowling, golf, billiards, and dominoes tournaments.

The mission of the club is to promote friendship and solidarity among its members, neighbors, and other nonprofit organizations of the Treasure Coast through cultural, social, civic, charity and sports activities to promote knowledge of the Spanish speaking countries, their geography, history, art and folklore.

The following students have been awarded scholarships since 1994.

Year/Name/Ethnicity/City

1994/Armando Gil/México/Ft. Pierce

1995/Elisa Rodríguez/Puerto Rico/Pt. St. Lucie

1996/Jennifer Torres/Puerto Rico/Pt. St. Lucie

1997/Alfredo Rosado/Puerto Rico/Pt. St. Lucie

1998/Pedro Luna/México/Ft. Pierce

1999/Ella R. Flores/México/Ft. Pierce

2000/Miguel J. Gaspar/Guatemala/Indiantown

2001/Gabriela Padilla/México/Indiantown

2002/Roberto Cabrera/México/Ft. Pierce

2003/María A. Fernández/Venezuela/Stuart

2004/Mónica A. Herrera/Colombia/Pt. St. Lucie

2005/Viridiana Félix/Guatemala/Indiantown

2006/Jessica Benítez/México/Pt. St. Lucie

2006/Miriam Hernández/Guatemala/Indiantown

2007/Amy Pérez/Guatemala/Indiantown

2007/Daisy Trujillo/México/Indiantown

2007/Venessa Pelayo/México/Ft Pierce

2008/Floriberta Reynoso/México/Ft. Pierce

2008/Anthony Sanchez/Colombia/Ft. Pierce

2009/Tayliz J. Rodríguez/Puerto Rico/Palm City

2009/Ana G. Fuentes/México/Indiantown

2010/ Marisol Gómez/México/Ft. Pierce

2010/ Elba Valdéz/México/Stuart

2011/ Nancy Velásquez/Guatemala/Indiantown

2011/ Tatiana Muñoz/Colombia/Port St. Lucie

2011/ Adriana Rodríguez/Cuba/Port St. Lucie

2012/ Lorena Morales/ México/Indiantown

2012/Vladimir Villa/México/Stuart

2012/Daniel González/Venezuela/Ft. Pierce

2013/Sarahi Mojáras/México/Stuart

2013/Pamela Garcia/México/Stuart

2013/Vanessa Guárnico/Colombia/Port St. Lucie

2014/Samuel Villa/México/Stuart

2014/Antonett Nuñez/Perú/Stuart

2015/Juan Carlos Perez/Guatemala/Jensen Beach

2015/Matias N. Campora/Uruguay/Port St. Lucie

2016/Nicholas Gomez/Colombia/Port St. Lucie

2016/Alexia Cepeda/Mexico/Port St. Lucie

2016/Ariana Ramos/Puerto Rico/Port St. Lucie

2017/Gabriela Garcia/Mexico/Ft. Pierce

2017/Jennifer Arriola/Nicaragua/Ft Pierce

2017/Barbara Moreno/Venezuela/Stuart

2017/Moriah Weir/Jamaica/Ft. Pierce

2017/Dayana Espinosa/Mexico/Ft. Pierce

2018/Alexis Weist/Ecuador/Port St. Lucie

2018/Cecilia E. Calderon/El Salvador/Port St. Lucie

2018/India M. Crosske/USA/Port St. Lucie

2018/Johana Fernandez/Cuba/Port St. Lucie

2019/Laura Mejía/Colombia/Ft. Pierce

2019/Rudy Martinez/Mexico/Ft. Pierce

2019/Marilyn Rancel/PR Colombia /Ft. Pierce

2019/Jaisen González/Puerto Rico/Port St. Lucie

2019/Alejandra Lopez/Mexico/Ft Pierce

2019/Catherine Ferreira/Brazil-Venezuela/Ft. Pierce

2020/Natalie Becerra/Colombia/Port St. Lucie

2020/Itzel Mendoza/Mexico/ Ft Pierce

2020/Laura Barco/Mexico/Ft. Pierce

2020/Alicia Solis/Mexico/Ft. Pierce

2020/Logan Putnam/Puerto Rican/Stuart

2020/Daniela Granados/Mexico/Ft. Pierce

2022/Brett Freedman/Cuba/Stuart

2022/Connor Freedman /Cuba/Stuart

2022/Ronaldo Bautista/Bautista/Mexico/Ft. Pierce

2022/Rebecca O’Neill /Venezuela/Stuart

2023/Fatima Alvarez/Mexico/Stuart

2023/Jennifer Gil/Mexico/Stuart

2023/Andre Mendoza/Mexico/Stuart

2023/Paola Villaroel/Venezuela/Stuart