Colorado Springs Hispanic heritage group awards 13 college scholarships

A Colorado Springs nonprofit built around Hispanic heritage is helping 13 more students pay for college. El Cinco de Mayo Inc. announced its scholarship class for the 2026-27 school year this week.

Three decades of betting on students

The volunteer-run group promotes cultural awareness, backs community events and raises money for scholarships meant for underserved and underrepresented students. Over roughly 30 years it has handed out hundreds of thousands of dollars to more than 500 students.

Executive chair Kelley Rodriguez said the students are the whole reason the group exists. She described each award as the community telling a young person that it believes in them and is investing in where they are going.

A wide range of dreams

This year's winners are studying everything from neuroscience and engineering to social work, political science, construction management, cosmetology and entrepreneurship. Colorado College senior Juliana Garcia received the Carmen Abeyta Scholarship for her neuroscience studies. Christian Burciaga, a construction management sophomore at Colorado State University, earned the Phil Martinez Scholarship. Wayne State College political science student Dominique Martinez received the Longinos Gonzales Jr. Scholarship.

Other winners are headed to campuses such as the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Metropolitan State University, Colorado State University Pueblo and Fort Hays State University. Trinity Ramirez is training in cosmetology with the Connie Benavidez Scholarship. Karina Vargas is studying engineering design technology.

Honoring those who came before

Many of the awards carry the names of people the group wants to remember. Rodriguez said the organization celebrates its culture and the generations before it while keeping its eyes on the future. Every new scholar, she said, carries that promise forward.