{"id":8348,"date":"2015-09-10T13:21:33","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T13:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/?p=8348"},"modified":"2018-05-09T13:38:08","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T13:38:08","slug":"14th-annual-torch-awards-breaking-records-by-the-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2015\/09\/10\/14th-annual-torch-awards-breaking-records-by-the-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"14th Annual Torch Awards: Breaking records by the numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 14th<\/sup> Annual Torch Awards<\/a> already broke one university record: The gala in March boasted the highest attendance in its history, with nearly 800 guests flooding the Fontainebleau\u2019s Crystal Ballrooms.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s broken a second record: The Torch Awards raised its highest amount of funding ever, with more than\u00a0$100,000 being divided evenly between\u00a0first-generation scholarships and the proposed\u00a0Alumni Center.<\/p>\n

\"Torch<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s gala outshined all previous Torch events. The 2014 awards raised $21,850, and the 2013 awards raised $40,930. But 2015 brought in a final total of $107,309, more than a 160 percent increase from past fundraisers.<\/p>\n

That puts $53,654 into the Alumni Center Building Fund<\/a> this year; and because any amount of money raised for first-generation scholarships is matched by the state, $107,309 will be donated to the First Generation Scholarship Fund<\/a>. This should generate more than 100 scholarships for students who are the first in their families to go to college.<\/p>\n

Valeria Nunez del Prado, a junior double-majoring in marketing and international business and a recipient of a First Generation Scholarship, moved to the United States from Peru with her family when she was 11 years old. Receiving the scholarship, she said, came as a relief to her and her parents, because it meant that she would be able to focus on her studies at FIU without worrying how she would pay tuition.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family was very proud once I was able to go to college,\u201d she said, recounting how her parents worked hard to learn English and give her and her two siblings access to an education and a better life in the U.S. \u201cSeeing their daughter go to college was everything they worked for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nunez del Prado also wanted to thank donors who support the First Generation Scholarship Fund: \u201cThey are making a big impact on our lives\u2014at least, in mine they did. They believe in you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 15th<\/sup> Annual Torch Awards Gala<\/a> will take place on March 19, 2016, at the Fontainebleau. For information on ticket pricing and sponsorship, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via FIU News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 14th Annual Torch Awards already broke one university record: The gala in March boasted the highest attendance in its history, with nearly 800 guests flooding the Fontainebleau\u2019s Crystal Ballrooms. Now, it\u2019s broken a second record: The Torch Awards raised its highest amount of funding ever, with more than\u00a0$100,000 being divided evenly between\u00a0first-generation scholarships and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":6774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369],"tags":[225,265,41],"class_list":["post-8348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-spotlight","tag-announcements","tag-events","tag-torch-awards-gala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8348"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15164,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8348\/revisions\/15164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}