Benefactors of the University of South Florida Latino Scholarship Program support students in more ways than one.
Tampa, Fla., restaurateur Richard Gonzmart says his donation to the University of South Florida Latino Scholarship Program (LSP) honors his parents and grandparents who placed a high value on education. But Gonzmart didn’t realize just how significant his gift was until a scholarship recipient paid him a visit three years after graduating from USF and becoming an electrical engineer.
“He said, ‘Thank you so much for the opportunity. When I was a senior in high school, I was wondering what field I’d pick tomatoes and fruit from,'” Gonzmart recalls. “That had the biggest impact on me. Seeing a bright young man given an opportunity, and he took advantage of it and made something of himself.”
Gonzmart met his charge through the LSP, now in its 17th year. It was started by the Latin Community Advisory Committee to the USF president to attract Hispanic students to the school. The committee didn’t want to just provide financial assistance; it also wanted benefactors to mentor scholarship recipients.
“With that goal, the student would benefit from the money and guidance from professionals and have contact with sponsors in their area of interest that they wanted to pursue,” says Patsy Feliciano, who took the reins as the scholarship program director in 2001.
“To have someone serve as their mentor and share with them the things they’d gone through helps students through the (academic) process.”
Gonzmart, an early program donor and owner of the historic Columbia Restaurant that provided $100,000 this year, says that while he appreciates the ability to be financially generous, he’s most fulfilled by the personal rapport he’s able to develop with scholarship recipients.
