‘We deserve it, too, to be here’: Meet students, educators making a difference in Tulsa’s Hispanic community

The Greater Tulsa Area Hispanic/Latinx Affairs Commission presented its annual Tomás Rivera education awards Thursday night, recognizing high school seniors and local heroes who make a positive impact on the Hispanic/Latinx community. 

Students who receive awards are of Hispanic and Latinx descent and demonstrate exceptional leadership in extracurricular activities both in school and the community. In addition, they must report a GPA of 3.0 or higher and at least 90% attendance in the first semester of their senior year.

Community “heroes” are volunteers, parents, teachers, educational researchers, tutors and mentors, administrative staff and community members that work actively to support the Hispanic and Latinx community in the education space.

Carolyne Gonzalez Posadas, student

Carolyne Gonzalez Posadas is a senior at Tulsa Honor Academy. The awards reminded her that Tulsa Honor Academy is a community where they have a mutual goal where they all want to see each other thrive, Gonzalez said. She was proud to stand alongside classmates who were also honored Thursday. 

“I’ve never been to an event like this, where I was recognized for being a high-achieving student and being Hispanic,” she said.

She’s feeling bittersweet about graduating high school, but she’s excited to begin studying psychology at the University of Tulsa this fall. 

Dylan Ledesma, student

Dylan Ledesma, a senior at Will Rogers High School, was surprised to earn an award. He joined six fellow Tulsa Public Schools students at the ceremony Thursday. 

He remembers a time when he would procrastinate on his school work. His parents and teachers really pushed him to raise his grades. Ledesma said he worked really hard to overcome challenges to get into that room. 

The senior is excited and scared for what’s next after high school. He’s not sure if he’ll continue his education or go straight to working for his dad’s company. 

Reflecting on his Hispanic identity, he said he has had to prove to people of other ethnicities that they’re on the same level. 

“We deserve it, too, to be here,” Ledesma said. 

Marlen Sigala Saldivar, student

Marlen Sigala Saldivar is both a senior at Will Rogers High School and a second-year student at Tulsa Tech, where she’s studying animations and digital media. 

Receiving the Tomás Rivera award has made her proud of herself and more confident.

“I feel really happy because it’s like being Hispanic, I get to get something,” she said. 

Charlene Johnson, community hero

Charlene Johnson said it felt surreal to be recognized. In her role as alumni support and college success adviser for Tulsa Honor Academy, she helps students for six years after high school graduation — whether they’re going into college, the workforce or another path. 

She carries everything with a passion to help people. She remembers struggling in college and not knowing where to turn. Helping alumni have a different experience drives her, she said. 

“My job is really to live life with them, and to answer the questions that they don’t know where else to turn, whether that’s making college accessible through matriculation and signing up for classes and how to talk to your professors, or whether it’s how to address the issues that you don’t really think about until you’re in them,” she said. 

In recent years, Johnson has seen the Latino and Hispanic community at Tulsa Honor Academy really come together to support students, especially students in the country illegally who have seen their access to resources change significantly under the Trump administration. 

“I’ve seen the families become braver in asking for help and in really knowing and just becoming partners with our school and knowing that it takes an entire community to get their students through college,” she said. 

Julian Rodriguez, community hero

Julian Rodriguez is a teacher at Verdigris Public Schools in Claremore with more than two decades of experience in the education field. 

He remembers being his students’ age when he first came to the U.S. from Mexico at 13 years old. Getting an education wasn’t easy for him because he couldn’t learn English easily. 

He’s surprised how far he got — and even more so that he became an educator. The Tomás Rivera recognition was emotional for him due to that reality. 

“Tonight was an extraordinary recognition for me,” Rodriguez said in Spanish.  

Below is the full list of awardees: 

High school seniors recognized: 

Community “heroes” in education recognized:

• Perla Alvarado, Tulsa Honor Academy
• Ana Barros, Impact Tulsa
• Gwen Blank, Tulsa Community College
• Myra Cordoba, McKinley Elementary
• Charlene Johnson, Tulsa Honor Academy
• Shawna Pawley, Union Public Schools
• Alexis Ruth Zúñiga Peregrina, Union High School
• Krystal Reyes, City of Tulsa
• Kelly Reynolds, Tulsa Intercultural Association
• Julian Rodriguez, Broken Arrow High School

Established decades ago, the Greater Tulsa Area Hispanic/Latinx Affairs Commission is one of six representing different communities and is made up of 15 mayoral- and county-appointed volunteers.

This article was produced as part of a partnership between the Tulsa Flyer and La Semana, a Tulsa-based bilingual Spanish-English newspaper serving Latino communities in Oklahoma. 

News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.