Soft jazz music played as people sat in the SURC Ballroom. Banquet servers handed out several types of food on small trays to the guests.Exchanges of hugs, smiles and laughs were a common sight. Yet, an appearance from a spaceman really made the audience glow.    

CWU’s fourth annual Diversity Awards took place Thursday, April 19. The event was free but reservations were available to make beforehand. This two-hour celebration awarded those who had made a local diverse impact.  It was put together by the Office of the President and the Center for Diversity and Equity.

Many of the guests were CWU students, faculty, staff and community members. These were also the the prize winners, who were broken into categories. Each award recipient had to be nominated, reviewed, and selected by a committee.

Veronica Gomez-Vilchis, assistant director at the Diversity and Equity Center said Jose Hernandez, a former NASA astronaut, would speak at the Diversity Awards this year. She said some things Hernandez would talk about included his journey, reasons, struggles and motivation for becoming a spaceman.

Vilchis said Hernandez would also talk about what he’s doing now after finding groundwork. Vilchis said she planned with Hernandez to convene with students for two days as well.  

“Which is kind of cool,” she said.  “Because if we were going to bring somebody like him, I felt it was really important for students to be able to spend time with him.”

Taylor Tahkeal, a student programmer at the Diversity and Equity Center, was at the event. She said Hernandez helped the Diversity Awards with showing how perseverance and hard work can pay off.

Tahkeal said it’s particularly notable because emerging from a varied background takes more determination.  She said the Diversity Awards are important to CWU students because it emphasizes what the university prides itself on.

“Central really tries to be the face, the claim to fame [for] diversity. They’ve got all the numbers, they’ve got the stats to prove it,” Tahkeal said. “But, is that always shown after those recruitment stages are over?”

Tahkeal said that’s it’s vital for students to know that CWU takes pleasure in highlighting diversity in positive manners. She said it’s significant that this event allows students an opportunity to nominate people who are doing great comprehensive and diverse things.  

Justin Francisco, lead programmer at the Diversity and Equity Center, said what’s great about the event is that you’re able to see people who care about diversity. He said when someone’s working in diversity they don’t really get to witness those who are making changes in their society.

“But [they] are actually present because they do a lot of work or they support a lot of diversity initiative,” Francisco said. “I think it’s really cool for me [because] it shows the big deal of our campus.”

Francisco said he would like to see increased collaboration in the future with different departments instead of having more diversity events. He said while he’s worked for the Diversity and Equity Center for several years, he feels like they are the only ones putting events together.

“I think we could do more partnering with different students [and] different organizations to promote diversity events,” she said. “I think that would be really beneficial so the events are not just centralized.”