MATC Students Will Help the Community Thanks to Scholarship

With this scholarship, I know I can do anything.

After suffering their own personal heartache, Tatiana Terrazas and Gregorio Gonzalez want to ease the pain of others.

These Milwaukee Area Technical College students will do just that thanks to the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Council 333, the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team and the MATC Foundation Inc., the philanthropic partner of MATC in supporting student success.

Terrazas and Gonzalez were among 60 Hispanic/Latino/a students awarded a LULAC Milwaukee Brewers scholarship this year. The students – 57 from MATC, one from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and one from University of Wisconsin-Parkside – received their scholarships on Saturday, August 26, during Mexican Fiesta.

See coverage of the scholarship event

“I want to make a difference for people,” said Terrazas, an Oak Creek High School graduate who was a little girl when her mother was killed in a car accident. After her mother’s death, Terrazas struggled with her mental health. 

“I want to be there for children who lost parents at a young age because I know how that feels,” she said. 

Terrazas is starting her second year at MATC as a marketing student. After earning an associate degree, she plans to transfer to a four-year college. “With this scholarship, I know I can do anything,” she said. “I know my mom is watching over me. I know she would be proud of me. I know I’m proud of myself.”

Gonzalez is in MATC’s Funeral Service associate degree program – the only one of its kind in Wisconsin. A graduate of Marquette University High School, Gonzalez said he got interested in the profession while mourning his grandmother. 

“I would like to open a funeral home and serve the Latino community,” he said. “There are not many funeral homes that give proper service to Latino families. The translation can be a struggle. I want to be there to make sure people in this community get a proper sendoff.”

LULAC and several Hispanic/Latino players on the Milwaukee Brewers started the scholarship program in 2014. Since then, more than 200 students have received nearly $150,000 worth of financial assistance.

“We are tremendously proud of what our Hispanic students have been able to achieve and accomplish thanks to this scholarship,” said MATC Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Eva Martinez Powless, Ph.D. “We appreciate the continuing efforts of the Brewers and LULAC to lift up these students.”

LULAC is the largest and oldest Hispanic/Latino/a civil rights organization in the United States. The organization advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health and civil rights of Hispanic/Latino/a Americans.

This year LULAC renamed the scholarship in honor of Dr. Arturo Martinez, the late MATC associate dean who worked at the college for 32 years, oversaw the college’s bilingual programs and tirelessly advocated for Hispanic/Latino/a students in their journey toward achieving a higher education. Before he died in December 2022 at the age of 69, Martinez was instrumental in forming the LULAC Brewers scholarship.

“The youth of our Hispanic community is our future, and I want them to succeed,” said Fela Salinas, president of LULAC Council 333. “I want them to reach for the stars.”