From: Ines Sahagun-Bahena
Date: December 11, 2025
Subject: Holiday Greetings from El Centro de Excelencia


Mural with Nativity Scene
Happy Holidays! Felices Fiestas Decembrinas!

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season with loved ones!
¡Les deseamos una maravillosa temporada navideña con sus seres queridos!
faculty, staff and students at Whistle-Kit-Making Event

A Look at Fall 2025

Over 550 students, faculty & staff joined us for cultural affirming events to build comunidad and a sense of belonging

  • A 175% increase from Fall 2024!!!

We Showcased Our Signature Events

Convivio, Comida y Caballo Dorado: Launch of Latinx Heritage Month
~ 90 attendees!
- completely student led!

Día de los Muertos: Building Our Community Altar/Ofrenda - A new collab with SOAR students that featured face painting Catrina-Style!

Posada in Support of of Our Immigrant Community - Powerful storytelling by students and a wonderful celebration that included a piñata and tamales!
Plenary Panelist

We Launched New Events

Inaugural Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) Summit, Transforming Together: Equity, Excellence, Comunidad

This experience brought together students, faculty, staff, and administrators to reflect on our progress, reimagine what it means to truly “serve,” and build momentum for transformational change across the institution.
 

Mural Celebration and Dedication of Somos NLU Mural

Our Somos NLU mural is a vibrant tribute honoring our students and their Latinidad.

Mural artist Pierre Lucero shared insights into the creative process behind the mural, and El Centro’s students and friends reflected on their experiences contributing to this meaningful project.


Raíces & Reads Book Club - A bilingual reading community rooted in heritage and building comunidad through readings. Thanks to Maestra Jacki Rubio for faciliating!

 
faculty, staff, students with mural artist

We Strengthened Our Institutional Tradition

Somos NLU Convivio/We Are NLU Gathering

An intergenerational gathering centered on shared identity, cultural pride, and connection among students, staff, and faculty via Lotería Conexiones

- Chicago, Tampa & Wheeling
- Over 100 Attendees!

We look Forward to Growing our Collaborations with Our Centro Familia in 2026!
 

The Madrina & Padrino Mentorship Network
- Students interested in being a mentee/ahijad@ are encouraged to sign up in the form below!

ARTivsm Now!

Thank you for being an important part of our El Centro Familia!

Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2026!

Power Hour: Vision Board for Goal Setting slash Visualiza Tus Metas on Thursday, 29 January 2026 At 12:00 PM. No image description provided

EVENT

Power Hour: Vision Board for Goal Setting/Visualiza Tus Metas

clock Thursday, January 29
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location pinPrivate Location (sign in to display)
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Join us for this Power Hour activity to identify your goals for 2025 and create a vision board to help visualize how to achieve them. Materials provided. All are Welcome!
REGISTER