Pride in Our Own

Pride in Our Own is a new section on our website where we aim to highlight the accomplishments of our HPRSD members.

If you or anyone you know have reached a personal or professional milestone, share it with your community by sending us a digital photo and a description to HPRSD's webmaster.

It is with great pride that we congratulate our following House of Puerto Rico San Diego members whom have recently been awarded with distinctions.

Pedro Hernandez

We are proud to announce that one of our own members has been selected in receiving a very difficult to earn national award. Pedro Hernandez will receive the Department of Defense Meritorious Service Award given by the National Image, Inc. The award recognizes leasers that distinguished themselves in promoting civil rights, equal opportunity, community service, and enhancing a positive understanding between Hispanics and members of the military and civilian population of the Nation. The award will be presented in a large gala in Las Vegas on April 17th. These events are attended by high senior military and civilian government officials, including: heads of the President's cabinet, Senators, and Congress officials. Other attendees include celebrities and foreign dignitaries.

Pedro was selected as the only active duty Marine Corps recipient. That's an amazing accomplishment for three reasons: (1) He was selected out of 175,000 Marines; (2) He now belongs to a rare group of only 19 previous Marines being recognized for the award; (3) I have been informed by reliable headquarters' officials familiar with the program that Pedro is very likely the first Marine of Puerto Rican decent to earn the award. (by Dennis Flores, HPRSD Board of Directors)

Captain Miguel Rosario

28-year veteran and HPRSD member, Miguel Rosario, has been promoted to Captain in the San Diego Police Department. Captain Rosario is the commander of the SDPD Northeastern Division which serves the neighborhoods of Carmel Mountain, Miramar, Miramar Ranch North, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Encantada, Rancho Penasquitos, Sabre Springs and Scripps Ranch. Northeastern Division serves a population of 220,701 people and encompasses 121.8 square miles.

Jaime Diego Chavez

Jaime Diego Chavez, Eastlake High School Counselor, was selected as the Sweetwater Union High School District 2005 "Counselor of the Year" and recently recognized by the San Diego Metropolitan Magazine as one of San Diego's "40-under-40." He is a Counselor, Peer Mediation Coordinator, TUPE- Tobacco Use Prevention and Education Program Coordinator, M.E.Ch.A. Advisor (Chicano /Latino Club), and coordinates a variety of other activities on campus: Tolerance assembly, Health and Safety Week, and College Outreach activities. Jaime is HPRSD's Vice President, developed our well-known Culture Corner, and is a mentor/leader for HPRSD's College Ctudent / Youth Committee (CSYC). Congratulations Jaime!

Dr. Antonio J. Grillo López, MD

Dr. Grillo-López received the Discovery Health Channel's Medical Honors Award in June 2004 for his leadership efforts in streamlining clinical trial research and FDA approval for IDEC's Rituxan™ cancer drug in record time. Dr. Grillo-López was the Chief Medical Officer for IDEC Pharmaceuticals (now Biogen IDEC) before retiring in 2001. Dr. Grillo-López is currently the Chairman of the Neoplastic and Autoimmune Diseases Research Institute (Rancho Santa Fe, California) where he continues his work in cancer research. Additionally, he serves on a number of (~10) Board of Directors and/or Scientific Advisory Boards. Dr. Grillo-López earned his medical degree from the University of Puerto Rico Medical School. In June 2003 he was named "Distinguished Alumnus" of the University of Puerto Rico during its Centennial celebrations. Dr. Grillo-López is vice-chair of HPRSD's Board of Directors and is taking on the leadership role to establish the new "Museum of The House of Puerto Rico San Diego." Congratulations Dr. Grillo-López!

Prof. Evelyn Díaz Cruz

Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of San Diego, has been selected as a top-ten finalist for the Repertorio Español's Playwright Competition in NYC for her full-length play "Glass Cord." All finalists will have readings of their plays during the second week December in order to compete for the final five prizes. The grand prize winner will receive a full production at the prestigious Repertorio Español, which is the top playhouse for Latino work in the nation!

Latest news: Evelyn received third prize in the competition with much acclaim. Congratulations!! "Glass Cord," was given a workshop production right here in San Diego in January of 2002 and received the The University of California Irvine's 28th Chicano/ Latino Literary 2002 Award. Originally from the Bronx, New York, Ms. Cruz currently resides in San Diego where she teaches classes on playwriting, theatre, and acting, and also directs shows for the USD Theatre Arts Program. Recent projects include an adaptation of Garcia Lorca's "Yerma" and the "Grapes of Wrath." Ms. Cruz earned her master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting from the University of California at Los Angeles. We wish Evelyn the very best on her remarkable piece!

More news: Evelyn Díaz Cruz headed to New York City in March '06 for a reading of her play 'La Lupe' at the famous Spanish Rep. This opportunity is a result of winning third prize in the 2004 Spanish Rep playwright competition for her play ' The Glass Cord.' Evelyn is hard at work writing her next play.

Aned Muñiz Gracia

Aned Muñiz Gracia, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of San Diego, is featured in the Sunday, October 16th issue of the San Diego Union Tribune entitled, "Professor's passion obvious in any language" by Nina Garin. Her language skills in Spanish, English, Russian, German, Italiana, and French will no doubt take her very far--for herself and well as her students. Well deserved kudos!

Aned Muñiz Gracia went to Cuba in mid-February '06 to give a presentation on her research in education at an international conference.

More news: Our own, Aned Y. Muñiz Gracia, a Ph.D. candidate from University of San Diego, received the Associated Student Government's Outstanding Faculty Award at MiraCosta College during its 2006 commencement ceremonies. Aned is a part-time faculty at MiraCosta College teaching Italian, Russian, Spanish, and German as she pursues her degree in USD's School of Education's Leadership Studies program.

Javier Grillo-Marxuach

Writer and producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach won a Writer's Guild Award on 2/4/06 for his work on the highly acclaimed TV drama, Lost. Check out his photo here when he won his Emmy. He has also won a George Foster Pebody award. His work has been evident in popular shows such as Boomtown, Law & Order: Special Victoms Unit, The Pretender, Charmed, The Chronicle, SeaQuest and Jake 2.0. Javier received his BA in creative writing and cultural studies from Carnegie Mellon University and an MFA in screen writing from the University of Southern California. Javier is now moving on as Co-Executive Producer for the NBC show Medium with its new season premiering 11/15/06. Congratulations! Learn more about Javier's work.

Adam Schlachter

Puerto Rican writer & director of "My Backyard Was a Mountain," has received the wonderful news that his film now qualifies for Academy Award consideration. Adam's film was shown here at the 2006 San Diego Latino Film Festival. We look forward to hear more from Adam.

“My Backyard Was A Mountain” is the story of Adan, a Puerto Rican boy who has one day to find a home for his pet goat, Chivo, before his family relocates to New York City in the late 1950’s. While searching for a new owner for Chivo, Adan discovers the promise of first love with his childhood friend, Denise, whom he will also have to leave behind.

Frances Quiñones

Our own Frances Quiñones was awarded the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award for Professional Achievement on October 5-7, 2006 in Anaheim, CA. The recipient must be a well-established manager or have project responsibility. This individual should have eight to nineteen years experience in a technical field and should have made significant contributions in that arena. Frances is currently Deputy, Vice President, AC3DI, at Lockheed Martin. Congratulations!