Texas Border Business
The Education Committee of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce announced today that the deadline for submitting entries for the “Spirit of Laredo” competition has been extended. Originally scheduled for April 16, 2021, the deadline is now April 23, 2021. Michael Gonzalez, chairman of the Chamber Education Committee explained in making the announcement, “Remote instruction brought about as a result of the pandemic has created an entirely different environment for the educational system. While teachers and students have done an outstanding job adapting to distance learning – the pandemic has created a major disruption on normal lines of communication. We certainly don’t want to leave interested students out of participating.”
Launched initially in 2019 by the Education Committee of the Chamber, “Spirit of Laredo” will be handing out scholarships to three enterprising high schoolers once again this year. Students from local high schools, public and private, can vie for the prize using their creative communication skills. Rather than a customary written application, interested participants to the “Spirit of Laredo” competition are asked to produce and submit 90-minute videos. Winners of the competition stand to win scholarships of $2,000, $1,000, and $500 for first, second and third prizes. The scholarships are funded by the Laredo Chamber Education Committee with support of Killam Development, Ltd.
This competition was conceptualized by the organizers with two goals in mind. On the one hand, the committee seeks to provide a financial opportunity for interested graduating students. On the other, the idea is to provoke a sense of pride in the local community among young adults.
Applicants are asked to submit a 90-second video detailing 1) What inspires them to pursue a college education and how will they apply that to make Laredo a better place? 2) What would they like Laredo to be known for? What is the Laredo Chamber of Commerce’s role in Laredo’s development? and 3) Given that many students leave Laredo after graduation, what would it take for them and other future college graduates to build their future in Laredo versus somewhere else?
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Winners of the competition will walk away with one of the three scholarships, but they’ll also earn “bragging rights” – competition entries will be featured through the Chamber’s social media network. The members of the committee encourage participants to be as creative as possible in the production of their videos.
The deadline for submitting an entry is Friday, April 23, 2021. Rules, additional information and application forms for the competition are available at the Laredo Chamber of Commerce website www.laredochamber.com, or by contacting the Chamber office at 956-722-9895.
About the Chamber
Founded in 1915, the Laredo Chamber of Commerce is Laredo’s and Webb County’s longest running business organization. Headquartered at 2310 San Bernardo Ave. since 1974, the Laredo Chamber has
been an advocate for the local business community and development of the local workforce for over a century. With 630 members representative of every industry in the community, the Laredo Chamber is accredited with 5 stars by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Only 200 chambers out of 7000 across the country are accredited by this organization.
