Texas Border Business
By Roberto Hugo González / Texas Border Business
McALLEN, Texas – VAMOS, the Valley Alliance of Mentors for Opportunities and Scholarships, celebrated its 30th annual scholarship banquet, recognizing 2026 scholarship recipients from across the Rio Grande Valley.
The mistress of ceremonies said the evening marked a milestone for VAMOS as the organization celebrated 30 years of “changing lives through education.” She said the banquet recognized students who demonstrated “academic excellence, leadership, perseverance, and resilience.”
Dr. Annabelle Palomo, a VAMOS board member and president and founder of Rio Grande Valley College, delivered the invocation. She prayed for VAMOS, its students, donors and mentors, asking that “financial limitations never become an obstacle to their dreams and potential.”
The MC recognized the VAMOS Board of Directors, sponsors, elected officials and scholarship committee. She thanked the presenting sponsor, Chick-fil-A Rio Grande Valley, along with HR Health, H-E-B, and sponsors of the annual VAMOS Golf Tournament.
Francisco Castellanos, Chick-fil-A operator in Harlingen, spoke on behalf of the presenting sponsor. He said it is “a real honor and a privilege to be associated with VAMOS.” Castellanos said VAMOS supports students not only when they graduate from high school, but for the next four years.
Castellanos told students, “I want you to dream big.” He said he was born in Jalisco, Mexico, came to the United States at age 6, later returned to Mexico, lived with his brother in Los Angeles, left home at 16, did not graduate from high school, became a father at 19 and joined the U.S. Army. He said he completed a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree while in the military.
Elizabeth Diaz Gonzalez, a 1999 VAMOS alumna and principal of the UTRGV McAllen ISD Collegiate Academy, delivered the keynote address. She said she was one of 15 students in the Rio Grande Valley awarded the VAMOS Scholarship 27 years ago. “Receiving the VAMOS Scholarship did more than help pay for college,” she said. “It changed the entire trajectory of my life.”
Gonzalez spoke about growing up with instability, her father’s alcoholism, her mother’s mental health struggles and alcoholism, and the role of education and support in her life. She told students, “Your circumstances may influence your story, but they don’t determine your future. Your choices do.”
Gonzalez also described her work helping launch the UTRGV McAllen ISD Collegiate Academy. She said the academy’s first graduating class of 63 seniors completed more than 42 college credit hours through UTRGV while still in high school and earned nearly $11 million in scholarship offers and awards.
Before the presentation of certificates, the MC said the 2026 VAMOS scholars had excelled academically, served in leadership roles, completed community service and balanced rigorous schedules with extracurricular activities, part-time jobs and family responsibilities.
The MC said VAMOS was founded in 1996 and has awarded more than $26 million in scholarships to over 1,400 students. She said the organization awarded $1 million in four-year renewable scholarships to its newly selected class of VAMOS Scholars.
