Alumni Association

Andrew Ortiz Speech at Congressional Award Dinner
At The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
Washington, DC - June 18, 2007

Distinguished members of Congress, Honored Guests, Gold Congressional Award Recipients, Ladies and Gentlemen—

I am pleased to have the opportunity to address you this evening. First and foremost, allow me to congratulate all of the Gold Congressional Award Recipients for 2007 that are in the audience tonight. We are here to celebrate your accomplishments and to recognize the commitment and the effort that each of you have put forth in order to attain your gold medals.

Tomorrow, when your gold medals are presented to you, in a June ceremony on Capitol Hill, with your families and loved ones in the audience – you will feel a tremendous sense of pride. While this may seem like the culmination of a journey in many ways, I ask that you view it as the beginning of yet another fascinating journey—that of a Gold Congressional Award Alumnus.

To paraphrase the great French novelist, Victor Hugo, “There is nothing in the world as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” As the National President of the Cold Congressional Award Alumni Association, I feel a sense of historic opportunity as we formally launch this association. We view this association as a vehicle to honor the rich history of the Congressional Award, by engaging past alumni like myself, John Falk, and many others, who have also received the Gold Award and are now prepared to give back to the award program that has given us so many outstanding memories and opportunities for growth.

The Gold Congressional Award Alumni Association also allows us to focus on the needs of recent alumni, like you, by providing opportunities for talented alumni to serve as out liaisons and ambassadors in your respective home states, to work with your congressional delegations and your local business communities and media outlets to help us to further the mission of the Congressional Award and to ensure its sustainability for future generations of young Americans.

You may choose to help us to organize alumni receptions and social activities in your cities and states in order to facilitate greater networking opportunities among fellow Gold Award recipients. The social interactions can create the foundation for great things---whether that be strengthening you local award councils, developing a thriving social network, building professional contacts and relationships or collaborating with one another to make your communities better placed to live.

John Dewey once said that “People support what they help to create.” I believe that this simple wisdom holds a great deal of truth. Therefore, I know that if this Alumni Association is to thrive, it will not be because of me, but because of you. As your Alumni Association President, I see it as incumbent upon us to lay the solid foundation upon which we can build for the future. Our success will be measured, in the final analysis, by how we facilitated the involvement and input of all of our Gold Medal Alumni--- past, present, and future. This association should be an embodiment of your hopes and your dream, it should harness and channel your energy and vision--- it should seek to build an organization and legacy that we can all be proud of.

We have begun this work, in earnest. We have already convened two meetings thus far, in which we have begun to establish the “road map” that we will be using on this new journey. We need you to help us to refine this map, add to it, and make it clearer and more precise.

I encourage you to pick up the materials about the Alumni Association that we have available this evening. Review them, and if you can, take an affirmative role in helping us make this alumni association all that it can be.

We currently have a fantastic Executive Committee that is talented, energetic, diverse and dedicated to the success of this enterprise. We have two outstanding Committee Chairs for the membership and networking committees, who are currently seeking members to help them to carry out our charge and to add form and substance to our shared aspirations.

Please visit The Congressional Award website at www.congressionalaward.org and click on the link to the Gold Congressional Alumni Association page. There you will find updates on what we are working on, and ways that you can get involved. We will post notices for future meeting conference calls, and also post minutes from our previous meetings to keep you informed and apprised on the progress that we are making.

I ask you to please use this website to keep us up-to-date on your current contact information, and please let us know about your continued achievements, successes, milestones and other noteworthy endeavors.

Frankly, when we first conceived of this Gold Congressional Award Alumni Association, we began with a small but dedicated corps of volunteers. But as the great Italian poet, Dante wrote, “From this tiny spark bursts the mighty flame.” Indeed, the interest in this effort has ignited the curiosity and engagement of an incredible cadre of Gold Congressional Alumni across out great nation.

As I close tonight, I want to issue a call to action to all of you—give us your hands, your voices and your ideas and we will build great things together for the advancement of the Congressional Award and the development of America’s greatest resource -- its youth. What a noble cause, and what an historic opportunity. I know, in my heart, that we should do justice to both.

The French writer Anatole France once penned these immortal words: “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream. Not only plan, but also believe.”

Thank you for your support, now and in the future, as we build and grow this Gold Congressional Award Alumni Association. I look forward to working with you as we act, dream, plan and believe together.

May God bless you all, and may God bless America.