Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — April 11, 2013
(DALLAS) — Spring flowers, baseball and outdoor fun mean special days for families. An entire day of fun — Dia de la Familia — will be presented by the Dallas County Community College District on Saturday, April 20, at the Eastfield College-Pleasant Grove campus, located at 602 S. Bucker Blvd. in Dallas. Families from Pleasant Grove and across Dallas County are invited to the free annual event, which features food, entertainment and educational sessions for everyone.
“Educating Students One Family at a Time” is the theme for the program; the day’s events are scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. “Pleasant Grove families, students, businesses, and area colleges and universities will come together for a fun-filled day to focus on higher education and public service awareness,” said Perla Molina, director of outreach and recruitment for DCCCD and the event’s organizer.
Free refreshments and food will be provided for the entire family. Entertainment will feature a Latino orchestra, the Children’s Ballet Folklorico, college student performances, church and school choirs, children’s games, a bounce house, cooking demonstrations and bingo.
Families can learn more about going to college when they visit information booths staffed by area colleges and universities, and also when they attend sessions about college admissions and financial aid. Advisors will be on site to answer questions and provide more information.
Participants also can take advantage of on-site dental and medical services, obtain immigration information and receive assistance with city, county and legal matters.
Dia de la Familia was started more than 20 years ago by Eastfield College; its Pleasant Grove campus is a student-centered learning community that adds value to the lives of students and members of the surrounding community — more than 148,000 residents and more than 3,600 businesses.
Entertainment featuring deejay Diego Avalos, the AZTEC Dancers and singers Yulyanna Silva and Monica Saldivar starts at 9 a.m., followed by a welcome from Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings at 10:30 a.m., and Dr. Jean Conway, president of Eastfield College, and Dr. Wright Lassiter Jr., DCCCD’s chancellor. Entertainment resumes at 10:45 a.m. with El Kinder, Orchestra Cervantes and the Eastfield College Salsa Group.
Games will be held in room 109 at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Children’s games will include a duck pond, bounce house, quarterback toss, milk can toss, coke bottle ring toss, choo-choo train, pop-a-shot basketball and the Perot Museum’s portable universe.
Student volunteers from DCCCD who are participating in “Be the Change,” a service learning opportunity, will help with the event, as will other college volunteers.
Sponsors include Eastfield College, DCCCD, the Southeast Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Follett Higher Education Group, Univision, Education Is Freedom, Dallas County Schools, the Southeast Dallas Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Texas A&M University-Commerce and South Texas Dental. More than 35 exhibitors will be on hand to provide information or services to families who attend.
For more information in English, call DCCCD at (214) 378-1771; for details in Spanish, call (214) 378-1713. The phone number for the Eastfield College-Pleasant Grove campus is (972) 860-5300; its director is Javier Olguin. More information about the campus is available at
www.eastfieldcollege.edu/pleasantgrove.
Event flier (PDF - 1.7MB)
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