BBVA Compass honors some of nation's most promising Latino students through 19th Annual Hispanic Heritage Foundation Youth Awards

The HHF Youth Awards honor 200 Latino high school seniors who demonstrate leadership in both the classroom and their communities, and they're awarded across a number of categories. The bank sponsored the Business & Entrepreneurship category, for those who express an interest in any number of business-, finance- or technology-related fields. Thirty students received scholarships ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 to put toward their college education or to fund an idea or community project. All 200 recipients were honored in ceremonies this fall across the HHF's 10 regions. On Wednesday, seven of those will be recognized as National Youth Awardees at the ceremony in Washington, including Yanik Ariste of Miami, who's the National Youth Award Winner in Business & Entrepreneurship, presented by BBVA Compass.

"It has been a great honor to be able to offer these young people a means to pursue their dreams, to show them that we believe in those dreams," said BBVA Compass Director of Corporate Responsibility & Reputation Reymundo Ocañas. "We see in them the kind of people who'll keep reaching and keep aspiring and who'll change the world, and we're going to do what we can to create opportunities for them to do just that."

Over eight years of sponsoring the Youth Awards, BBVA Compass has contributed $675,000, resulting in scholarships to more than 200 students. The bank's support for the HHF Youth Awards is part of its larger campaign to invest in education and create opportunities for young people. The BBVA Compass Foundation, the bank's charitable arm, has given $7.1 million to 658 organizations to support education efforts in the last five years. Its financial education program, meantime, reached 252,000 children across seven states from 2012 to 2016.

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation — a nonprofit established by the White House in 1987 — inspires, prepares, and connects minority leaders in the classroom, community, and workforce to meet America's priorities. HHF also promotes cultural pride, accomplishment, and the great promise of the community through public awareness campaigns seen by millions.

Besides Business & Entrepreneurship, the Youth Awards honor students with Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards in the following categories: Education, Community Service, Healthcare Science, Media & Entertainment, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Here are the students who were honored this year with the Business & Entrepreneurship Youth Award, listed by HHF region.

Atlanta region
(Gold) Liliana Reyes, Redan High School, Stone Mountain, Ga.
(Silver) Melanie Cruz, Cass High, Cartersville, Ga.
(Bronze) Tanya Da Silva, Centennial High School, Roswell, Ga.

Chicago region
(Gold) Cain Yepez, Jones College Prep, Chicago, Ill.
(Silver) Josue Gonzalez, Lyons Township High School, Brookfield, Ill.
(Bronze) Eduardo Solano, Benito Juarez Community Academy, Chicago, Ill.

Dallas region
(Gold) Ryan Solis, Eastwood High School, El Paso, Texas
(Silver) Hans Baldivas, Richardson High School, Richardson, Texas
(Bronze) Diego Jimenez, CC Winn High School, Eagle Pass, Texas

Houston region
(Gold) Marlene Moran, Pasadena High School, Pasadena, Texas
(Silver) Arlene Alvarez, South Texas Business, Education & Technology Academy, Edinburg, Texas
(Bronze) Diego Roman-Martinez, Strake Jesuit College Preparatory, Houston

Los Angeles region
(Gold) Alexandria Marx, San Marcos Senior High, Santa Barbara, Calif.
(Silver) Alfonso Rosas, Tustin High School, Tustin, Calif.
(Bronze) Christian Franson, JSerra Catholic High School, Laguna Niguel, Calif.

Miami region
(Gold) Yanik Ariste, Coral Gables Senior High School, Miami, Fla.
(Silver) Ariana Ortega, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Coral Springs, Fla.
(Bronze) Christine Sanchez, Boca Raton Community High School, Boca Raton, Fla.

New York region
(Gold) Alena Washington, The Brooklyn Latin High School, Brooklyn, N.Y.
(Silver) Jennifer Gomez, New Exploration into Science, Technology, and Math, Jamaica, N.Y.
(Bronze) Abigail Guzman, Bayside High School, Richmond Hill, N.Y.

Northern California region
(Gold) Natalia Nava-Urbina, North Salinas High School, Salinas, Calif.
(Silver) Arthur Carlos, Floyd B. Buchanan High School, Clovis, Calif.
(Bronze) Juan Rivera-Perez, Everett Alvarez High School, Salinas, Calif.

Phoenix region
(Gold) Guillermo Santos, El Dorado High School, El Paso, Texas
(Silver) Estephanie Torres, Metro Tech High School, Phoenix, Ariz.
(Bronze) Valeria Valdes Cosilion, Hamilton High School, Chandler, Ariz.

Washington, D.C. region
(Gold) Kelsey Tomas, James Hubert Blake High, Beltsville, Md.
(Silver) Magin Sanchez, Potomac Senior High School, Woodbridge, Va.
(Bronze) Marjory Pineda, Springbrook High School, Silver Spring, Md.

To learn more about BBVA Compass, visit: www.bbvacompass.com

For more news visit: www.bbva.com and newsroom.bbvacompass.com

About BBVA Group
BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) is a customer-centric global financial services group founded in 1857. The Group has a strong leadership position in the Spanish market, is the largest financial institution in Mexico, it has leading franchises in South America and the Sunbelt Region of the United States; and it is also the leading shareholder in Garanti, Turkey's biggest bank for market capitalization. Its diversified business is focused on high-growth markets and it relies on technology as a key sustainable competitive advantage. Corporate responsibility is at the core of its business model. BBVA fosters financial education and inclusion, and supports scientific research and culture. It operates with the highest integrity, a long-term vision and applies the best practices. More information about BBVA Group can be found at bbva.com.

About BBVA Compass
BBVA Compass is a Sunbelt-based financial institution that operates 649 branches, including 336 in Texas, 89 in Alabama, 63 in Arizona, 61 in California, 45 in Florida, 37 in Colorado and 18 in New Mexico. BBVA Compass ranks among the top 25 largest U.S. commercial banks based on deposit market share and ranks among the largest banks in Alabama (2nd), Texas (4th) and Arizona (6th). BBVA Compass has been recognized as one of the leading small business lenders by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and ranked 6th nationally in the total number of SBA loans originated in fiscal year 2017. Additional information about BBVA Compass can be at www.bbvacompass.com. For more BBVA Compass news, follow @BBVACompassNews on Twitter or visit newsroom.bbvacompass.com.

About HHF
The Hispanic Heritage Foundation is a nonprofit which inspires, prepares, and connects Latinos in the classroom, community, and workforce to meet America's priorities with a focus on the tech industry.  HHF also promotes cultural pride, accomplishment, and the great promise of the community.  HHF is headquartered in Washington, DC, and Los Angeles with satellite workspaces in New York, Silicon Valley, San Antonio, and Miami (Visit www.hispanicheritage.org). Follow HHF on Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE BBVA Compass

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