The Catholic Education Foundation (CEF) is celebrating 30 years of making a quality Catholic education more accessible. The event will be held at the Rose Bowl Stadium on Thursday, May 11, 2017, and honor Dr. J. Mario Molina with the CEF Cornerstone of the Community Award and Alex Chacon, Principal of Bishop Mora Salesian High School, with the inaugural CEF Keystone of the Community Award.

Over the past 30 years, CEF has provided $175 million in tuition assistance to over 162,000 financially deserving students throughout the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. CEF continues to be committed to providing tuition assistance to financially deserving students attending nearly all of the 270 Catholic elementary and high schools within the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. This past year they supported over 10,000 CEF scholars.

The event, themed “Celebrating CEF’s Champions,” is hosted by the CEF Hispanic Leadership Advisory Board, which is led by Archbishop José H. Gomez, and focuses on building awareness of the value of a Catholic education across all communities in the Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, especially in the Hispanic business community.

The “Celebrating CEF’s Champions” gala acknowledges the academic and athletic achievement of CEF scholars, the dedication of Catholic educators, and contributions and support of CEF donors. Student ambassadors from a variety of Catholic High Schools that achieved an athletic championship during school year the will serve as ambassadors for the evening, including Paraclete in Lancaster, St. Joseph in Lakewood, San Gabriel Mission in San Gabriel, and Bishop Amat in La Puente.

The Bishop Amat marching band and cheerleaders will provide entertainment throughout the evening. Jordan Blackman, a St. Genevieve High School (Panorama City) senior and CEF scholar will provide remarks on the impact of CEF on his education and life. Blackman, graduating this May with a 4.83 GPA, is the student body president, the Valient’s football team standout defensive back and is headed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

For more information, visit cefdn.org.