Best of CASE District IV Award
 

Institution: St. Edward's University

Title of entry: Inauguration Festivities

About this entry: Told by our photographer:
Dr. Montserrat Fuentes was inaugurated as the 24th president of St. Edward’s University in February 2022. Fuentes is the university’s second woman president, first-ever Hispanic president and a first-generation college graduate. All of these details made her inauguration a historic milestone for the university and an accurate representation of our student body. Because of this, I photographed nearly every event of her very busy inauguration weekend. This photograph is from a cake cutting reception where the cheer team and our mascot were going to do a few cheers and Dr. Fuentes would cut a cake that was a replica of our iconic Main Building. I was waiting for what seemed like a routine event to begin, when then I turned around and saw President Fuentes taking off her heels and asking the cheer team if she could be hoisted up. In a matter of seconds, she was stunted into the air by the cheerleaders, and just as quickly, was back on the ground on her feet. In those few seconds, I was able to get one of the most unique, interesting and unexpected photos from inauguration weekend! It perfectly depicted the energy our new president was bringing — a more fun and casual spirit with heavy involvement with our student body and community. The photo was used in our recap article of the weekend and helped bring an element of campus vibrancy, one of our strategic plan initiatives, to life.