“I live with the philosophy of gratitude. I learned that from my mom and dad. This amazing award is really an honor for them,” said Sandy Ortega ’74, the 2024 recipient of the Billy Adams Award. Since 1972, the award has been presented to those in the community who carry on the commitment to Adams State epitomized by the university’s founder, Billy Adams.
She will receive the Adams State 2024 Billy Adams Award at the Homecoming Banquet on September 27. For tickets or more information, visit Homecoming 2024.
“We need more Sandys,” said President David Tandberg, Ph.D. “She has impressed me as someone who always shows up willing to roll up her sleeves and help out. Her passionate commitment to Adams State is seen in efforts she puts forth to move the institution forward, such as serving on our Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Advisory Committee, and as president of our alumni board.”
Ortega has served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors since 1990. “I’m still emotional. This is the first time in my 72 years that I was speechless,” she added. “When
Dr. Tandberg told me he selected me for the Billy Adams Award, I lost it. Holy guacamole, my tears. It’s an overwhelming, exciting feeling.”
A 10th generation native of San Luis, Colorado, Ortega was recently honored with inclusion in History Colorado’s 2022 Return of the Corn Mothers. The award-winning traveling photographic exhibition and accompanying coffee-table book is based on the Pueblo myth of the Corn Mothers, said to have sung in the essence of creation. This collection of portraits and stories is about today’s Corn Mothers, women who live, study, and work in the Southwest: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and northern Texas.
Ortega noted she donated a copy of the book to La Capilla de Todos los Santos (All Saints’ Chapel) at San Luis’ Stations of the Cross shrine. She and her husband, Antonio Garcia, consider the chapel to be the “crown jewel” of projects completed by their company, Passive Adobe Solar Construction, from which they retired in 2010.
Prior to working with her husband, Ortega spent 20 years in social work in the San Luis Valley, Trinidad, and Colorado Springs. She also taught remedial reading at Centennial High School in San Luis. A first-generation college student, Ortega recognizes the importance of Adams State serving the region. She appreciates the academic scholarship that allowed her to graduate debt-free with a double major in sociology/social work and Mexican/American studies with a minor in special education. Three of her seven siblings are also Adams State alumni: Daisy Ortega ’75, John W. Ortega ’78, and Anthony C. Ortega ’77.
Her fondest college memory is the time she and three other students drove to Puebla, Mexico, to study Mexican history for a semester through an exchange program with Universidad de las Americas.
These experiences, among others, influenced her commitment to higher education and her work with Adams State’s HSI Advisory Committee. “The Hispanic Serving Institution committee works to improve the educational experience for all Adams State students. I advocate for anybody who wants to earn a degree in higher education,” she said.
Ortega explained the Alumni Association is now working with the Adams State Foundation to align alumni fundraising and friend raising activities with the university’s strategic plan. The group is exploring the possibility of creating a mentoring program matching students with alumni.
“We need to start having conversations with students and new alumni to cultivate a philosophy of giving, not necessarily financial giving, but also through giving their time and talent,” she said.
Ortega has volunteered for many local organizations including the Alamosa Republican Party, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Colorado Commission on Aging, the San Luis Valley Development Resources Group, SLV Health, and the Alamosa City Planning Committee. She also serves as an Alamosa County Sheriff’s Office Victim Advocate.
