Jesuit Educated

The #BJesuitEducated campaign highlights prominent alumni on our social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) to reinforce the Ignatian tradition of excellence in education, leadership, and service. These alumni only represent a small fraction of the thousands of young men educated at Belen in Cuba and in Miami that exemplify the Magis.

President of the Association

influence in ensuring our continued success, probably no one more than Belen Hall of Fame inaugural member Fr. Juan M. Dorta-Duque, S.J. ’40. Thank you, I know you will be celebrating with us from above. The celebration will last the entire year and will have many events to commemorate this special occasion. The main celebration will take place on Saturday, May 20, 2023, so please save the date!

This year will be very special for our association as we celebrate its 100th anniversary. You may say, wait Pep, Belen was founded in 1854, how can we only be celebrating our centennial anniversary? You are correct, the school was founded 169 years ago, but I am talking about our alumni association which was founded on January 31, 1923. La Asociación de Antiguos Alumnos del Colegio de Belén was founded by Antonio Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirvén class of 1880 in Havana, Cuba. Sánchez de Bustamante y Sirvén was the son of a Belen alumnus and Belen Hall of Fame inaugural member who also served as our first Alumni Association President. I am sure he would be extremely proud of our accomplishments throughout our first century, surviving our exile from Cuba and continuing here in Miami.

It is hard to mention the Belen Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools from Cuba and Miami without recognizing those giants who have had such a great

We will celebrate our diamond anniversary with the school’s new Strategic Plan in mind, a plan that will guide us for the next five years and where we as alumni own one of the key five pillars. Pillar IV Beyond Belen challenges us to continue to develop and foster growth and formation beyond graduation. Alumni engagement and participation are key to the success of this pillar. To that end, we continue to enhance our communications with our delegates and alumni, including a new easy attendance tracking system for events so we can measure participation. Our Magis events in November and December were extremely successful and served a record number of children and elderly in the Gesu community downtown and other groups in South Florida and Cuba. We just celebrated another very successful Beyond Belen mentoring event, where almost 200 juniors and seniors were paired with about 100 alumni in their industry of interest to form long-lasting mentoring relationships. These relationships will continue on our digital platform, “BConnected,” as these students transition to higher education and into the workforce. All of our professional sections just held elections, and existing and new board members are ready to bring you valuable and engaging events during this exciting year.

We are poised to have a great year-long celebration, but it will take hard work from each and every one of us, the class delegates, the Alumni Board, the Section Boards and their members, the Alumni Office, and every single alumnus. We will celebrate as one of the oldest Alumni Associations in the state of Florida, but we will also work hard to deliver on Pillar IV and all of our great Magis initiatives. I would like your help and support. We need the engagement and action of all of our alumni to deliver on this pillar for Belen and ensure its continued success. I know you will support our alma mater and rise to the occasion!

AMDG José “Pep” López-Varela ‘87