School Mentor Wins Toyota Prius for Being Awesome Person

Audrey Moscosa-Rodriguez

Today’s reminder that good things are happening in the world comes from Savannah, Georgia where a mentor for junior high and high school students will be able to inspire more kids thanks to a brand-new Toyota Prius.

Audrey Moscosa-Rodriguez was one of hundreds, if not thousands, of people attending the National Council of La Raza Annual Conference a few weeks ago in Los Angeles. La Raza is “the nation’s largest gathering of influential individuals, organizations, institutions and companies working with the Hispanic community,” according to Toyota, and serves as a meeting of the minds, of sorts.

While there, Moscosa-Rodriguez was urged to visit the Toyota booth at the National Latino Family Expo to answer one simple question: “If you could go anywhere in a new Prius, where would you go and why?”

We’re sure that loads of attendees said what we would have said: Go to the beach, get some sun, recline with a cool beverage, maybe visit an exotic island, explore the possibilities of coconut Mai Tais, visit Disney World, things like that. Other people might have wanted to drive around the country, or complete some sort of epic road trip.

Thanks to her background working with students, however, Moscosa-Rodriguez had a different response. She wanted to convince as many Latino students as possible that not only can they graduate from high school, they can even go to college and pursue higher education. In a world stuffed full of vapidity, greed, and ugliness, we were blown away by the dedication of her answer.

Apparently the panel who had to choose a winner was impressed, as well, because they handed Moscosa-Rodriguez the keys to her new Prius the very next day.

Says the secondary education mentor, “This new Prius will help me reach more students, motivate them toward high school graduation and college access, and prepare them for successful entry into the workforce. I can’t thank Toyota enough for this amazing life changing gift. This is such a tremendous opportunity for me, my students and my community.”

We were thrilled to see this selfless answer, and we wanted to share it with you. Besides La Raza, Toyota is also involved with a number of Latino organizations including:

• National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO)
• League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
• Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI)
• Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF)
• Latinos in Tech Innovation & Social Media (LATISM)
• Hispánicize

We hope that Audrey’s story encourages you to look for ways to positively affect your world, even in small ways. While we can’t guarantee that someone will be on hand to give you a new car, we do know at least one person who would approve of your actions. Hopefully that would be reason enough.