[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 201 (Wednesday, December 6, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H6147-H6148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HONORING BRITT ORTIZ' CAREER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cardenas) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CARDENAS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor my friend Britt A. 
Ortiz and congratulate Britt on his retirement from a long, impressive 
career in higher education.
  The son of Carmen and Arturo Ortiz, Britt grew up in Old Town Goleta, 
California. His mother, Carmen, was an assembly line worker for a 
manufacturing plant and later became a floor manager. His father, 
Arturo, is an electrician.
  Britt attended public schools and graduated from Dos Pueblos High 
School in 1979. He went on to attend the University of California at 
Santa Barbara as a first-generation college student.
  I know his journey well. Though I grew up many miles south of him in 
the San Fernando Valley, I, too, attended public schools, defying low 
expectations from my teachers, counselors, and others. Just like other 
Latino students like myself and Britt, we went on to be first-
generation students at UC, Santa Barbara.
  With dedication, grit, and hard work, Britt earned his bachelor's 
degree in 1985 with a double major in sociology and psychology. Britt 
went on to receive his master's degree in educational leadership and 
policy studies at the University of California, Northridge.

[[Page H6148]]

  His first full-time job after college was as an outreach counselor 
for a UCSB partnership program that provided tutoring at junior high 
and high schools in Goleta and Santa Barbara. This kicked off a long 
career dedicated to helping students achieve their educational goals.
  Seeing a need for dedicated and qualified educators and counselors in 
the San Fernando Valley, Britt used his acquired skills to motivate 
generations of Latino and Latina engineers and computer science 
students. His leadership set the gold standard for opening doors to 
traditionally underserved students.
  He planned hundreds of bilingual financial aid workshops and 
organized college resource fairs. He partnered with groups such as the 
United Way to make these things happen.
  During 2 years of work with CSUN's minority education program, Mr. 
Ortiz and the MEP team brought in the largest freshman class of 
minority engineering and computer science majors in the history of the 
College of Engineering and Computer Science at California State 
University, Northridge.
  After mastering his skills in the San Fernando Valley, he returned to 
UC, Santa Barbara and led the UC system's largest and oldest precollege 
academic preparation program. His work helped prepare first-generation, 
low-income, and underserved students and their families for higher 
education.
  Over the course of his career, he also worked to get $4.5 million in 
grants and funding for various agencies, institutions, and early 
academic outreach programs that helped students across the State of 
California succeed and achieve their dreams.
  He has done all of this work and more so that students who were often 
discouraged and overlooked had the support, encouragement, and 
opportunity they needed to chase after and achieve their dreams 
regardless of the circumstances they were faced with or what was thrown 
at them.
  I thank Britt Ortiz for all that he has done during his 35-year 
career. He showed kids what is possible. He gave them the tools they 
needed to learn. He helped them achieve their full potential, and he 
helped make their dreams come true.
  What makes Britt's career so special is that as a young boy, he was 
discouraged from going on to college, but he defied those negative 
thoughts and actions against him by proving to himself--not to anybody 
else, but to himself--that if he put his best foot forward, if he 
always tried his best, if he always gave it his best, he could achieve 
anything.
  That is what is amazing about this great country, that no matter who 
you are, no matter what language you start with, no matter what it is 
that you are faced with, if you are focused and you take advantage of 
all the opportunities that are here for you in this great country, you 
can and will make it.
  What is sad is all along the way some people may not believe in you. 
They may try to discourage you and actually get in your way. Some 
people may even try to get you thrown out of your school or out of your 
classroom or what have you for things you have never done.
  I say this because I have witnessed these things with my own eyes, 
but it takes people like Britt Ortiz to prove to young people that 
those are just lies, and they can be overcome. That is why today I 
honor Britt Ortiz for his 35-year career of helping young people 
overcome these challenges and to live their dreams.

                          ____________________