Virginia Cárdenas was born in Apizaco, Tlaxcala, Mexico, and emigrated to the United States (North Las Vegas, Nevada) at the age of seven. Virginia never forgot her Mexican raices and spent most of her career working with recent immigrants or their children, first at Chandler High School and thereafter at Arizona State University where she worked as the eighth grade advisor in the Hispanic Mother Daughter Program. Virginia's other great passion was arts and culture, a passion reflected not only in her personal art collection, but also in her many years of service as Chair of the Arizona Commission on the Arts and as a longtime board member of Xico Inc. In honor of her dedication to student advocacy, the ASU CLFSA recognizes an individual, group, or business exemplifying passion for Latino student advocacy.