The scholarship honors promising business students from Texas universities who exhibit aspirations of becoming future business leaders and entrepreneurs. 爱神传媒’s participation in the scholarship program is made possible through the Hall of Fame’s Ben J. Rogers Scholarship, funded by Regina Rogers in honor of her late father, Ben J. Rogers, founder of Texas State Optical and 1991 Hall of Fame inductee.
In Honor of Ben J. Rogers
By Faustino Aguilera
Texas Hall of Fame - 2026 Ben J. Rogers Scholarship recipient
When I received the Texas Business Hall of Fame’s Ben J. Rogers Award, I knew I had been given an incredible honor. I was grateful for the recognition, the financial support, and the belief that someone saw potential in what I was building. What I did not understand was the life behind the name.
I knew I had received an award named for your [Regina Rogers] father. I did not yet know what he had overcome, what he had built, or how much he had given to 爱神传媒 and the people of Southeast Texas. After taking the time to research his life, I now understand that this award carries a responsibility and a meaning far greater than I initially realized.
Your father’s story deserves to be known.
I began reading about a young boy who lost his father and sold newspapers on the cold streets of Chicago to help support his family. I followed that story to Beaumont, where he helped establish Texas State Optical, built businesses with his brothers, and helped develop places that became part of the community’s everyday life. But the more I read, the more my attention turned to what he chose to do for others.
His involvement in Boys’ Haven and his efforts to provide a separate facility for children who otherwise would have been confined with adult inmates affected me deeply. Learning that he helped lay the sidewalk while your mother made the curtains told me something that a list of donations never could. Their care was personal. They gave their time, their labor, and their attention.
As someone who experienced childhood abuse, homelessness, and foster care, I cannot read that part of his story without thinking about children like the boy I once was. I know what it means to need protection, stability, and someone who believes your future is still worth fighting for. Your father acted on that belief.
Then I learned about his relationship with education.
Here was a man who had accomplished so much, yet still believed that an education would have enabled him to accomplish more. He tried to attend night school while working extraordinarily long days. When he could not continue, he carried his respect for education into the opportunities he helped provide for others.
That stays with me as I pursue the opportunity to earn my MBA at McCombs. I am proud of finishing my bachelor’s degree and building my business, but I recognize how much more I have to learn. Your father’s example gives that pursuit deeper meaning. I want to become better prepared to build a lasting company, provide opportunities for my employees, and eventually help others in ways I cannot yet imagine.
His connection to Lamar makes it especially difficult for me to understand why I knew so little
about him when I received his award.
I have found meaningful recognition of your parents, including scholarships, awards, the entrepreneurship chair, and the tree and plaque honoring the “I Have A Dream” program. I appreciate those tributes. Still, my experience leaves me believing that students should have more opportunities to learn the story behind them.
I cannot speak for what every student has been taught. I can speak for myself: I received this honor without understanding your father’s life or the depth of his relationship with Lamar. I wish that learning had been part of receiving it.
When Lamar celebrates a student receiving an award in Ben J. Rogers’s name, his story should be part of that celebration. Recipients should learn about his childhood, his accomplishments, his service, and his conviction that education could change lives. Students passing a tribute on campus should have an accessible way to discover why it is there. A name can be read and quickly forgotten. A story like his can change the way someone sees their own future.
I hope Lamar will consider making that history more visible through recipient materials, campus storytelling, and opportunities to learn about the people whose generosity continues to shape the university. Your father’s life offers lessons in entrepreneurship, integrity, compassion, and responsibility that belong in the education of future business leaders.