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My dad didn't desire higher education. He was a breadwinner and that was that. My father was a
hard worker, motivator, incredibly caring and the most supportive person I ever knew. Very soft
spoken.
Flash forward to high school graduation. My parents still today live in the house we grew up in
in Northwest Houston. They pretty much sacrificed everything to put me, my sister Debbie - who
is a year younger, and my brother Arturo Jr., through school. Debbie is the family brainiac. She
got a full ride to UT and is a civil engineer. My sister and brother both went to UT. My brother
is in medical supply sales. I graduated from Stephen F. Austin, in Nacogdoches in the piney
woods of East Texas where I got my degree in Communications, Radio and Television with a
minor in Spanish.
I always get very emotional, thinking back on the sacrifices our parents made so that we could
finish school. I never had to get student loans, nor did my brother. And as I mentioned, my sister
got academic scholarships all the way through. For the numerous sacrifices our parents made, I
will be eternally grateful.
Aguilar: Was there a push in your family that all of you have to go to college? You have to do
better than us? Or was it more like you do what you want to do but just be a success?
Rios: There was a push.. .strong encouragement definitely, As we reached sophomore, junior and
senior years in high school, and as our friends were starting to go on college visits, my mom
would say " you decide where you want to go." There was decided encouragement and yes I
guess you could say an expectation. Their plan as parents, was for us to go to college. They did
not go, so it became their life goal to make sure they afforded us that opportunity.
Aguilar: Both your parents are Hispanic?
Rios: Yes.
Aguilar: So you're Latinos. What was the make-up of elementary school? Was there something
that you remember that "shaped me, Alice?"
Rios: There was! Funny you should ask. In the first grade, I remember, the population of our en-
tire school was probably 90% Anglo, 5% Hispanic, and 5% Black. We grew up in a predomi-
nantly Anglo community. I remember in the first grade, my teacher sent a note home with me.
Legally and on my birth certificate, my parents named me "Mary Alice," but I was called "Ali-
cia" by family members. Anyway, one day my first grade teacher sent a note home with me and
it said, "Dear Mrs. Rios, please teach your daughter how to spell her name correctly." I spelled it
A-L-I-C-I-A. She thought it should be spelled, A-L-I-S-H-A. "Alisha" the English version. My
mom went ballistic. She went up to the school and explained this is how she spells her name,
