by Rick Scobey

Created on: August 17, 2008   Last Updated: August 26, 2008

My Favorite School Year

MY FAVORITE SCHOOL YEAR DURING MY SCHOOL DAYS WAS THE EIGHTH
GRADE...I LIKED IT SO MUCH I STAYED THEIR TWICE!
This is what I tell my students, parents, and other groups when I have an opportunity to speak before them. It was because I missed out on most of the material during that year since I spent more time playing hooky (skipping) and working in the fields than in the classroom. And, to my surprise, when I reported to the eighth grade for my second year, there were several other kids from the neighborhood who also liked the eighth grade just as much as I did! I also sat in the same desk and had the same teacher!

HELLO! BUENOS DIAS (GOOD MORNING!)OR BUENAS TARDES (GOOD AFTER NOON!) OR BUENAS NOCHES (GOOD EVENING)!...

My name is Rocky Escobedo. My formal first name is Rogelio. I was born in Eagle Pass, Texas. It is a city on the United States-Mexico border across from Piedras Negras, Coahila, Mexico located on the Rio Grande between Laredo and Del Rio, Texas where "DEE FENCE" is going to be built.

My date of birth is January 7, 1946 (I am a baby bumer, I mean boomer). That makes me 62 years of age; but I feel (and look) like 26! I have to show my I.D. every time I buy beer. Isn't that nice! I speak both English and Spanish fluently, at least I believe so. I am married and have four beautiful daughters and one grandchild! The oldest three of our daughters are my stepdaughters.

My family from my parent's side consisted of eight: four boys and four sisters. I lost my father in a blizzard storm in 1948 while my family was working in the fields in the state of Minnesota. I was only two years of age. Three of my sisters and three of my brothers have passed away, including my mother, Dolores, who couldn't read or write or speak English. She could only speak Spanish.

I am the only one in my family who graduated from high school and college. I hold a B.S. Degree in Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement and Police Science from Sam Houston State University, in Huntsville, Texas. That made all of my family feel very proud of me since none of my siblings went past the fifth grade due to having to work in order to survive during the fifties and sixties.

For the first 16 years of my life, I traveled to the northern United States to work in the farm fields with my family. We followed the crops into several states such as Minnesota, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Texas. Up until the age of about eight years of age, my main job was to watch the family

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