Teacher's life translates through work

by Caroline Basile, editor-in-chief

Given the right opportunities, one can thrive and find what he or she wants to do with his or her life. 

For Emma Rios-Quevedo, obtaining a scholarship and going to school was all she needed.

"My counselor at Uvalde High School was very instrumental in helping me obtain a full scholarship," says Rios-Quevedo, assistant professor of foreign language at South Plains College. "I had applied to three different schools, and South Plains College sounded the best."

Rios-Quevedo graduated from Uvalde High School in 1971, and she was the first Hispanic student recruited from the South Texas area to attend SPC. She began as a pre-pharmacy major, but after an incident in the chemistry lab, she soon changed her major to Spanish.

"The professor, Mr. Beck, God bless his heart, asked if there was anything else I was interested in," Rios-Quevedo recalls. "He was politely telling me that chemistry just wasn't for me. I told him I was good at languages, and he made a phone call to Mr. Gonzales, who was the Spanish professor at the time here at SPC. I was then on my way with that."

Rios-Quevedo studied French and Spanish at SPC. Also, her professors nominated her for the Ford Foundation Scholarship to cover the expenses of her education at the school she would attend next.

After receiving the Ford Foundation Scholarship, which covered all expenses to the college she chose to attend next, Rios-Quevedo planned to attend the University of Texas at Austin. But, after her father became ill, she transferred to Texas Tech University to be closer to her family.

After graduating from Texas Tech in 1975 with a bachelor of arts degree, she returned to Uvalde for her first job, teaching at a Catholic school. Soon after, she returned to the Uvalde ISD and was given a job teaching bilingual education, where students learn in both English and Spanish.

Needing a teacher’s certification to teach a language class, Rios-Quevedo returned to Texas Tech, completed her teaching certification in one semester, returned to work in Uvalde at the junior high school, and taught for six years.

After moving with her husband to Levelland, Rios-Quevedo began to work at the South Plains Community Action program and soon became the director of the TEFAP program, which is part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"I was in charge of ordering and distributing the government commodities that were available to each county," Rios-Quevedo says. "It's not like I drove the truck myself either. I just ordered where the people were supposed to go where with what."

While she was with TEFAP, another opportunity arose with Volunteers In Service to America, which was similar to the Peace Corps. She was appointed director of VISTA by U.S. Senator Phil Gramm.

"I really loved that job," Rios-Quevedo says. "I was over 36 people in 31 counties, so I did a lot of traveling and was making sure the program was headed in the right direction. I really enjoyed it, and then it ended, like most government programs."

After her time with TEFAP ended, she picked up another job with the Job Training Partnership. She was monitoring Smyer ISD, and the superintendent told her of a friend in Union who needed a teacher and asked if she was interested in getting back into teaching.

"He asked me if I was interested, because he had a friend that needed a teacher that next day,” Rios-Quevedo says. “And I went and was interviewed that day, and like that I was back to teaching."

She taught at Union for nearly five years until the district consolidated with Wellman. She later worked for the Lubbock ISD, teaching at Hutchison Junior High for seven years until she was hired by SPC in 2001. She served as liaison at the Texas Tech campus.

"SPC has six Spanish professors, two at the Levelland campus, two at the Reese campus and two at Texas Tech,” Rios-Quevedo says. “And I was serving as liaison at Tech until things changed and I came to Levelland.

In addition to working as a professor, Rios-Quevedo is also employed at Wal-Mart.

"I work part-time at Wal-Mart, and that was a result of some changes at the Tech campus when I lost the part-time job teaching the overload classes there,” she says. “I needed to make ends meet somehow."

Rios-Quevedo says that the position at Wal-Mart was just like teaching, since she is training new employees in addition to other responsibilities.

"It's been exciting," she says. "I enjoy it, and it’s something different. In many ways, it's like teaching, since I get to train some new employees. I guess they let me do that because they figured 'Oh, she's a teacher; she knows how to train people.'"

Rios-Quevedo also spent time with students abroad as part of a semester-abroad program for students.

"In the summers of 2004 and 2005, myself and another colleague took about 28 students both years so they were able to do their semester abroad,” she says. “During 2005, I was able to take my self, my husband and several students to Panama, where they able to experience the culture, the Canal and even got hands-on experience on how to guide a ship in the canal."

Rios-Quevedo is also planning a trip to Peru in December 2008.

"I hope to continue to gather groups to go and travel, not just for study, but just to experience the culture in another country,” she says. “I don't plan on taking just students either, I want to take people in the community who want to go experience the culture and life in another country."

With all the work she does between two jobs, she still enjoys it and plans to stay with SPC.

"Unless something else more exciting comes along, I'm here at SPC," Rios-Quevedo says. "I enjoy teaching here. I've always enjoyed meeting people. It's interesting to meet people and hopefully become just that one little piece of inspiration in their life."

All photos by Brenda Cuellar/Plainsman Press