The history teachers

Historically Speaking



 

 

Greetings, Atascosa County! I hope this article finds you all well, healthy and happy. The last few weeks have been busy for this historical commission, but busy in a good way. This weekend we have the Annual Yesteryear Festival at the Longhorn Museum and we are excited about it. We missed last year’s due to the whole world cancelling life and all. So, it has been a couple of years and we are ready to teach the folks that’ll be attending.

Most of us on the commission are not former or current educators. Our backgrounds vary, but I can assure you that every one of us has a passion to informally teach history to anybody willing to listen. We enjoy attending the festivals where we can teach others about the life of yesterday. There are a few former educators among us and we give props to all of the educators, especially the history teachers. Why history teachers, you ask? Because nowadays history is viewed as a secondary subject with little importance and I’ve heard it labeled as “boring.” I do not share that same sentiment about the subject. I can still recall the first time history caught my attention and who the history teacher was. It was Poteet Elementary School, 1987, in Mr. Johnson’s Social Studies Class. After that, I was forever hooked. I think of Mr. Johnson often and I wonder if things would have been different without his educational influence.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago when we were invited to attend a ceremony at the Rossville Cemetery for Texas Revolutionary Hero Luis Castañon. The caller stated that her name was Irma Sanchez and she was a descendant of Luis Castañon. I remembered the name and I asked if she was the same Mrs. Sanchez that was a history teacher at Poteet High School and she was! Two weeks ago, she represented descendants of Luis Castañon when they gifted the Historical Commission a beautiful, acrylic-painted portrait of Mr. Castañon. This gift is the first of Atascosa County Heroes that will grace our walls.

In November, we will be part of Lytle Junior Highís History Day. This is when the Junior High Texas History Teacher, Mr. Jerrod Cavazos, brings out history groups, sets up ìcampsî on the football practice field and the kids come out grouped by classroom. Here, they will learn from various groups, 10 minutes at a time. Mr. Cavazos is definitely a treasured faculty member in Lytle.

So, if you are a history buff such as I, think back and recall who your first history teacher was and when you first caught ì the bug.î To all of my former history teachers I didn’t mention today, I thank ALL of you!

I hope you enjoyed this week’s column. Thank you for reading. Until next time …

MARTIN GONZALES is the Atascosa County Commission Chairman. If you have history of Atascosa County you’d like to share, you may contact him at 830-480-2741.

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