𝐑𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐂𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐒 𝐃𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐛𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬

               

Villa Nueva School of 1934

In 1936, the best of the Cameron County rural school students gathered in Olmito to compete in their annual athletic and literary meet. It was an era when a piece of paper and pencil were price passions and when some elementary athletics ran, skipped and jumped barefooted.

And it was also an age when recess was a favorite time of the school day—allowing children to be creative in making-up their own games, or simply, to socialize.

In this particular year, with perhaps a sack lunch in hand, the boys and girls from “La Encantada” left their friendly confines in route to faraway Olmito. And guess what? They did it!! By accumulated a total of 201 points in the athletic events and 351 in the paper and pencils competitions for a grand total of 552 tallies – good enough to win the Cameron County Interscholastic League rural competition.

It was not an easy victory though, as the group from Briggs-Coleman gave them all they could handle. The lads from military highway outscored the Harlingen challengers, who earned 263 points in the physical events and 267 in literary activities for a total of 530 points.

Other scoring included: Nogales 276 points, all in literary competitions; Las Yescas, 108 athletic and 160 in literary events; La Paloma 266, all in literary events; Palm Grove, 25 athletic, 146 literary; Hardin Ranch, 47 athletic, 108 literary; Villa Nueva, 55 athletic, 79 literary; and Anacuitas 32, all in the literary events.

RESULTS IN THE LITERARY EVENTS

Arithmetic: At the second grade level, it was Nogales Dolores Salinas who took the top spot, followed by Raul Gomez from Villa Nueva and coming in at third place was Celso Gonzales, Las Yescas.

Third Grade: Top mathematician honors went to David Salinas, Nogales; second place, Ovidio Martinez, La Paloma; Tomas Lopez, Palm Grove and Santos Perez from Encantada, third place.

Fourth Grade: Jim Alvarez, Nogales, Briggs-Coleman, first; Meliton Ortiz, Palm Grove, second; Maria Garces, Nogales, third.

Fifth Grade: Maria Salinas, Nogales, first; Antonio Flores, Encantada, second; Viola Contreras, Briggs-Coleman, third.

Sixth Grade: Gilberto Sosa, Encantada, first; Edio Leal, La Paloma, second; Mary Sanchez, Briggs-Colman, third.

Seventh Grade: The best at this level and taking first place was Antonio Longoria from Briggs- Coleman.

SPELLING RESULTS

The second grade top participants included: Juan Saldivar, Anacuitas; Porfirio Paz, Villa Nueva;

Roberto Arzola, Palm Grove; Consuelo Garcia, La Paloma; Alfredo Garza, Las Yescas; Petra

Gutierrez, Nogales; Jose Chavez, Briggs Coleman and Mercedes, Yanes, Encantada.

Third Grade: Manuel Garcia, Villa Nueva; Emilio Delgado, Hardin Ranch; Ella Pedraza, La

Paloma; Serafina Meza, Las Yescas; Abel Cantu, Nogales; and Esperanza Longoria, Briggs-Coleman.

Fourth Grade: Aurora Alvarez, Briggs-Coleman; Consuelo Arredondo, Encantada, tied for first; Manuel Saliva, Nogales; Israel Leal, La Paloma.

Fifth Grade: Carolina Rodriguez, Nogales and J. Trevino, Encantada, tied; Telesforo Reyes, La Paloma; Christina Gonzalez and Maria Chavez, Briggs-Coleman, tied.

Sixth Grade: Top winner, Charles Leal, La Paloma; Lupe Alvarez, Briggs-Coleman; and Maria Benavides, third.

Seventh Grade: Top speller, Angel Longoria, Briggs-Coleman.

POSTER MAKING

Ramona Chavez, Hardin Ranch; Carlota Lopez, Palm Grove; Polly Mae Moody, Encantada; Anita Leal, Encantada; and Delfina Longoria, Briggs-Coleman.

STORY TELLING

In the boys category, Natividad Caraveo was the winner from Las Yescas; followed by Israel Alvarez, Briggs-Coleman; Modesto Trevino, Nogales; The best in the girls division was Maria Garza, Nogales.

EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEECH AND DECLARATION

In the girls extemporaneous speech competition it was Lupe Ballia of La Paloma who topped the rest. While in the declaration boys junior division, Ben Garza of Las Yescas and Alberto Esparza from Encantada were the best. Tops in the girl’s junior declaration were Mercedes Gonzales and Marcela Gonzales of Las Yescas.

It was an exciting two day competition and just as thrilling was the fact that for most of the younger kids it was the first to time to travel beyond their rural neighborhoods. A trip from La Encantada and/or from any other countryside area to Olmito was a challenging ordeal, especially during the Depression.

For those kids that didn’t participate in UIL activities
there was always the weekly “spelling bee.” It usually went like this—teams were chosen and children took turns spelling words that were read aloud by the teacher. If someone misspelled a word, he or she would be out of the game and had to sit down. The bee ended when only one person was left standing. In the one-classroom school era, the winner was a school celebrity until the next spelling bee.

Is anyone engaging our students in spelling bee today or is it not “politically correct” to do so?

Note: All information, along with names were taken as written in the Brownsville Herald archives.