Corpus Christi Coastal Bend South Texas news,... -
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Last Visited: 8/17/2003
Maria Luisa Garza, 65, chief executive officer of the Gulf Coast Council of La Raza, discusses this question in the seventh of a series of interviews with community leaders.
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Garza was born in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, the second oldest of four children.She came to the United States when she was 18.
Her father was a government engineer who studied and harvested lumber, and her mother was a teacher in the camps of the families that they traveled with - about 70 people total.
She says her mother was also a teacher of life, empathetic to others' needs, who always encouraged her students to help others.
"It was a very protected environment as a child," Garza said."My brother and I had responsibilities in the group and we marveled at nature."
Garza started the Gulf Coast Council of La Raza charter school 23 years ago in a one-room building.