Edna ISD graduate shares his personal journey to landing a diploma
Raul Almaguer isn’t your average Edna High School graduate.
In fact, just last week he graduated in a class all his own at the monthly school board meeting held at the district’s administration building here in Edna.
A product of Edna ISD’s alternative education program, Raul was presented his official blue-bound Edna High School diploma by board president Brandon Peters as superintendent Mason Briscoe read the formal liturgy, certifying that Raul had completed all requirements set forth by the State of Texas and local school district to bear such an honor.
Then, after a few snapshots and congratulatory hugs and handshakes, he was gone, off into the world to put that newfound diploma to work.
And boy, did he ever.
Hard knocks
Believe me when I say this, I hear you: Alternative school, you say? What did he do?
The answer, it turns out, just might surprise you.
Right about Raul’s freshman year of high school, you see, his father’s health went from not-so-good to flat-out terrible. His dad, a laborer, lost his leg to diabetes and soon learned he needed regular dialysis just to stay alive, effectively ending the ailing man’s working days.
Still, there were mouths to feed — Raul grew up as one of nine in his home between his folks and seven children altogether, with Raul and his three younger siblings still living at home at the time — along with all the other typical household expenses to manage, plus now, regular doctor’s appointments to keep.
Raul’s mother, Maria, took on all the extra hours she could to try and make ends meet, but that’s not easy when you have kids to raise and a sick man at home.
Raul still vividly recalls some of those first trips to Victoria with his dad.
“Yeah, 4 a.m. comes awful early,” he told us in a phone interview last week. “But somebody had to take him to the doctor, and Mom had to work.”
His older siblings already had families and jobs of their own to tend to, so Raul became his dad’s caretaker and, ultimately, together with his mom, provider for his three younger siblings still living at home.
Turning point
Something had to give. Raul decided that something was his schooling. Still, he learned an awful lot.
“I tell you, watching him put on that prosthetic leg every day,” Raul said, his throat catching halfway through the word prosthetic. “That was hard.”
“Watching him every day, seeing a man who wanted so bad to go and work but couldn’t — he was just too sick — it made me want to work extra hard,” he said.
So, work hard, he did. Raul took work as painter’s helper with a company that landed a job at the nearby Invista plant in Victoria (formerly Dupont). After a few weeks on-site, giving his all, day in and day out, all that hard work seemed to pay off in a big way.
“One of the plant guys came up to me one day and asked me if I might want to work there on a more permanent basis,” he said. “They had this opening in their inspections department, he told me, and he thought I might be a good fit for it.”
Just as things were looking up, however, Raul said he got hit with a gut punch.
“He asked me if I had a high school diploma,” he recalled, regret still strong in his voice. “I had to tell him no.”
Now, Raul was hardly making chump change at his painting gig. In fact, he earned a good wage by any standard, especially for someone his age. Still, what the man at the plant was offering was easily twice that amount, maybe even three times as much after he put in a few years.
It didn’t take a diploma for Raul to figure out that he needed one.
Back to school
Restarting his education was no simple task. Between work, home life and no doubt sheer teenage procrastination, Raul said it took him a full month just to fill out all the required forms.
Then came the interview with his principal.
“I wasn’t sure they’d even let me back in,” he said. “But they did, and I couldn’t be more thankful.”
Principal Sonya Crull (formerly Sonya Proper) has headed the Edna alternative education program for about a dozen years now, but she remembered well that first call with Raul.
“He was supposed to graduate two years ago but faced some setbacks,” she said. “His dad had been sick, and Raul needed to help his family. So, he didn’t finish his courses and went to work. He called me this past year and wanted to try again to finish.”
While better pay served as his main motivator, Raul took up the task of finishing his education with the same tenacity he’d shown on the jobsite, efforts that came to fruition on Monday when he received his diploma at the school board meeting, his proud mother right by his side.
Also right there with him was his principal who, together with his credit recovery teacher Dana Mesa, Raul says helped him so much along the way.
Just one thing was missing at his graduation ceremony Monday, Raul told us. “I only wish my pops could have been there.”
You see, despite leaving school to see to his care, Raul said he still lost his dad anyway.
Lessons learned
“I am proud of all of the students that choose this path, or it has chosen them for whatever reason,” Mrs. Crull told us in an email exchange.
“It takes real grit to complete this type of program, and it’s not for everyone,” she said. “You must have discipline to stick with it and determination to keep going when your peers have already graduated.”
Plus, Edna alternative school is responsible for meeting the same accountability ratings that all schools face, all governed by the Texas Education Agency.
“Our students must pass the STAAR tests to earn their diplomas,” Crull said. “They work on a computer-based software program to earn their credits.”
Through the years, Crull says she’s helped about 20 students through Edna ISD’s credit recovery program— each facing his or her own circumstances— life’s own burdens, if you will.
Seeing them succeed is what keeps her coming back.
It’s a pride you just can’t match, she says. In fact, the coming school year will mark her 31st year in teaching, and she says she remains just as passionate about the program as ever.
Raul said he couldn’t agree more.
“I tell you, Mrs. Mesa and Mrs. Proper (now Crull) became like second mothers to me,” he said. “They were like family. They gave me a second chance, you know. Not everybody will do that. And I can’t thank them enough for all they did to help me through all this.”
Editor’s Note: Bobby Horecka isn’t just the writer of this story. He’s also a benefactor of just such a program himself. Despite multiple hospitalizations during his sophomore year of high school back in the late 1980s, Horecka entered a similar program, which not only permitted him to make up his missed classes but also graduate a full year ahead of schedule, paving the way for him to land multiple degrees and certifications throughout his adult life.
