David Del Bosque grew up in the small, south Texas town of Alice. His parents did not speak english. His father had a second grade education and his mother had a sixth grade education. So, little David did not know how to speak english when he started school. But now David Del Bosque has his doctorate in educational leadership.

Dr. Del Bosque explained, “I was one of those ESL kids. I remember my first day of kindergarten, the teacher had an apple in her hand and asks what is this? I don’t understand the question because I don’t know what she is saying. They divided the kids into two groups. If you spoke English you were a blue bird and if you didn’t speak English you were a red bird. I attended Mary R. Garcia Elementary school in Alice. It was difficult for me to learn English. I did learn it because for six years it was drummed into you that you had to learn english if you wanted to be competitive with the other students.”

Del Bosque then went to live with his sister in Los Angeles, California and commuted to Santa Monica where he attended high school. He graduated from Santa Monica High School.

He came back to south Texas and attended Texas A&I Kingsville (now Texas A&M-Kingsville) and earned his bachelors degree in phycology and spanish. He said, “I am an A&I Javelina, I still bleed blue.”

Dr. Del Bosque went on to East Texas State (now Texas A&M-Commerce) where he earned his masters degree in student personnel guidance.

There were many delays along his journey in getting his doctorate. It took Dr. Del Bosque six years to finish his doctorate, he explained, “It normally doesn’t take you six years to get your doctorate but it took me six years. On the day I got accepted into the program I had a heart attack and soon after the heart attack I had quadruple bypass surgery.The last day of my cardio rehab was my first day of class at Texas A&M-Commerce. Delay number one.”

He went on to explain, “Delay number two was when my mother got sick and I was driving back and forth to Alice every weekend. It was a hard time to handle my work at the Avalon School, my dissertation and then helping my Mom. Delay number three – my mother in-law got sick and we did the same thing for her. She passed and then I picked up my studies again.”

Dr. Del Bosque wanted to get his doctorate for his own personal satisfaction but also to help his kids at Avalon School. His doctorate was in educational leadership – how to run a school, how to administer a school and on school funding. His research was on school equity and how schools are funded. He explained, “I am an advocate for fairness, I have seen some of the injustices and I want my kids to have the opportunity to do the best they can and be treated fairly. Education is the great equalizer. I learned quite a bit during the study, there are a half million kids schooled in rural schools. For equalization to happen kids need to have the same funding opportunities, same educational opportunities no matter where they live or where they go to school.”

When asked where he would like to go now that he has his doctorate, Dr. Del Bosque said, “No where. Avalon is in my heart. There is still unfinished business. As long as we don’t have one hundred percent of our kids doing remarkably well then my work is not finished. I have no interest to go anywhere else. This is where I want be and want to end it. I tell my kids learning is life long and it never ends. Money is not my motivation, the kids are, what I can teach them and do for them, how I can serve them. I want to make a difference in someones life. I think getting my doctorate also says-there was a little kid that spoke no english in elementary, came from a difficult environment, over came obstacles and got his education and you can too.”

Congratulations Dr. Del Bosque!