Proud Products of Texas Public Schools
Sergio Troncoso
Ysleta High School
Ysleta ISD
Sergio Troncoso is the author of The Last Tortilla and Other Stories, which won the Premio Aztlán and the Southwest Book Award. His book, The Nature of Truth: A Novel, is a philosophical thriller about righteousness and evil.
Troncoso’s stories have been featured in many anthologies, including The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature; Latino Boom: An Anthology of U. S. Latino Literature; Once Upon a Cuento; Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas-Mexican Literature; City Wilds: Stories and Essays about Urban Nature; and many other anthologies, magazines, and newspapers.
Troncoso graduated from Harvard College and studied international relations and philosophy at Yale University. He won a Fulbright scholarship to Mexico and was inducted into the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Alumni Hall of Fame.
“I grew up on the Mexican-American border of El Paso, Texas, and attended South Loop School and Ysleta High School, both schools predominately Mexican-American and in poor neighborhoods, where you could, and still do, hear as much Spanish as English on the streets and in the playgrounds. Even in such a situation, or perhaps because of it, I was accepted to and graduated from Harvard College and also received two graduate degrees from Yale University.
“I had great teachers at these Texas public schools: Ms. Laurie Ryan, Ms. Dolores Vega, Ms. Juwanna Newman, and Ms. Pearl Crouch, my journalism adviser in high school. They made all the difference in the world to me. Instead of patronizing me or asking me to be someone I wasn’t, they encouraged me to excel. They were demanding, and they gave me opportunities I could not even imagine in Ysleta, my neighborhood. Mrs. Crouch, in particular, took me to writing competitions in New York City and San Francisco — this when I had not yet been to the fancy neighborhoods of El Paso. I became a writer, in part, because of what I learned at home, with these wonderful mentors.
“I hope the state of Texas, officially and unofficially, embraces its burgeoning Mexican-American student population, instead of marginalizing it or ignoring it. My parents, more comfortable with Spanish in El Paso, never felt ostracized by the public school system, but rather, they were welcomed to participate in Spanish, with bilingual teachers and counselors, and so they were able to play a vital role in my becoming what they wanted, a successful American and a good citizen. When my high school counselor, Irma Sanchez, told my parents I could apply to Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, and get scholarships to these rich schools, my father and mother listened to Ms. Sanchez because they trusted her.
“So I am grateful to all of these teachers and counselors from Texas. Although I now live in New York City, I believe my heart has never left where I was born, the place I love.”
—Sergio Troncoso