Each month Latino USA airs interviews from the StoryCorps Historias, a nation-wide radio project that’s recording Latino stories. The full-versions of these interviews are archived at the Library of Congress becoming part of the history of the United States.

This week three stories about school.

The Hoover/Garcia Family

Larry Hoover speaks with his granddaughter Anastacia Garcia in New Mexico. Larry remembered his teenage years and getting into trouble with neighborhood gangs. In fact, his constant fighting earned him a foreboding warning from his mother. She said if he didn’t stop all the fighting, he’d end up at the local school for delinquent boys. He did in fact end up there – 30 years later as a teacher.

Right-click here to download an .mp3 of this segment.

Sánchez Family

A couple of generations ago, it was common for students to have their names “Americanized” one they arrived in school. Ramón “Chunky” Sánchez gives us a student’s point of view. He grew up during the 1950s in a southern California farming town. And like many Mexican American children at that time, his name was changed. But he recalls one kid whose name was so unusual to the teachers that his was the only one not to be changed.

Right-click here to download an .mp3 of this segment.

Villanueva Family

Lourdes Villanueva’s parents were migrant workers, harvesting fruit throughout the south. In a conversation from Tampa, Florida, she recalls raising her son as the family worked the fields and moved constantly. Wanting a better life for her children, Lourdes encouraged the value of an education to her son, Roger. But she also practiced what she preached. Today, Roger is a financial aid advisor at the University of South Florida.

Right-click here to download an .mp3 of this segment.

StoryCorps stories were produced by Nadia Reiman and Vanara Taing. The Senior Producer for StoryCorps is Michael Garofalo.