Berta Cabaza Middle School choir directors Rebecca Escamilla and Eradio “Roddy” Martinez are seen with awards the school has won. (Staff photo by Francisco E. Jimenez)
By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
It’s one thing to face adversity; it’s another when adversity repeats itself. But when adversity is overcome in remarkable fashion, which is exactly what Berta Cabaza Middle School Choir Director Eradio “Roddy” Martinez and Assistant Director Rebecca Escamilla have helped accomplish, accolades will follow.
Such was the case in March when first-year choir teachers Martinez, 23, and Escamilla, 22, directed their students to an impressive triple sweepstakes at the Texas Music Educators Association Region 28 University Interscholastic League Concert and Sight-Reading Contest, which was held at Lopez High School in Brownsville.
Sweepstakes honors are garnered when contest judges unanimously award Division 1 ratings to schools, an achievement the BCMS seventh and eighth grade varsity girls’ choirs and the varsity boys’ choir earned.
Before Martinez and Escamilla’s arrival, however, the BCMS choir directors before them were embroiled in controversy when their predecessors, Alfredo Hernandez Jr. and Ramiro C. Lozano, were arrested for crimes against children in separate incidents. Hernandez, who had served as choir director at BCMS from 2007 to 2012, was taken into custody in October 2012 for allegedly attempting to solicit a 12-year-old Harlingen girl via Facebook. Lozano, who had served as BCMS choir director from 1998-2007, was arrested in December 2008 and pled guilty in 2009 to two counts of sexual exploitation of children.
Charges brought against both Hernandez and Lozano, the latter of whom was serving as choir director at Besteiro Middle School in Brownsville when his allegations surfaced, did not involve any San Benito CISD students.
It wasn’t until Martinez and Escamilla took the helm of the choir department that pride was restored at the campus.
“When I first came here, it was a different experience going from student to teacher,” said Martinez, a 2008 San Benito High School graduate and BCMS alumnus. “It took some learning, but luckily I had some really good mentors. But then with what happened here it was very difficult for me. I was by myself.”
With little experience, Martinez was suddenly put in charge of approximately 275 students, not to mention being tasked with organizing a choir contest at BCMS.
“That transition was really difficult, because I was alone and I had to learn a lot of things on my own,” Martinez said. “That same week that the whole incident (Hernandez’ arrest) happened, I had to host a contest here. I had never done that before, and the other guy hadn’t started any paperwork, so it was difficult.”
“Getting ready for UIL was extremely hard because I didn’t know much about repertoire,” Martinez added. “I was always asking questions. Then that’s when Rebecca came in.”
They didn’t know it then, but Martinez and Escamilla would soon turn the Berta Cabaza choir program around. Perhaps it’s also fitting that such a feat was achieved by BCMS alumni in Martinez, choir director, and Escamilla, assistant director. But it wasn’t easy.
“I came in and it was kind of crazy,” said Escamilla, who was put in charge of the sixth graders while Martinez focused his attention on preparing the varsity students for UIL competition. “Those first couple of weeks of working here were kind of a blur because we had afterschool rehearsal, in-class rehearsal and other things all preparing for UIL. Once we got there it paid off. The kids worked hard and he won them over. It was wonderful.”
In the little time they had to prepare, and in the wake of such controversy surrounding their choir program, Martinez and Escamilla were able to lead their students into the Texas Music Educators Association Region 28 UIL Concert and Sight-Reading Contest at Lopez High School in Brownsville and leave with its most coveted award: sweepstakes.
The win marks only the fourth time in the school’s history that a group of students have garnered the sweepstakes award. In fact, the last time the Berta Cabaza had won the sweepstakes award was when Martinez was a member of the choir in his seventh grade year.
“Luckily, we’re at a campus where the students are very mature for their age,” Martinez said. “They are hard workers, so they were able to adjust, able to practice and they were successful. If I was at another campus I wouldn’t have been this successful, because these students are a special group. They are going to be very good when they get to high school.”
San Benito CISD Superintendent of Schools Antonio G. Limón believes that what has been achieved at Berta Cabaza is largely due to the work of its two former students.
“Both of these young people come from families that I know personally are very strong, faith-based families,” Limón said of Martinez and Escamilla. “They came in with an attitude that whatever needs to be done, with God’s help we can do it; that they can go forward with hard work and turn things around. And they certainly have turned things around. It’s great to see that they have chosen to come back and give back to their community and alma mater, and to be very successful with what they’re doing.”
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