Carrillo, Eloise
Part 1 of 2 was recorded at Eloise Carrillo’s house in Tucson, AZ on March 5th, 2018 and covers the following themes:
Carrillo family history.
Carrillo’s childhood in Barrio Viejo during the mid/late 1940s. Neighborhood, community, entertainment, safety. Class and wealth of neighbors. Food.
School at Safford Elementary.
Moving into a newly built house near 5th and Campbell; division of rooms and live-in relatives.
Cultural differences between living in an upper-middle class Anglo neighborhood and the barrio. Sam Hughes Elementary, the role of testing at school, and lack of structured after school activities.
Attending St. Peter and Paul for middle school and Salpointe for high school.
Role of Catholicism in family life.
Family involvement in Knights of Columbus, Club Latino, and El Rio golf course.
Experience at Salpointe.
Family ties to Mexico.
High school social life: drive-in theaters, diners, slumber parties.
College at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles and the University of Arizona. Social life and diversity at UA.
Career options and parental expectations. Journey towards being a teacher.
Student teaching at Sunnyside in the mid-1960s.
Changing perceptions of teachers by parents.
Part 2 of 2 was recorded at Eloise Carrillo’s house in Tucson, AZ on March 19th, 2018 and covers the following themes:
Driving from Tucson to Los Angeles as a child in the late 1940s. Cooling water bags on the car.
Father’s interest in Tucson sports.
Carrillo’s stint in California and return to Tucson. Teaching certification in Arizona and employment at Tucson Unified School District.
Working mothers in Carrilo’s generation versus her parents' generation. Challenges of finding childcare while being a working single mother in the 1970s.
Carrillo Elementary School and family connection to TUSD.
Teaching at Keen Elementary and developing interest in becoming a principle. Agency of teachers to shape classroom activities in the 1970s. Division between Phonics and whole language pedagogies. Challenges of working with parents.
UA graduate degree in education.
First job as principal at Pueblo Gardens School. Changes in public education since Carrillo’s youth.
Work at Keen Elementary and Sam Hughes as principal.
Reflections upon public school education.
Becoming president of the Tucson/Mexico sister cities program and volunteering at University Medical Center. Carrillo’s intentional ignorance about the state of public education in Arizona after her retirement.
Reflections upon Tucson, community, and what it means to be from an early Tucson family today.