Editor’s Note: Isaac Lopez submitted his story on November 29, 2012 as part of the District’s Centennial year celebration.

Isaac Lopez graduated from Round Rock High School in 1958. He became the first elected Hispanic member of the Board of Trustees in 1969 and served for 12 years. Lopez was one of the founding members of El Amistad.  In 2017, the organization was named a “Local Legend” by the City of Round Rock.

My name is Isaac Lopez, and I graduated from Round Rock High School in 1958. There were 58 graduates in ’58.

I attended 12 years of public school in Round Rock ISD beginning with the first grade (there was no K in those days). My first and second grade years, I went to a segregated school, one of two ‘Mexican’ schools that were in existence in the district at that time. Those schools were a one-room school with grades 1-6 being taught by one teacher. We were integrated into the regular school my third year. All of the school buildings at that time were on one campus; elementary, junior high and high school, the area where Berkman Elementary and C.D. Fulkes Middle School are now. You didn’t go very far when you advanced to the next level.

“I ran for the school board and was fortunate enough to be elected. I served for 12 years, having served as president, VP and secretary of the board. I was, in fact, the first Hispanic to be elected to the Board of Trustees.”

After graduation, I enlisted in the military, came back to Round Rock, went to work for the Postal Service, got married, raised children, and in 1969, I ran for the school board and was fortunate enough to be elected. I served for 12 years, having served as president, VP and secretary of the board. I was, in fact, the first Hispanic to be elected to the Board of Trustees. I went off the Board in 1981 and in 1987, the current Board decided to dedicate an elementary school in my honor. That school is Bluebonnet Elementary.

I feel that it was a great honor and I am very proud of that accomplishment. I am one of six brothers and three sisters that attended and graduated from Round Rock HS. I have had many nephews and nieces, grand nephews and grand nieces, that have attended and graduated from Round Rock ISD. I currently have three grandchildren in the Round Rock ISD, one in elementary, one in middle school and one in high school. The Lopez name continues to exist in Round Rock ISD.