Early Years
Esteves (birth name: Luis Raul Esteves Völckers ) was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. His father and mother were also natives of Aguadilla. His father, Francisco Esteves Soriano had served in the Spanish Army and his mother, Enedina Völckers Van der Dijs, of German and Dutch descent, was a housewife. Esteves received his primary education in Aguadilla and went to high school in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, the Esteves Völckers family welcomed the Americans as an alternative to Spanish rule of the island. Esteves's father wanted his son to continue the family military tradition and encouraged him to consider a military career. However, his mother had other plans. She wanted her son to become an engineer and to study in the United States. The family's financial situation did not permit her to realize her dream.
Esteves saw a news advertisement announcing examinations for the entry into the West Point Academy and applied without his parents' knowledge. He passed the exam, was accepted to and eventually graduated from West Point, thus becoming the first Puerto Rican to do so.
Read more about this topic: Luis R. Esteves
Famous quotes containing the words early years, early and/or years:
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)
“The conviction that the best way to prepare children for a harsh, rapidly changing world is to introduce formal instruction at an early age is wrong. There is simply no evidence to support it, and considerable evidence against it. Starting children early academically has not worked in the past and is not working now.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“Three years ago, also, when the Sims tragedy was acted, I said to myself, There is such an officer, if not such a man, as the Governor of Massachusetts,—what has he been about the last fortnight? Has he had as much as he could do to keep on the fence during this moral earthquake?... He could at least have resigned himself into fame.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)