Antonio Rios
My name is Antonio E. Rios. I was born on February 26, 1968. I'm currently a father of three children, Joshua A. Vidal (22), Antonio E. Rios III (18), and Jordan Rios (12). I'm currently residing with Antonio E. Rios III, and I'm a single dad. I was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Chicago in August of 1978 with my Mom, sister, and two brothers. As a child, my Mom did everything she could to take care of us and educate us. My father was not a part of my life and I grew up in the streets of Chicago. I attended the Chicago Boys and Girls Club, which acted as a father figure to me. I learned a lot about sports, team work, discipline, and family. My mother sent me to church on Sundays and I got a good base their. I've always been poor and not having anyone to guide me, I've had to figure it out for myself. I attended Darwin Elementary School during my first year in Chicago, which was a bi-lingual Spanish class, and then I was put in a regular English fifth grade. I transfer to Cameron Elementary School and was failed in the 7th grade because of my Iowa Test reading comprehension scores. I was very hurt and even cried. I thought how am I suppose to score at my current grade level when I've only been in Chicago for four years and that's how long I've known English. However, it turned out to be a great motivator and graduated in 1983 and vowed to myself to learn the English language.
I worked as a tutor that summer to afford to buy some clothes for high school and not burdened my Mom. I went on to Carl Schurz High School in 1983 and I ranked number two in a class of 900 plus students for the first two years. My division teacher (home room) referred me for a job for which I was hired because she thought I was really bright and responsible. I took the job because I was always concerned about my mother's finances and didn't want to be a burden to her. I knew she worked hard to try to meet her responsibilities and any help would ease her load. I worked for two and a half years while in high school to be able to buy my own clothes and meet my needs for school in order not to burden my Mom. During my third year of high school, I was started to be influenced by the street and started to slack on my studies.
In 1986, I was 17 years old at the time, I had just got out of work and two 15-year-old friends of mine asked me to give them a ride when I arrived by my neighborhood. I gave them a ride to another neighborhood and they stole two cars. The police saw one of them getting out of the car and stopped him to question one of them. He said I had come to pick him up, which was not true. When the officer saw that the car was stolen and then saw my other friend hiding in another car near by that was also stolen, he asked me to step out of my car and arrested me with them. Since they were minors, the police figured they would make me the ring leader and charged me with two counts of grand theft auto with intent to sell. The judge thought that since one of the kids said I was coming to pick them up that this makes me an accomplice and my attorney asked me to plead guilty in order to get four years probation and $300 restitution, which I did, but to this day I think that was a mistake and my attorney didn't make much of a defense and took the little money my Mom was able to provide for payment. This continues to be a hindrance today in my job hunting. At the beginning of my senior year, I cut the first semester completely. I was hanging out with gangbangers at their house and wasting my time, although I was not drinking of drugging like some of them. I knew I had failed the first semester, but made a smart decision and told the guys that I had come too far to fail now and was going to go back to school and try to at least achieve getting D's for all my classes to get the credit that counted. I advised them to do the same, but they didn't listen to me. I went back and worked very hard. I achieved obtaining D's in all my classes, but my English class. I thought the teacher figured that she was not going to make it easy for me, just because I came back and did all I had to do. So, I gave up my lunch the next semester so that I could take an additional English class to get the credit needed to graduate. I graduated high school, on stage, in 1987 in the top 25% of my class. It was a real proud moment for my Mom. I now realize she was watching her sacrifices pay off. It was also the year my Mom found out I had gotten a young lady pregnant. I was a father at age 19. I didn't have any guidance in continuing on to college although I had good grades in high school and my counselor was no help. He didn't even tell me about going on to college whatsoever and I am really disappointed about that to this day.
Now, out of high school and no job because I had quit my part-time during the summer of 1986, I had begun to hang out with the gang bangers and make some money on the street anyway I could. I drank and drugged for about two years, but I always felt this was temporary and kept looking for an opportunity by looking in the newspaper job ad section every chance I could. I finally saw a free training that was provided and paid by the state if qualified, which I did, and made the call. It was for Administrative Office Skills with emphasis on Accounting. I took a placement test and was accepted to the school for during the summer of 1988, but because my involvement in drugs I failed to report two consecutive days without calling the school and was dropped from the program. I asked the director to give me another chance, but she stated that this was a very strict policy and they had already dropped me. I asked her what else could I do and she stated to me to come back for the program starting in November 1988. I agreed and she said she will put me down for that session. When the time came, I didn't even think about it because I was caught up further in drugging, and making money on the street. I received a phone call at home from someone from the school asking me if I was still interested, which I said yes. They gave me my start date and what time I had to report to the school.
I remember that I made a choice not to drink or drug anymore until I completed the program. I also thought that once I completed the program I was going to celebrate by drinking and drugging again, but something happened. While in the program, I started to feel better about myself. I felt more alive and my education kicked in and I graduated with a 4.0 GPA from the program and was hired by Blue Cross/Blue Shield before I even finished the program in March of 1989. I felt so good that I didn't have a need to go back to that life. I felt that I was saved by that one person who took the time to make that one phone call to see if this kid still had an interest to attend the program he had failed to complete previously. I have thought a lot about where I would be if it wasn't for that person. Sometimes, it takes one human being's decision to change the course of somebody's life and that person changed the course of my life. My mother always thought I had it in me and I didn't want to disappoint her.
Since, I have had two other children and I'm currently separated and my son Antonio who is 18 years old lives with me. Jordan is with his mom in Florida. I've always had a love for learning and just recently tutored a friend in an online Associates of Arts in Business with Olivet Nazarene University. My career goal is to become a certified public accountant. I've been unwilling to incur the expense because I've been giving my kids the time and direction that I was not fortunate to have from my father. So, I vowed to be there as a father even if I'm not in a relationship with their mom, because I see how important it is in a kid's life and the impact it can have. I've put myself second because of these commitments.
The education I obtained will help me provide my kids with a role model, showing them is never to late to achieve their goals and that persistence is important no matter the obstacles. The fact that I'm a self-learner and have worked with an online setting through the tutoring of my friend, gives me a good idea that the online environment is the right choice for me. I'm familiar with it and my thirst for knowledge and being a self-learner makes me an ideal candidate.