Speechless. This is how the 'profe' Roberto Cuervo-Arango, Don Roberto, stayed after giving his last class at the San Fernando After 40 years of teaching, he went up the stairs and met all his 6º students making him hallway and saying goodbye with an emotional applause.
On the first floor landing, he received the hug from his companions and then looked at the boys, who were waiting for his words. "See that in the Oral Expression classes I give them advice so that they are calm when it comes to speaking in public. But nothing, I could not, "he recalls with a big smile after spending the drink. He had barely contained the emotion to thank them. The moment summed up all the gratitude that students and colleagues profess him and that they wanted to show him once his retirement arrived. "They are phenomena", he repeats with one of his usual jokes.
The link of Roberto Cuervo-Arango Colao with the School San Fernando it extends beyond his years as a teacher. From ten to eighteen years old, he was a student in the old facilities of the villa on La Magdalena street.
What is your first memory of San Fernando?
My first memory is as a student of the old school. I remember playing 'llancón' next to the palm tree. We would run and climb by it to drive the iron, to see who reached higher. I also remember some punishment ... (laughs)
And as a student, he becomes a professor.
Yes, I started as a teacher giving Physical Education classes at the School of Mastery, and while, in the San Fernando I trained handball. Already in 1980 I entered as teacher of 1º and 2º of EGB, and thus I was during 13 years. Then they offered me the academic direction of Primary Education, and I went to teach 5º and 6º. I remained in office for 23 years. And in recent years, already early retirement, I have been teaching 2º, 3º and 4º.
Roberto's classes have passed hundreds of children, and he has shared experiences and experiences with many colleagues.
With what remains of his career in the College?
I have had wonderful moments, and also very complicated ones. And what I'm staying with is the team of people that I've worked with. I am very grateful to all the teachers, and especially to Varela, Adolfo, Gelen, Ana, Ángel, Chema ... a wonderful team, although I could extend my gratitude to the entire faculty. For my part, what I have tried all my life is to help the one who could, whether they were teachers, students or families.
What initiatives carried out in these years make you feel especially proud?
Those in which we bring something new to teaching, such as when we started school workshops: the garden, the theater in the classroom, chess ... These activities are now very much in vogue thanks to the new methodologies, but we already We introduced at the time thanks to the contribution of the ownership and of all the teaching staff. We all went to one. Although there were logical differences, people got involved to the fullest. And always with the greatest respect for the students, which was the first premise of all of us.
Teamwork is very important.
It is fundamental. An example. Before everything was computerized, we had to produce the quarterly notes by hand. When those dates arrived, we would join a team of five people and stay until one or two in the morning preparing them. There was a great predisposition to work, you lived it.
He was also one of the promoters of the summer camp.
Yes, there were 34 years in which families valued the School, in large part, thanks to the work that was done in the camp. Great empathy was established between parents, students and teachers. It was a great job for the College. Every year we brought together two hundred families who recognized the work that was being done. In addition to having fun, in the camp the children shared experiences of order and discipline that then moved home.
And what do you remember about the Sanfer Club?
I took care of the mud activity. We organized it every Saturday with activities of all kinds, and we did it in a totally altruistic way, with the contribution of all the teachers, to offer an alternative of leisure to our students. It was a wonderful experience.
With what word would it summarize everything that was lived?
"Happiness." It's what I feel It has been very rewarding to have a relationship with students, with classmates, with families ...
The classroom door in which this talk takes place closes, and Roberto goes back down the stairs in which hours before his students and classmates had honored him. She had just received the love of her 3º A students from Ed. Primaria in her last class, and she arrived at the stairs with emotions on the surface. So, when the time came to speak, the words did not come out. "It was authentic," he says.
Roberto now begins a new stage in which he can give free rein to his other passions beyond teaching. Restless person where there are, you will not find time to get bored designing and modeling your ceramic creations, or walking along the trails of the Asturian mountains that you know so well. In the meantime, it will continue showing signs of its bonhomie, giving a hand to those who need it and with the doors always open San Fernando, your school.
