Colonel gives up fast-track career to help migrant families

Former migrant student Consuelo Kickbusch, born and raised in a tiny barrio in Laredo , Texas , overcame the challenges of poverty, discrimination and illiteracy to become the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in the U.S. Army.

"I was that child who was struggling," the retired lieutenant colonel says. But she was inspired by her parents' words and their sacrifices.

They migrated to work the fields and lived in a boxcar for five years because "they saw what others couldn't see," she says. Her parents could see what their family could achieve through sacrifice and opportunities in America .

"Education is the American dream," her father said. And Consuelo grew up excited to go to school. But educators were not so excited to have her. "We educators can take the role of being gatekeepers or dream-makers," Consuelo says. "Which will we choose?" Educators in Consuelo's early life frequently chose to be gatekeepers.

Luckily her parents built her self-confidence adequately to handle the attack. "I was an Aztec princess because that's what my father said, and he never lied," she recalls.

"In our little two-bedroom house, I was given a sense of pride." She recounts the day a teacher felt compelled to cut Consuelo down a notch by telling her she was poor and from a terrible neighborhood. She ran home to tell her father, but he refused to accept that label. "You are not poor," he told Consuelo. "You are rich. You have values. You have culture. You have tradition. You have opportunity. All children have the right to the American dream. You are not poor, and don't you forget it." When Consuelo declared her "wealth" the next day, she was punished for lying.

Consuelo made it through elementary and middle school by being socially promoted, she says. In high school she was put into general math and learned how to operate a cash register instead of into algebra, and she was counseled to register for other vocational rather than college-prep classes.  “Teachers expected poor Latino students to drop out,” she says. “They could not see past poverty to promise and potential.”

When Consuelo tried to attend a college orientation session, her counselor pulled her out and asked her, “Who do you think you are? Don’t you know your classes don’t lead to college?”

He told her that she and other Latino girls were good for two things: getting pregnant and having babies. “You just go around here parading and looking for someone to support you,” he said. The sad thing was that that counselor was Hispanic.

Her next counselor – Mr. Cooper – was a white, an Ivy League graduate. He was the one who saved Consuelo from the destiny her prior counselor predicted. “Do you know you’re brilliant,” Mr. Cooper told her. “You are just the innocent victim of a poor educational system. You can get anything you want in life. I believe in you. Will you not believe in you, too?” And Mr. Cooper helped Consuelo get into college.

Once there, she joined the ROTC program. She thought it was a social club. But after overcoming the miles of running, the cliff rappelling, and the good ol’ boy network, she began rising through the ranks of the military. Seven of her nine siblings also joined the military. It reflected their father’s commitment to “duty, honor and country.” Ironically, by working 15 hours a day to support his large family, her father never learned English and never achieved his American citizenship. But he taught his children to be passionate about America .

Lt. Col. Kickbusch grew to become a successful role model for her community -- breaking barriers and setting records in the Army’s combat support services. But it took her mother to help her realize what was really important in life. “I had begun to assimilate,” Consuelo says. “I wanted a condo. I wanted a German-made car. I wanted and I wanted.”

The lieutenant colonel was just two years from becoming a general when her ailing mother came to visit. “I’m coming because this is my last visit with you,” her mother told the rising military star. “This is my dying wish. A real leader is a servant who creates the path for others.”

“I learned from my mother that day -- the maid who cleaned other people’s toilets and made them sparkle. I learned nothing is worth doing that does not stand the test of time,” Consuelo says.

When she went to her superior to let him know she was leaving the military, he was shocked and curious as to why she would leave her fast-track military career. “I’m going home to fight for children,” she told him.

Acknowledged now as a charismatic, passionate and entertaining speaker, the retired lieutenant colonel has carried her powerful message to over a million parents, educators and community leaders. She was honored by President Bush in a large gathering at the White House as winner of the 2006 Hispanic Heritage Award.

She urges students “to believe we can all make our dreams come true, to not give up hope. Rather take charge of your lives, and make a real difference in your families and communities.”

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