- Premont HS names auditorium the Ernesto Cortez Fine Arts Center
- Cortez dedicated 22 years to Premont and plans on continuing supporting the school and its fine arts program.
- Cortes was a former Head Band Director and started the Mariachi Program.
- Cortez took home many awards for his students over the years.
Thursday evening, Premont High School auditorium was stacked with former and current students all there to honor a real class act. Former Band Director Ernesto Cortez walked into a surprise celebration, being awarded with the auditorium named after him for his contributions to the fine arts program over the years.
"It is a great honor to see everybody and for this to happen. All the time that’s put into it for the kids and rehearsals and all that it paid off," Cortez said.
The Premont School District's auditorium has been around for around fifty years, and when it was time to finally give it a name, the school knew who was deserving of the honor.
"We're just now getting an opportunity to celebrate getting the auditorium named after him. Mr.Cortez really made Premont's Mariachi Program. He makes a real impact when he's here. Every time he was here, our bands, mariachis, and concert bands were sweepstakes winners. We just want to make sure that legacy is there for him," Premont Collegiate High School Principal Claudette Garcia said.
After serving in the army, Cortez started his 52 years in music education, with 22 of those in Premont. He even started the school's Mariachi program in the 1980s.
"I taught in Driscoll one year, I got drafted and I came out and taught in Robstown and then kept going years and years and years," Cortez said.
Congratulations heard, smiles shown and memories shared all took place in the hallway outside the newly named auditorium. Family member and friend Lilia Balderas shared how Cortez impacted her children in high school when they heard news the school might close.
"The kids thought, are we going to go back and have a school? And he got up and told them we will and you know how we will? We’re going to go to state and that tells me you students are very smart, capable, and can do anything you set your minds to, so I know we will have a school again... and they did," Balderas said.
Although Cortez's late wife Esmeralda and son could not be there, he made sure they were honored as well, along with his other children and mentors.
"It's been a pleasure to work with the kids. It brings back memories of how it started. I had an opportunity to work with my wife Esmeralda, she would always sit there and look beautiful with her dresses. She was always at rehearsals... And then I taught Ernie. He's not with us. he was a percussionist, he was a drummer, he was real good," Cortez said.
There was a lot of praise for Mr.Cortez, but they all had one thing in common. They were all in the key of love.
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