Ezekiel “Zeke” Castro, born in Austin in 1939, is best known for the positive impact he has had on the students he has taught in Austin Independent School District, the University of Texas and in other states. But perhaps his greatest impact on the Austin Hispanic community has been establishing the mariachi program for AISD. He was a child protégé, earning a position at nine as the youngest of eleven local students selected to be in the first class of a post World War II project at UT to train music teachers. After college, he played viola in symphony orchestras and chamber music groups in Texas, Georgia, and California and even joined a big band. In the early 1970s in California he quickly learned to play with mariachi groups as well. Almost 20 years after leaving Texas, he was recruited by AISD to start a Mariachi Program. Thus, in 1979 the Mariachi Program was born at Fulmore Middle School and expanded to W.B. Travis High School the following year. The Travis High mascot was “The Rebels,” therefore, Castro chose to name the student group The Travis High School Mariachi Rebeldes del Sur. Six years later, Castro was named Teacher of the Year, not only a first for the mariachi program but he was also the first Latino to ever receive that honor.
Ezekiel "Zeke: Castro
Biographical Sketch of
Ezekiel "Zeke" Castro
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