Celso Alvarez was born in the Dominican Republic. His parents, Maria and Jose Alvarez, and his four siblings lived in a small country town outside of Sabana Grande de Boya. The Alvarez family lived in the Dominican Republic until Celso was six years old; it was then that Maria and Jose decided to migrate to the United States of American with hopes of a better life for their family.
Celso and his family arrived in the United States on July 1, 1983. The Alvarez family chose New York City because the best opportunity for immigrants to succeed is in �The big city of dreams.� They moved to the South Bronx, which was a whole new world for Celso; he had never seen people from other parts of the world that spoke different languages. He had never seen such tall buildings and gray skies. Celso was accustomed to small town houses and beautiful blue country skies.
Although his parents did not have the opportunity to attend school during childhood, they understood that it was imperative that they enroll their children in school so that they may succeed in the future. Throughout his childhood and teenage years, Celso attended the New York City Public School System. The first public school he attended was P.S.25X, a bilingual school where he was able to learn English as well as enhance his grammar in Spanish. Although the majority of the teachers in this school were Puerto Ricans who often emphasized their culture in their teachings, Celso never lost his cultural roots.
Celso next attended I.S.162X, one of the worst junior high schools in the Bronx. There he managed to keep himself out of trouble and graduated with numerous awards that included: Achievement, Improvement and Athletics. His accomplishments garnered him a great deal of respect.
After graduating from I.S. 162X, Celso moved on to Park West High School and again found himself in one of the worst schools in the New York City; which at the time ranked at number four in the school system for most violence and lowest test scores. The potential detractors did not deter Celso; his goal was graduation. While attending Park West, he maintained his studious ways and majored in culinary arts, learning the creative facets of becoming a chef. Apart from his studies, he also became the captain of Park West�s varsity baseball team. He also participated in a highly selective weekly rival softball game that placed students against faculty-the old against the young. Even with his academics and extracurricular activities, Celso managed to also work as an assistant manager at Express Video (a video store in the upper west side of Manhattan).
After graduation in June of 1995, Celso decided that he was not ready for college so he continued his job at the video store. After one year, he knew that he needed to make a change in his life; he decided that he would join the United States Army in March of 1997.
While in the Army, Celso learned heavy wheel and track vehicle mechanics, as well as, soldiering skills; which entail dedication, discipline and honor. With his self-discipline and dedication, Celso�s commanding officers and sergeants took notice and placed him in a fast track program, which allows for dedicated soldiers to achieve rank at a faster pace. He was able to make sergeant with only two years and nine months in the service. While in the Army, Celso received several awards:
After four years of service and completing his tour of duty in the armed services, Celso returned home in May of 2001 to continue his studies. Once home he rapidly employed himself as a Driving Instructor with Benny�s Driving School as well as a financial analyst for Primerica Financial Services. He is a certified Bilingual by the U.S. Army, a certified Driving Instructor by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, a certified Defensive Driving Instructor by the National Traffic Safety Institute and is also licensed by the State of New York Insurance Department.
Celso is currently enrolled in Bronx Community College where he is working on his Associate�s Degree in Business Administration with Management Option. He currently possesses a G.P.A. of 3.0 and has recently been invited to attend the National Black and Minority Engineering Conference in Maryland that will take place in February 2004. He will graduate from Bronx Community College in May 2004.
