The Firekeeper Scholarship Fund
Proudly Presents
Gregorio Pedroza, Bilingual Storyteller

Gregorio Pedroza

English and Spanish blend together as Gregorio shares the experiences of growing up in a barrio in Texas in a large extended family with grandparents who spoke only Spanish, and working in the Texas fields. Greg attained his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry and has been an international technical and motivational speaker for over twenty years.

Dr. Pedroza is an active member of the Southern Tier Writers Guild, Binghamton, NY; the Write Now Writers Group, Candor, NY; the Oneonta Storytellers Center, Oneonta, NY; the Susguehanna Storyteller, Binghamton, NY; the Salt Lake City Storytellers, Syracuse, NY; the San Antonio Storytellers Association, TX; the National Storytellers Membership Association; The Tejas Storytelling Association; the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio, TX; the VASA Storytellers, Virginia; and served on the Board of Directors for Literacy Volunteers, NY. He is also a member of the BOCES Arts-in-Education Program.

As an author he has published a book of poetry, My Glow Days, which tells how he copes with chronic pain. His mantra is "I have chronic pain. Chronic pain does not have me." A book of short stories, Stories from the Heart, and a collection of Love Poems entitled We, We? Oui! He has also produced five audiotapes entitled Stories from the Heart/ Cuentos con todo Corazon, Celebrating As Hard As We Work, and Winsome Winona and Other Alliterative Stories, Capirotada: Stories from My Barrio, and Loving and Healing/Amando y Sanando. Profits from the books, tapes, and performances are put in the Firekeeper's Scholarship Fund from which we draw scholarships for high school students.

Highlights for 2006: