Cuban refugee became architect who built his namesake school

There are many people in the valley who have had schools named for them, but few could have boasted that they also designed their namesake facilities.

Arturo Cambeiro Elementary School, 2851 W. Harris Ave., is named for the architect who fled Castro’s Cuba with little more than the clothes on his back and his education. He went on to become the first Latino architect licensed in Nevada. He then designed several elementary schools, fire stations and the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

Cambeiro was 29 when he left Cuba in 1962 with his wife and young child. He spoke no English, but by July, he had a job with an architectural firm in Los Angeles. He moved to Las Vegas in December, following relatives who were already here. He found work almost immediately with Round Up Real Estate Co., the largest developer in the city at the time.

He was a driven man and soon had his own firm: Arturo Cambeiro & Associates Ltd. Architecture and Engineering.

Cambeiro held several titles over the years, including president and co-founder of the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce, president of the American Institute of Architects Las Vegas, chairman of the Nevada Board of Architecture and Small Businessman of the Year for Nevada in 1979.

“You must work hard,” he told a group of young Latinos, according to a 1985 Las Vegas Review-Journal article. “If you do, you can get there; you can get what you want. If you sacrifice, this country will give you an opportunity.”

Cambeiro died in 1990, and the school was dedicated seven years later.

“The school’s mascot is a chameleon,” principal Pamela Simone said. “We’re always changing.”

Simone hopes she can help change things positively because the school hit a low point just before her arrival last year, when it was the lowest-performing school in Nevada.

“It’s a low-income neighborhood,” Simone said. “We have 100 percent of our students on free or reduced lunch, and 86 percent are Hispanic, and many are (English-as-a-second-language) students. The reading proficiency when I got here was barely over 30 percent, which is disheartening. We’re facing a lot of challenges, but we’re making it.”

The school is now part of the Zoom initiative, which provides free pre-kindergarten programs, expanded full-day kindergarten programs with smaller class sizes, free summer school offerings and reading skills development centers.

The school received a boost April 20, when members of the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Leadership Las Vegas class of 2013 donated 2,300 books to the school.

“The Leadership Las Vegas classes bring together people from many sectors of the business community,” said Jonathan Ullman, member of the class of 2013. “Each year’s class picks an end-of-year project to do, and some of those take a while to implement, and some of those have lasting results, like DJs for PJs and the Centennial Commission license plate program.”

Ullman said the leadership class was inspired by the work of Simone and the words of Pat Skorkowsky, superintendent of the Clark County School District. They heard him speak about literacy and the challenges facing children who are not proficient in reading by the end of third grade.

“We wanted to help some students in Las Vegas that could use a hand,” Ullman said. “We wanted to do something novel, and we asked how we could help.”

The result was the book donation April 20, with 1,500 new books going to classrooms and an additional 800 delivered to the library. Some books are set to be awarded as prizes to students participating in an accelerated reading program that awards points for reading books and exhibiting comprehension of the material.

“We heard from principal Simone what wonderful students there are at Cambeiro and how hard you guys work and how much you want to learn,” Ullman said, addressing a room of first-grade students during the donation. “We heard how special this part of the community is and how much your parents like to help. We heard how dedicated your teachers are.”

Simone addressed the leadership class members, praising their commitment to the community.

“If the children can read, they have the whole world in front of them,” she said. “The goal is to have everyone reading by third grade. With your help, we’re headed in the right direction.”

The leadership class pledged to continue trying to find ways to help the school and its students. The students opened the boxes of books with excitement. Many left the room clutching or even hugging books close to their chest, wearing smiles.

“They’re full of life,” Ullman said. “They’ve got big hopes, big dreams, and they just need more members of the community to care and help out.”

To reach East Valley View reporter F. Andrew Taylor, email ataylor@viewnews.com or call 702-380-4532.