Mattress King Urges Bell High Teens to ‘Say Yes to Education’
Angel Echevarria was born in Puerto Rico and raised in poverty in New York’s Spanish Harlem. But his humble beginnings did not stop him from becoming a success.
Even though he never attended college, Echevarria became president of a multimillion-dollar company.
Echevarria believes that today’s students might achieve success through hard work, much as he did, but that their chances are better if they continue their education.
Minority youths from low-income families have a special need for higher education to succeed in today’s competitive world, said Echevarria, 60, president and founder of the Somma Mattress Co. in East Los Angeles.
“In my time, I could succeed with a high school education. Today, students need more.”
To that end, Echevarria has made the resources of his company available to Bell High School, where 94% of the 3,800 students are Latino and many are disadvantaged.
Somma is taking part in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Adopt-a-School program, in which businesses take individual schools under their wings and donate equipment, materials, personnel and scholarships.
‘Say Yes to Education’
“Nancy Reagan is telling you to ‘Say No to Drugs,’ and I want kids at Bell to Say Yes to Education,” Echevarria said recently at a school rally.
More than 2,500 students from the year-round school packed the bleachers of the football stadium where Somma held a kickoff celebration of the school’s selection. The school is about 3 miles south of the 16-acre Somma plant where flotation mattresses--combining innerspring mattresses with water beds--are manufactured.
“I had aspirations to get ahead but no tools,” Echevarria said. “So I went back to high school.” Echevarria came to Southern California in 1960 and was graduated from Gardena High.
He had gone back to high school at 27, while married with three children and working full time as a business manager of a company. It took him four years to finish, while attending night school. Echevarria ran two successful mattress companies before launching Somma, which started in 1977, has 250 employees and had gross sales of $53 million for 1987.
“If you are smart you won’t have to work as hard as I did,” Echevarria told the students.
Long-Term Outlook Urged
Echevarria said he hopes to convince students and their parents that it would be more financially rewarding to go to college than to accept a job after high school.
“A job making minimum wage might be rewarding in the short term, but they (students) must understand staying in school will bring a higher level of income,” Echevarria said later.
In a 1987 survey, 67% of the Bell graduating class indicated they hoped to go to college, said Richard Bowe, the school’s college and financial aid counselor. But Bowe said almost half of those who are admitted to college end up not going for reasons that sometimes include the lure of an immediate job.
“I never met Mr. Echevarria, but I would like to shake his hand,” Bowe said. “I think he has the right idea trying to motivate the students to continue with their education. . . . Many of the students will say they will work for a year to help support the family but many never return to school.”
Partnership With USC
In seeking to help Bell High, Somma has also formed a partnership with the University of Southern California. Somma and USC are offering $15,000 in scholarships to deserving students, said Angelica Tellechea, administrative assistant to Echevarria.
On Nov. 20, a trip to the USC campus is planned for students and their parents to acquaint them with the campus.
A project is being coordinated with the local YMCA’s workshops in basic English, typing and beginning computers for parents, Tellechea said.
At some point, Tellechea said, the company hopes to bring the students, the parents and the teaching staff together in “motivational workshops,” that will encourage students to continue with higher education.
