When Rita and Roland Carrillo first moved to Cedar Falls from San Antonio in 1987, their plan was to stay in the area for two years. Roland had just gotten a job working in the Office of Financial Aid at the University of Northern Iowa, and they hoped to return to San Antonio to be close to family. Nearly 40 years later, the Carrillo family has built a strong history of working at UNI that stretches to three generations and comes with a salsa bearing the family name that is served on campus. 

Both Roland and Rita spent over two decades working at UNI. Their granddaughter Isabella works at UNI now.

“I feel like I have very big shoes to fill just because of how much that they did,” said Isabella Carrillo, who started working on campus in Fresh Beginnings earlier this summer. “I grew up hearing from my grandparents that the people at UNI were like family. Now that I work here, it's all clicking, and it makes a lot of sense.”

After Roland began his job in the Office of Financial Aid in the 1980s, Rita started a job in the English department. She briefly worked in the physical plant before she began a career as support staff in University Housing & Dining.

The Carrillos made the most of their time with the university. They fell in love with the lush green grass, the safe neighborhoods and the kindness of the people. They did what they could to mentor students, especially those from their home state.

“It is just a great place to work, a great place to serve students, a great place to get involved and mentor students who are in school and growing up, and someday they'll be the leaders,” said Roland.

The Carrillos spent many years showcasing their love of the university not only to their kids but also their grandkids.

“We were always getting UNI t-shirts and hoodies and stuff and going to games,” said Isabella.

Starting in the 1990s, the Carrillo family helped UNI campus celebrate Cinco de Mayo the week before finals. As the tradition continued through the 2000s, Rita and Roland got their kids and eventually their grandkids to help with the celebration.

“We had so much fun sharing our food, culture, fun and music once a year on campus,” said Rita. “We had cascarones [confetti eggs] to pop on people's heads. We had piñatas filled with candy. We had Mariachis.”

From 1998 to 2015, there was a strong pipeline of students coming to UNI from Texas as part of the Bridge Scholarship program. The leadership in dining mentioned to Rita that the Texas students missed the food back home, especially the plentiful Mexican cuisine. They asked Rita if she could make a salsa to start serving on campus. Even though Rita worked behind the scenes, she put forth a recipe, doing her best to estimate measurements that she often eyeballed. The result was Rita’s Salsa, which has since been renamed “Carrillo Salsa” and is served on campus to this day.

“We tested it in the back, right there where Bella works now,” said Rita.

Roland retired from UNI in 2009, and Rita in 2013. Isabella recalls attending her grandma’s retirement party on campus. 

Three of their four Carrillo children, Roland, Joseph and Felicia, went on to attend UNI for their bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Joseph Carrillo (Isabella’s dad) worked in the Office of Financial Aid where he proposed to his wife, Renae, who also graduated with a bachelor's and master's from UNI.

After high school, Isabella went to culinary school, and her grandparents moved back to Texas. But their stories of UNI stick with her.

“I remember hearing my grandma always talk about her friends that she made on campus,” said Isabella. “She had a lot of really good connections — her and my grandpa both did. They just were always talking about their friends there and the people that they got to meet, and a lot of them would even come to our house. So I knew they were like family.”

When she graduated from culinary school and got her job at Fresh Beginnings, Isabella shared the news with her grandparents. Rita in particular was overjoyed that her granddaughter is continuing her legacy. Some of the people Isabella is working with even remember her grandma.

“My whole family has been here before, and I know it's a nice environment to work,” said Isabella. “I’ve worked at some places previously where I just didn't like the environment at all, and this is different.”

While Isabella hopes to someday get a job that allows her more creative culinary freedom, she is grateful for the foundation her current job is creating for her career.

“This is a good starting point,” she said. “I’m fresh out of school, and I'm getting full-time hours, all the benefits, and I'm getting to learn more about amounts of things and how to prep. There's all these little pieces that I'm taking that are very, very valuable.”

Isabella even gets to prepare her grandma’s famous salsa on the job, reminding her of the Carrillo tradition at the University of Northern Iowa.