By Anais Salais
Pueblo Magnet High School welcomes a new member to the administration team this year, Ms. Alma Carmona-Alday, who is the new Assistant Principal of Community, Advanced Learning and Academic Associated Projects.
This is Carmona-Alday’s first assistant principal position, and with her strong background in education in teaching kindergarten—as well as being a learning support coordinator for TUSD at McCorkle K-8—she said that she feels ready to make a positive impact at Pueblo.
“I feel really welcomed and I am excited to be here!” said Carmona-Alday. “I love being in the classrooms and at the lunches because it gives me the chance to get to know the students better.”
Carmona-Alday was born and raised here in Tucson. She attended Davis Elementary, Utterback Middle School and Tucson High Magnet School. She earned two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Arizona in bilingual education and Spanish, as well as two master’s degrees from Northern Arizona University—in school counseling and educational leadership.
Even though she is very busy with her duties as an assistant principal, Carmona-Alday said that she enjoys dancing and even was a Zumba instructor at Desert View High School.
She admitted that she always loved dancing, and for many years, she thought that she would become a full-time dance teacher.
“After I earned my administrative degree, I found out that Pueblo didn’t have a dance teacher for a while, and I was hoping to become long-term substitute teacher—but I couldn’t because all of the work I was involved with as an administrator,” Carmona-Alday said.
Her husband is a teacher at Sunnyside High School, and they have two children, ages three and five.
“I wwouldn’t have gotten where I am now without my husband and family,” said Carmona-Alday.
Carmona-Alday has a positive outlook on this school year and the future of Pueblo that she aims to be a part of.
“I never thought I would love Pueblo so much,” she said. “I hope to be here for a long period of time.”
She admitted that she is very ambitious and that her goal is to one day become a principal. Her goal for now is to inspire Pueblo students to help make a positive impact at the school and in the community.
“Pueblo is going to be what our students make of it, and I hope that our students don’t ever give up on Pueblo,” said Carmona-Alday.
Congratulations to Ms. Alma Carmona Alday, She will be an inspiration and role model to our students at Pueblo. Today’s youth need someone to be inspired by and Ms. Carmona Alday’s background is not so different from the student body at Pueblo. She will be a smart fit into the curriculum as well as setting goals to inspire the student body to ascertain a bigger and better future by modeling in her footsteps. May her future at Pueblo be bright and may she impress our “SI SE PUEDE” motto for all the student body to pursue a bright future for themselves.