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Pueblo Softball Player To Join Pima CC Aztecs

By Priscila Borquez & Alexis Vargas

Class of 2024 Senior Belen Camacho was recently offered a scholarship to play for the Pima College softball team (the Aztecs), fulfilling a dream for this young athlete.

Naturally, Camacho’s first reaction to this news was one of pure elation.

“I’m really excited about this opportunity because I’ve always wanted to play with ‘Coach Bekah’, and I’m excited to see where the program takes us,” said Camacho.

Being a part of a new team means Camacho playing in a new atmosphere and learning the “chemistry” of a new team, although she admits that she is enthusiastic about these prospects.

She said, “I’m excited to travel for sure and also just play with a new group of girls and see how everyone plays together.”

Playing softball for 10 years, Camacho said she has high hopes for this new chapter and how this new chapter may contribute to even greater success in the future.

“I hope that we win State, first of all,” she said. “I also hope that down the line a D1, D2, or four-year college or university recognizes me as I’ll get to continue playing softball throughout all four years of my college years.”

Pueblo Prepares For Spring Break 2024!

By Ariana Garcia and Leia Ortega

This upcoming highly anticipated Spring Break begins at 3:03 p.m. on Thursday, March 7—lasting until Monday, March 18, which will officially begin the fourth and final quarter of the school year. It’s going to be a long stretch until the end of the school year—just one day off during the entire quarter (Friday, March 29). So, enjoy the most of your time, Warriors!

This spring break, some folks are off to foreign places, and others preparing to spend time with friends; however, most will be dashing to their couches.

Ximena Ibarra: “Maybe I’ll hang out at the park with my friends.”

Ms. Gonzalez, English teacher: “I think I’m going to stay home and relax with my dog. Also, my dad’s coming to visit, and maybe work on my silver smithing and art projects.”

Emmanuel Romero: “I have band practice with my friends because we’re recording that weekend for our band, The Woahs, and we have a show coming up at Club Congress on either March 13th or the 14th.”

Brooklyn Contreras and Kassandra Perez: “We’re going to the Descendants concert in Phoenix, and we’re going to see some little alternative stores along the way.”

Diego Pesqueira: “My band and I are playing our first show at Groundworks.”

Ms. Nelly Rivera, campus security: “Uh…I’m going to clean my house.”

Ms. Sarah Sutton, drama teacher: “I’m going to Guatemala with my boyfriend and his family.”

Jose Morales: “So far, I have no plans. Maybe I’ll work at my job, but that’s about it.”

Kaz Detwiler: “My friend, Nico, and I are going to her house, and… uh, yeah.”

Adriana Aguirre: “I plan to start my first job. I have recently applied to Fry’s, Tillys, and Buffalo Wild Wings.”

Mr. Rana Medhi, journalism teacher: “This is the time of the year when I like to get the backyard ready for spring and summer—so it’s going to be an organic week.”

Camilla Crisantos: “I’m going to work basically the whole week,”

Daniel Valenzuela: “I’m committing to completing a week of ‘Bootcamp’ with Ms. Wallace, and maybe I’ll have time to hang out with friends and just breathe.”

Isis Escalante: “I’m going to catch up on some sleep. Oh, yeah—I’m also going to Italy!”

Linkon Carillo: “I’m planning on celebrating a couple of birthdays in my family.”

Jessica Ramirez: “I’m going to crochet and eat some Hot Pockets.”

Mr. Frank Rosthenhausler, PHS Principal: “I’m going to Las Vegas—taking my father to the Pac 12 Tournament, and this year I’m also taking my little 10-year-old.”

Mouse Saenz: “I’m going to be sleeping a lot, and maybe I’ll make time to practice my Clarinet or watch youtube.”

Ms. Jeniffer Mayersohn, Assistant Principal: “My family is coming down from Michigan, so we’re just going to do some desert things. They’re looking forward to feeling the sun.”

Pueblo’s Clothing Bank: Open For Business, Open For Donations

By Saul Arias & Aubrey Garcia

Ms. Sandra Swiderski with Senior Christopher Marquez in the Clothing Bank

The clothing bank at Pueblo High School was created eight years ago as a government funded student to work program.

Ms. Sandra Swiderski stays busy with preparing students for a job by giving them retail and sales experience.

“The clothing bank is completely student operated, but it can only be open if I’m there in the room,” Swiderski said. “If a student has an accident and needs a change of clothes—and if I’m not on campus—a monitor can open the door so he or she can get their needs.”

This PHS clothing bank is located on the south side of the T-Building, Room T-5 and is open to the public and Pueblo students. For students, the doors are open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. For the public, the clothing bank is open from 7:30 a.m. until 11:30, Monday through Friday.

“On average 10 students and four people from the public come in each day,” Swiderski said. “Inventory is kind of low right now, but we hope to change that with clothing drives this semester.

This program is dependent upon donations and encourages trades; to get clothing, students and the public should bring clothing to trade. They accept most types of clothing such as shirts, pants, shorts, and clothing accessories (belts, shoes). Used undergarments are not acceptable.

“The government buys underwear, socks, and many hygiene products,” Swiderski said. “We still depend upon donations for most everything else.”

It’s Not Always ‘Senioritis’

An Opinion by Jose Nagore

Let’s face it: People are lazy. It’s in our nature to want to take breaks. Most people would rather play games or draw rather than listen to a lecture. But why do we want to ignore what can help in favor of entertainment?

Sometimes, it is the student’s fault. Whether it be that they just don’t want to pay attention to the subject, or something self-inflicted, such as poor sleep schedules. These are usually the easiest fixes that should help not only in school but in life.

Sometimes, it’s out of the student’s control to observe class. Some students have mental disabilities, such as ADHD and dyslexia. These conditions affect learning in many different ways, and all must be catered to accordingly. ADHD causes issues with paying attention, fidgeting, and a lack of effort. Dyslexia causes struggles within understanding and retaining knowledge. Approximately 5.5% of children in the U.S. had ADHD in 1997. Today, that percentage has nearly doubled to 9.4%. These few millions of students can succeed under the right conditions, but they must be diagnosed properly, and schools have an ethical responsibility to ensure that their needs are met.

Homework can also affect student performance. Students can feel overwhelmed with work and lose the dedication to continue class at all due to excessive homework. Homework can also increase students’ stress levels. This can be solved by teachers giving little or no homework, which has lately become more of a popular idea among teachers, and has a whole movement known as the Anti-Homework movement to support this theory.

Some students also deal with traumatic issues at home. Child abuse can heavily affect a student’s trust with others, which will result in a lack of asking for help and understanding of subjects. Students who work at home all day (house cleaning, animal care, etc.) can result in a lack of studying, as well as suffer communicative skills. Nearly 25% of children in the U.S. experience different forms of child abuse, such as physical abuse and child neglection. These issues are harder to solve, as the student is often scared to report the issues out of fear of punishment from parents.

Apathy can come from poor teaching. Ineffective teachers can lower a student’s self-esteem to the point where students believe they cannot succeed. The students might then think if they cannot succeed in their classes, they will be unable to succeed at life. This also hinders problem-solving skills, and without the knowledge to solve challenging problems, students will learn to simply give up on a problem that they can’t solve. This is a challenge to fix, as we can’t find enough teachers who are passionate due to the teacher shortage.

A school’s funding can cause a lack of enthusiasm. A poorer school environment not only lowers academics, but it also causes a stigma where people put in less effort in a school. Lower-funded schools also have less supplies, causing negative issues with student’s learning and studying. To resolve this, we should balance school funding better, and stop overfunding sports all the time in most schools.

The flaws in the school’s system can also cause a lack of desire to learn. The system has not been updated since the industrial revolution. This causes issues, as everyone learns in a streamlined manner, whether students will use these skills or not. The education system is also geared to the average student, which also causes problems. For intelligent students, they struggle to study or have the will to keep going when a roadblock occurs. For students who struggle in school, they won’t understand what school tries to teach them, and might fail in life due to the lack of assistance. Only 46% of students in the U.S. find themselves in jobs that correlate to their field of study. This problem is by far the hardest to fix. This can only be fixed in the U.S. government, forcing a change within the system.

Truly, there are several reasons as to why students can be slacking off. However, don’t always blame the student, as other factors may be adversely affecting them.

Feminist Club Hosts Valentine’s Day Carnival

By Ariana Garcia & Leia Ortega

After a month of organizing and three hours to set up, Pueblo’s Feminist Club held its 3rd annual Valentine’s Day Carnival.

This year, the Feminist Club hosted a lunchtime carnival with games and prizes that ranged from big to small. Each ticket was a mere 25 cents, and all money raised was donated to Emerge Center Against Domestic Abuse.

“Not everybody attends club meetings regularly, but they like this event, so they all came out to help organize,” said Ms. Caroline Fioramonti, sponsor of the Feminist Club.

Warriors enjoyed all the games, including ping-pong, darts, and even wheelspins with small, medium, and large prizes redeemable with tickets won. There were also lots and lots of balloons!

“I was pretty impressed with how well our carnival turned out, and by the end of second lunch nearly all the prizes were gone,” said junior Jasmin Raygoza, a staff member of the carnival.

“I can’t wait for next year, when I’m a senior—the carnival will keep getting better with each new year,” Raygoza added.

Renovations: What’s Next for Pueblo?

By Jessica Palomares & Sofia Larribas

In the last few years, Pueblo High School has boasted some very impressive renovations, including a modern library, artificial turf in the patio, a much-needed cafeteria renovation, newly updated bathrooms, but PHS Principal Frank Rosthenhausler has many additional plans of improvement.

Rosthenhausler plans to continue the trend of campus renovations including adding art on the front office doors. He also would like to see new windows and doors for Lever Gym.

Speaking of Lever Gym… New bleachers should be added to the facility before the end of February.

To afford these projects, Rosthenhausler stays busy writing grants to find the money for these renovations and finding workers to complete his visions.

“Improving a school is what a good principal does,” he stated.