Category: Around Campus

Warriors Welcome New Counselor Rachel Bopp

By Avae Velasquez

Rachel Bopp

Among several new faces at Pueblo, the Warriors welcome our new counselor, Ms. Rachel Bopp, who comes all the way from northern Virginia to join the Pueblo community.

Bopp worked as a counselor for five years at Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia prior to her big move to the Southwest. She said that the arid desert weather in Southern Arizona was a huge factor in her decision to move three thousand miles to Tucson.

Bopp said, “I love helping our youth population and helping them achieve their goals. I really want to help them remove any barriers that are in their way of achieving these goals.”

She added that so far she loves it here at Pueblo. However, she did express concerns about “juggling all her tasks while being available to 500 students.”

“The staff and students are very respectful, helpful and welcoming,” Bopp said. “I plan on staying here for a long, long time.”

Welcome, Dr. Gonzalez!

By Lauren Ahern

Dr. Raul Gonzalez

As the 2015-16 school year began, Pueblo gained many new teachers including Dr. Raul Gonzalez, who teaches CRC Mexican-American Point of View.

Born in Dallas, Gonzalez left for college at 18 to pursue his career in teaching which took him to many places around the United States and Mexico. After all of his travels, he became a student-teacher at Desert View High School for one year.

Upon completing his student teaching, he decided to apply at Pueblo.

Gonzalez said, “I wanted to work somewhere with a lot of quality teachers, and I heard that Pueblo is that place to be.”

He said that he loves Pueblo’s school spirit, and he looks forward to teaching here for many more years to come. Gonzalez also hopes that he can get the opportunity to learn more from his students.

“My goal is to ask students ‘Why?’ as often as possible,” Gonzalez said. “They may not be able to answer the question every time, but at least I’m going to keep asking the questions.”

Warriors Build ‘Castles’, Learn Team Work

By America Cardenas

Card Building Activity

More than one thousand Pueblo students participated in this year’s Card Castle Building Leadership activity on Friday, Aug. 14, during all seven periods, in an effort to increase team work, bring about self-awareness and learn campus responsibility.

Ms. Marie Little, auto teacher, brought this activity to Pueblo from previous trainings at various other schools. A year ago, she asked her CTE (Career and Technical Education) colleagues to take it on as a group lesson in order to reach more students.

“Mr. Mario Reyes [an intervention specialist at Pueblo] and I did this same project at Howenstine High Magnet School with the entire campus as part of a community-building activity, and it was wildly successful,” Little said. “It made a lot of sense to bring it to Pueblo.”

Mr. Pete Pederson, who teaches graphic arts and yearbook, delivered the debriefing at the end of each period, which provided our students a deeply meaning of the day’s activities.

Junior Alejandro Carrazco said, “After Mr. Pederson debriefed us, I fully understand the learning objective of the activity. We were here to learn and understand that we can overcome our obstacles. We weren’t able to talk, but we learned through other means to communicate.” He paused and said, “We learned that there are alternative ways to talk to one another.”

All students of CTE teachers and Ms. Kari Warner [student council advisor/science teacher] participated in this event.

Pueblo Welcomes SRO Berube

By Noreli Marquez

SRO Ana Berube glad to be at Pueblo

You have probably seen her—Ms. Ana Berube, Pueblo’s new resource officer. Pueblo is one of nine schools that received a grant from the Arizona Department of Education to have a school resource officer, and if Officer Berube has her way, she will be staying for a while—at least three years, she said.

Berube, a graduate of the U of A, has a bachelor in fine arts. She worked two years in the crime scene unit and as a D.U.I. patrol officer at night for seven years.

“I witnessed a bad [car] accident which made me switch gears to become a patrol officer in D.U.I enforcement,” said Berube.
Berube no longer patrols because her sole assignment is to be a school resource officer at Pueblo High School, from Tuesday to Friday, and she is enjoying interacting with students and staff.

“I was told that Pueblo would be a horrible school and that I shouldn’t be here,” said Berube. “That negative perspective about Pueblo is way off.”

Berube does admit that her job can be a bit stressful, so she makes time to relax—and she finds that in baking. Earlier this school year, she committed to enrolling in a culinary school in Canada for two months.

Berube said, “When I returned from [culinary] school, I found my office door decorated with flowers to welcome me back—all of those negative stereotypes about Pueblo are definitely false.”

Drama Club To Perform Much Ado About Nothing

By Avae Velasquez

Pueblo’s drama club is doing exciting things this school year. On Thursday, April 23 and Friday, April 24, our Pueblo actors and actresses will be presenting the Shakespearean play, Much Ado about Nothing. The play, directed by Ms. Sarah Sutton, the drama teacher, with the help of the assistant director, sophomore Estevan Medrano.

The play will be held in the Little Theatre, Sutton said, and the doors will be opened at 6:15 p.m., and the show will be starting at 7 p.m. sharp. Tickets are only $4 and they are expected to sell out quickly, Sutton added.

Sutton said, “Please come to support Pueblo’s growing theater program! Our students have been working hard in practice over the past several weeks, and I feel like they are definitely ready to perform.”

Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s most common plays and one of his best comedies. The plot revolves around two love stories that are intertwined and the turmoil and confusion that follows.

One of the actresses to perform in the plays, senior Tatiana Begay, said, “I think our play is going to be really successful. We worked really hard and have come a long ways since the beginning.”

Victoria Is Back!

By Lauren Ahern and Nayeli Sanchez

For the past two months, Ms. Victoria Burge, one of Pueblo’s most beloved campus security monitors, took a break due to medical issues. Finally, on April 1, 2015, she returned.

Though it was a struggle coming back, she said that she is very excited to continue her Pueblo career for the rest of the year in better health.

“I fought to get back to you guys, but that’s how bad I wanted to be back,” said Burge.

Upon Victoria’s return, many students welcomed her back with hugs and warm greetings.

Pueblo Campus Monitor Victoria Burge

“When I was gone, some of the students decided to draw me pictures, and they got sent right to my mailbox,” said Burge. “As I opened these cards, I sat by my mailbox and cried my eyes out realizing how much I needed to return.”

Victoria’s return confirms that she is not retiring any time soon.

“During the beginning of the year, I promised the freshman class that I would stay for all of their four years they were here, and to watch them graduate. I keep my promises.”

She paused and said, “Pueblo has stolen my heart.”