Stella Pope Duarte makes her annual visit to Pueblo
Stella Pope Duarte, author of Let Their Spirits Dance spoke at Pueblo High School on November 21st to the Senior Latino literature classes. Most writers charge a fee to talk about their novels but Pope Duarte does this because she enjoys speaking to young adults, but especially Pueblo High School students.
She spoke to the seniors about her novels but specifically Let Their Spirits Dance since the seniors are currently reading it. She discussed the themes, the conflicts and the characterization in the novel and the process she went through in writing it.
Stella Pope Duarte writes, “The students were FABULOUS! I absolutely loved presenting to them. They also pin-pointed some very important issues in the novel. It is indeed an honor to write stories from our own heritage, stories of heart, soul, blood, and spirit.”
Pueblo is the first school in TUSD to willingly adhere to the Wellness Policy, which is expected to become mandatory in October 2012, in that no non-nutritional food/beverage items may be offered on campus before, during, or after school.
In January 2011, Pueblo High School in collaboration with the U of A’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) team (Gayle Alleman) created a student health advisory committee (SHAC) of students and certified and non-certified staff members.
This Wellness movement is part of a national initiative kick-started by Michelle Obama to address the issue of rising obesity and lack of activity among the youth. This generation is the first generation to face a shorter life span than its parents due to these issues.
By adhering to the Wellness Policy Pueblo H.S. requested Desert Oasis to remove all non-nutritional foods from its vending machines and replace them with healthy snacks that are in compliance with the AZ District Nutrition Standards. The cafeteria was already serving healthy foods, but in order to support us in our application for the US Healthier School Challenge silver award, TUSD food services (Pam Palmo and Amy Weitekamp) upgraded the school breakfast/lunch menu to offer a wider choice of fruits and vegetables and whole grain foods.
The Warrior Store has stopped selling non-nutritional items such as candy, power drinks, cookies etc. and has replaced its food/beverage items to be in compliance also.
Nineteen children were selected by their peers and teachers to participate in the Student Advisory Leadership Team (SALT) training at Camp Y in collaboration with the U of A’s CPPW team. They are now providing peer to peer education with Wakefield and Drachman/Hollinger elementary schools.
We also did a health fair in April to introduce students to new healthful foods/beverages through taste tests and health information. Pueblo’s journalism and media class supported us by publishing the Guerrero magazine focused solely on health topics and covering the health fair event with Pueblo media.
The Blenheim Institute has also approached us to collaborate with Pueblo to create a more healthful living environment for the school.
We have been given grants through Fuel Up to Play, and anticipating more grants from the US Healthy School Challenge and CPPW monies. These monies are being used to erect a fitness course for the students’ use, re-decorate the cafeteria to create a more attractive and informative eating environment and to purchase shade trees for our patio area from Trees for Tucson. We are also in the process of using the money to create a sanctuary for the endangered spade foot toad on Pueblo campus, where a natural habitat for them already exists in collaboration with the herpetology department at the U of A and to purchase additional yoga equipment.
It was very hard work in the beginning to persuade students and staff to make the change and risk possible income loss from the vending machines and Warrior store, because this income financed student activities and athletics. However, student council and the site council voted that Pueblo High School students’ health was not for sale and the movement took off from there.
We want our Warriors to live long and healthy lives!
On Thursday and Friday, April 14 and 15, seven Pueblo Biomedical (Biotechnology) students attended the HOSA Spring Leadership Conference at the Doubletree Hotel in Tucson.
The following students placed in the top 5 of their event:
Brian Bishop: 4th Medical Math
Tricia Hindley: 4th Biotechnology
Karla Placencio: 3rd Dental Terminology
Carlos Ramirez: 1st Epidemiology
Christina Verdugo: 4th Human Growth & Development
Other students that competed were: John Woods & Gabrielle Reid
Biomedical Students at HOSA Spring Leadership Conference
This was a statewide competition and our Warriors did very well! Congratulations to all that participated.
Karla Placencio & Christian Vasquez- Research on the Comparison of the Antibiotic Properties of Creosote and Related Species
Christian Vasquez & Karla Placencio
Tricia Hindley- Worked with a student from CDO at a neuroscience lab at the University of Arizona. Their research was on the Effects of Backward Movement on Spatial Memory Networks in the Hippocampus.
Tricia Hindley
The Pueblo results were as follows:
3rd Place – High School Plant Sciences
Christian Vasquez, Karla Placencio – Comparison of the Antibiotic Properties of the Creosote Bush and Related Species
Teacher – Andrew Lettes
Pueblo High Magnet School
Tricia Hindley: The Effects Of Backward Movement On Spatial Memory Networks In The Hippocampus, United States Army 2nd Place – Certificate + Pack
The City of Tucson fiber optic line went online today at Pueblo. This upgrade will improve our network speed throughout the school. The project was started in April of 2010 with the digging and installation of the 12 strand fiber cable.
TUSD Technicians activating fiber optic.
The fiber optic line will boost our internet speeds. Pueblo will be able to download instructional materials in the classroom & our labs much faster. If you’ve surfed the web at school recently, you should notice a much welcomed improvement.
Yellow fiber optic cable making the big difference!
We want to thank TUSD and anyone involved in this project for this huge upgrade.
