Pueblo Honored With Bronze Award In HealthierUS School Challenge [Update: Video]

Video of entire ceremony:

From TUSD Press Release:

Event to celebrate three TUSD schools that won national
Bronze Awards in HealthierUS School Challenge

C.E. Rose, Tully elementary schools, Pueblo High lauded for improvements in food, nutrition, exercise

Tucson, AZ, November 15, 2013 – Three Tucson Unified School District schools will be honored for earning a Bronze Award in the HealthierUS School Challenge at a celebration on Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. to noon at Pueblo High School’s auditorium, 3500 S. 12th Ave.

C.E. Rose and Tully elementary schools and Pueblo Magnet High School earned the designation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s voluntary healthy school initiative by meeting criteria in three areas: offering healthful food options, providing nutrition education and increasing physical activity.

The TUSD schools are the only schools in Tucson to be recognized with the awards, and Pueblo is the first high school in Arizona to win the award.

At the celebration, each school will showcase activities their teams accomplished to earn the award, and students will share their stories. TUSD’s Food Services department will host a taste-test exhibit featuring new FUSION stations that have been added to some school cafeterias. FUSION menu items incorporate cuisines from around the world.

Mary Szafranski, associate superintendent for Health and Nutrition Services at the Arizona Department of Education, will present the awards. TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez, Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, community partners and other representatives from the Arizona Department of Education will be in attendance to congratulate the schools.

Shirley Sokol, director of TUSD’s Food Services, and her department have worked closely with the schools and their nutrition teams to develop menus and make changes that led to achieving the Bronze Award.

“I was impressed by activities at each school: The walking paths, the field trips to the grocery store, the school gardens that tie into lifelong lessons,” Sokol says. “Students at Pueblo High School wanted to know what they should do to incorporate a healthy diet and exercise plan into their life. I found their commitment to pass on the information they learned to their families and communities unbending.”

Related Story: Three TUSD schools receive national recognition for healthful eating and physical fitness

Actor Jose Yenque

Actor & Film Maker Jose Yenque came to visit Pueblo today to share some of his stories and experiences in Hollywood. Students participated in a Q & A with Jose and he demonstrated how actors participate in ‘theater games’ with one of our Warriors.

Jose Yenque with some fans!

Jose also screened Wednesday Afternoon, an award winning short film with a powerful message he starred in.

Thank you to the Arizona International Film Festival for bringing Jose to Pueblo!

Poet Logan Phillips – Dirty Verbs

Poet Logan Phillips visited Pueblo to share some of his poems and invite students to an upcoming Poetry Slam.  He also shared some of his recent experiences living in Mexico and the poems inspired from his stay there.  He had the crowd of about 100 students laughing with his repertoire.

Here’s a poem about Dinosaurs:

Logan encouraged Pueblo students to participate in an upcoming workshop sponsored by Nuestra Voz.  Several students expressed their interest in poetry and asked various questions.

Logan Phillips with Pueblo students.

We want to thank Logan for taking the time to visit our school and all the kind words he had to say about Pueblo.  We will work on forming our Poetry Slam Warrior Team!  If you are interested, visit Mrs. Rusk in Room 212 for more information.

Stella Pope Duarte Visits Pueblo

On September 30th, with funding by GEAR UP, Pueblo High School was fortunate to have Stella Pope Duarte speak to junior and senior students.

Stella Pope Duarte is the author of Let Their Spirits Dance, If I Die in Juarez and her collection of short stories Fragile Night and Women Who Live In Coffee Shops and Other Stories.

Stella Pope Duarte speaking to Pueblo students.

Pope Duarte spoke to Yolanda Sotelo’s 4th period Latino literature class. The seniors who were in the process of reading Let Their Spirits Dance were thoroughly engrossed in her presentation to them about her novel. Pope Duarte then spoke to the juniors in Sally Rusk & Yolanda Sotelo’s ethnic studies classes, Ms. Mariscal’ s exception education students and other students during advisory about her writing process and her novel If I Die In Juarez. This is Stella Pope Duarte’s 3rd visit to Pueblo.

Stella Pope Duarte

The students enjoy her because she is informative, inspirational, and entertaining and they especially enjoy reading her short stories and novels.

George Arias Returns To Pueblo

George Arias, class of 1990, stopped by Pueblo today to speak to some student-athletes.

George is the only Pueblo Warrior to play baseball in the Major Leagues. In fact, Pueblo won the 4A State Baseball Championship in 1990.

After attending the University of Arizona he was drafted by the California Angels. He then went on to play for the San Diego Padres before playing professionally in Japan.

George was a guest of Curly SantaCruz as part of his mentoring program.

It’s always nice when Pueblo Alumni return and share their experiences with our current Warriors.

Danny Corrales On Warrior News

Danny Corrales, from the Class of 2002, made a guest appearance on Warrior News today. Danny is currently an Associate Producer at ESPN and works on SportsNation. He offered some great insight to the advanced class media students  and shared some great  from his different work experiences.

Brian Ortega interviewed Danny on-air and asked him for advice on a future career in media:

For his accomplishments in media, Danny was inducted to the Warrior Media Hall Of Fame.

Thank you for stopping by and we wish you continued success.