Support Services – Pueblo High School

‘Grief & Loss’ Group To Continue In Spring Semester

By Joshua Urbalejo

For the past 15 years, social worker Mr. Efrain Carrillo has been helping students with traumatic and emotional issues, and for the fifth year, a “Grief and Loss” group has been helping students cope with overwhelming feelings due to challenging issues.

“Round 2” of the Grief and Loss group will continue into the spring 2022 semester, Carrillo said.

“I look forward to continuing to help students with a whole spectrum of problems,” he said.

Carrillo has a little “help” this school year, as he is working with Mr. Juan Mejia, whose internship will be completed in May—allowing Mejia to earn his master’s degree from Arizona State University (Tucson campus).

“This [Grief and Loss] group is a safe place for people to share their stories and not be judged,” Mejia said.

Mejia added that he hopes to stay in Tucson—maybe even at Pueblo—after earning his degree.

“The Grief and Loss group allows students to express their feelings,” Carrillo said. “I am always there for them—to listen to them, to comfort them and most of all, support them through difficult times.”

Carrillo created this group, feeling the need to fulfill students’ emotional needs.

“What students tell me is very confidential,” Carrillo said, “although I always have to take additional steps when students are suicidal or if abuse is expressed or suspected.”

He wants all Warrior students to remember the Loss and Grief motto: “Comfort, Hope, and Purpose.”

“I want to help students with their sadness and to listen and validate their feeling before they turn into depression,” Carrillo said. “My office is always open, but the group meets regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Room 199.”

Carrillo said that he counsels students in several other groups that meet on campus, including Boys to Men”, LGBTQ students, a girls’ group and “Si Se Puede”.

El Guerrero is committed to featuring these stories this spring.

Pueblo Welcomes New Speech & Language Specialist

By Freddy Gradillas and Axel Rosas

Ms. Julia Raykin is new to the Pueblo High School staff this year as a speech and language therapist. Even though she is new to PHS, she has been working as a speech therapist in high schools for more than 14 years.

Born in Moscow, Russia, Raykin would find herself moving with a group of other Jewish immigrants, who moved to Austria, then Italy—and then from Italy to the United States.

During her high school years Raykin was very interested in languages and how people talked—so she decided to learn more about her fascination for linguistics and languages. She completed an internship through her high school at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York. After high school, she studied in Israel for a year. She came back to New York to pursue a degree in Communication Disorders and earned her Master’s degree at Long Island University, graduating with a Master’s of Science in 2004.

“I was really interested in languages and wanted to help people out,” Raykin said. This love of languages probably had to do with the fact that she was bilingual. Her mother was a speech therapist in Russia, but speech therapy was very different there. She said that she is able to communicate fluently in English and Russian and can converse in Hebrew and Spanish.

Like most teachers and staff members at Pueblo, Raykin said that she has been challenged working via Zoom this school year.

“The amount of work, sending numerous emails every day and returning assignments to students is very difficult,” Raykin said. She added, “Sometimes I feel like it’s hard to connect with students when they want to have their cameras off because I can’t really tell what’s going on with them.”

Raykin said that she would return to Pueblo when the TUSD School Board decides when it is safe to do so.

“When I do return, I will certainly follow all of the proper safety precautions,” she said.

Raykin said that she enjoys focusing on her students’ strengths and weaknesses—to determine what they need to continue developing their positive attributes and how to improve areas that need to be developed.

She stated, “I really want to focus more on students’ careers and how schools can help them with their futures.”

Raykin added that self-discovery is one of the most valuable lessons a child could learn in school.

“Getting students to know themselves is the life-long journey that I want to help them begin,” she said.

Budget Cuts In CCLC Funding

By Ismael Angulo & Xylenn Nevarez

Pueblo High School’s 21st Century Community Learning Center, also known as CCLC, has been a five-year program helping students excel in their school work and to catch up with their credits. However, the program had its budget cut from $140,000 to $100,000 this year and next year. This is year five, and Pueblo has to reapply next year for another five-year cycle to fund the program with $100,000.

Ms. Mary Wallace, the coordinator of the program, said, “It’s [the budget cuts are] very difficult, and all of it comes out of instruction, but Pueblo got lucky this year because we got an enhancement grant to put in a maker space.”

The enhancement grant will cover the budget cut, boosting the program’s budget back up to $140,000.

Wallace said, “The students would not have seen as many classes offered, and we wouldn’t have as many tutors. Last year we had 22 employees, and we spent every dime of our budget on those 22 employees.”

She added that losing that money from a student’s perspective would prompt a decrease in grades and G.P.A rates among the students in the program since less activities would be offered.

The program has had a great impact on students.

Senior Desiree Martin is currently making up her freshman credits for English and Algebra 1.

“During my freshman year, I struggled a lot,” Martin said. “The CCLC program is helping me to graduate in the spring. I can’t believe that this program may not exist in the future. Even if there are budget cuts, it’s going to affect a lot of our students at Pueblo. CCLC is the perfect opportunity to catch up with credits- especially for us seniors.”

Michael Rodriguez, a senior who is also in the CCLC program, said, “I’m so relieved that I have the extra time and help I didn’t have in class. This program has allowed me to take my time and understand the content.”

Wallace wants students to know that they can still enroll in the CCLC program. The program does not have a cap regarding the number of students enrolled.

“Grades 9 and 10 are our primary focus,” Wallace said, “We do not have a limit, we have a goal, and we need to have 120 students who attend at least 30 days or more.”

Wallace wants to ensure that the program will continue successfully after she decides to retire. She said, “It’s important for me to teach another person how to apply for the grant and take over as the new CCLC coordinator so that the program can carry on.”

Health Clinic On Wheels Serves Pueblo Community

By Darian Aldaco and Palmira Henriquez

The Teen Mobile Health Clinic (on wheels!) rolls onto the Pueblo High School campus twice a week, every second and fourth Monday of each month. According to Pueblo’s nurse Ms. Kate Straub, many students have taken advantage of the clinic’s services. Some students have asked questions regarding sex health and hygiene including those related to sexually-transmitted diseases [STD’s] and birth control.

Nurse Straub said, “Students need to know that their visit to this clinic is completely free and very confidential.”

Students who wish to visit the clinic are required to schedule an appointment with Nurse Straub; students will be excused from class.

She added that students do not need their parents’ permission to visit the clinic.

The Teen Mobile Clinic makes its rounds at various other schools, including Project More, TAPP (Teen Age Pregnant Program) and Cholla.

Nurse Straub said, “[Students] having access to this clinic is fantastic, and everybody deserves to have free and confidential help.”

Class Of 2000 Grad Returns To Pueblo As Attendance Clerk

By Getsemani Cazares and Arlie Kontic

The last time Ms. Angelica Aros was at Pueblo, as a high school senior in the 1999-2000 school year, PHS still had pay phones around campus; 18 years ago, students—and much of the world—did not know what cell phones were. People were still “paging” on their “beepers”, she recalled.

Aros is Pueblo’s newest attendance clerk—filling in for Ms. Rosalie Sinteral, who retired in December. But, she is not new to working in T.U.S.D.

“I know this [attendance office] work extremely well,” Aros said. “I could do this job in my sleep.”

Prior to returning to Pueblo, Aros worked at Pistor Middle School for seven years; then, she moved to Hohokam Middle School until the facility closed, at which time she transitioned to Tucson High Magnet School, where she remained for nearly four years.

Following graduation from Pueblo High School in the spring of 2000, Aros (whose maiden name was Miranda) attended Pima Community College with a soccer scholarship.

“Sports were always my passion in high school,” Aros said. “In fact, they still are.”

She added that although she loves her job, sometimes she chuckles at some of the excuses parents give for their children being absent or tardy.

“I could probably write a book about all of the stories I’ve heard [from parents],” Aros said. “As silly as some of the excuses are, we [the attendance office] have to accept them as legitimate.”

Except for the pay phones being removed from campus, Aros said that Pueblo “pretty much looks the same” as it did back in 2000.

“It’s good to be back,” she said.

Ms. Sarah Barnes Begins New Life In Tucson In 21st Century

By Ernesto Estopellan

On the first day of the 21^st Century (Jan. 1, 2001), Ms. Sarah Barnes, one of the most visibly new employees at Pueblo High School this school year, arrived in Tucson from the East Coast, serving as a multi-tiered systems facilitator to help teachers learn new strategies to help increase our students’ test scores—as well as boost the overall morale at Pueblo.

Late last semester, Barnes was the primary speaker for our entire student population during a cohort meeting, stressing responsible cell phone behavior and other important social media advice.

“I want to get to know everybody at Pueblo,” Barnes said. “I want to know our students, the teachers, work with administrators and I want people to ask questions because I have a lot of questions to ask. In the short time that I’ve been here, I can tell that this school has a heart and soul.”

Barnes was born in Delaware in 1977, and while visiting Tucson, she fell in love with the weather, so she transferred from the University of Delaware to the University of Arizona.

“Moving here [to Tucson] was like getting out of jail,” Barnes said. “It was liberating to get out of Delaware for many personal reasons.”

She explained that education was not her first choice for a career. In fact, Barnes said that she studied criminology and even considered joining the police academy.

“Somehow my focus changed to education when I met somebody who suggested that I become a teacher,” Barnes said. “That somebody was our assistant principal Frank Rosthenhausler.”

She taught math for more than a dozen years before becoming interested in becoming a multi-tiered systems facilitator.

“I want to be a positive influence at Pueblo,” Barnes said. “I’m here for just about everybody—especially our students. But, I want teachers to know, too, that I wholeheartedly support them in every way possible.”

Barnes helps recognize students’—and teachers’!—perfect attendance this school year, printing achievement certificates for them.

“Everybody is a star at Pueblo,” she said.