Project Contact has returned to Pueblo High School once again this school year.
Project Contact is a mobile clinic that provides essential services—offering students condoms and birth control as well as sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment. They also educate students about safe sex and teen pregnancy.
“It is absolutely important for everyone to get informed,” said Nurse Kate Straub, who is credited for providing Project Contact to the Pueblo community.
Services are available to both male and female students on campus every second, third, and fourth Monday of the month from first period to the end of second lunch. Students can sign up for a visit in the nurse’s office, and they will be notified to visit the van with a call slip.
“Say ‘Yes’ to education! You can help yourself and your friends with accurate information,” said Straub.
She added that all services provided are confidential.
“It takes two to have sex, and STDs do not care if you are a girl or a guy,” said Ms. Michelle Magana, one of the several workers in the mobile clinic.
YOTO also known as “Youth on Their Own” is a non-profit organization that helps youth that are experiencing some type of homeless issues and for them to earn their high school diplomas.
The organization provides multiple services that assist youth academically and in life.
“We [YOTO] focus on helping students achieve academic success and assisting our youth with resources such as monthly stipends, food, clothing guidance, hygiene and school supplies,” said YOTO Coordinator Sal Ramos.
Students can apply on YOTO’s website by creating an online username and submitting an online application.
“The requirements for a student to be accepted into our program are simple,” said YOTO Coordinator Mr. Jonathan Contreras. “A youth must be enrolled in school and must be experiencing homelessness or be unaccompanied on their own through no fault of their own.”
The program has helped thousands of students through school and life for more than 35 years and encourages any youth who is on his or her own to apply.
“Students who are experiencing homelessness or difficult homelife issues should apply,” said Ramos. “Sometimes it can be scary for students to say they are alone, especially when no one knows you are. YOTO is here to help and to ensure students can focus on their education and not life’s difficulties.”
[In 1986, Ann Young, a guidance counselor at Amphitheater High School, felt concerned about an increasing number of homeless students. She took it upon herself to do something about it. Young’s compassion and initiative evolved into the Youth on Their Own that we know today, which has since helped over 1,500 homeless youth. It took a lot of hard work and support from gracious volunteers over the last 31 years to get the organization on its feet. The organization gladly accepts donations from the community to keep this outstanding, necessary program continuing.]
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
