Pueblo High School

Pueblo suffered a loss over the weekend with the death of Michelle Duran, a Junior, in a traffic accident on I-19. The entire Pueblo Family extends our sincere condolences to all of Michelle’s family & friends.

Funeral Arrangements:

Thursday, March 4
5:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Martinez Funeral Home
2580 S. 6^th Ave.

Friday, March 5
9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Martinez Funeral Home

Friday, March 5
11:30 a.m. (immediately after Services)
South Lawn Cemetery
5401 S. Park Ave.

If you would like to help the family monetarily for funeral arrangements, please contact Cristal at (520) 409-2056.

Michelle’s current teachers shared the following comments:

Just wanted to share that last Tuesday Michelle had just finished matting a self-portrait that she had created. She was very pleased with her work. The plan was for her to think about a title for her work over the weekend and that I would be displaying it in my classroom window today.

I had the pleasure and honor of knowing Michelle for the past 3 years. She will be deeply missed. – Lisa Aguilera (Art)

I’m going to miss you a lot in my 2nd period. God bless you. – Mike Barraza (Social Studies)

I met Michelle last spring when Ms. Wilson, her sophomore English teacher, recommended that Michelle take AP English Language her junior year. The vast majority of the students who take this course prepare for it by taking pre-AP English as sophomores. Michelle was in a regular English class last year; however, her teacher recognized in Michelle an intelligence and an ability to work hard—harder than most high school students are willing to work—and recommended Michelle for AP.

When I spoke with Michelle last spring, I explained what we would be studying and how this course would be different from other English courses she had taken in the past. I told her that she would be reading and writing college-level essays and that she would have homework most every night. I also told her that she could trust her English teacher’s judgment in recommending her because her teacher also taught that pre-AP class and so was aware of the knowledge and skills students need to be successful in AP English. I told her these things so that she could make the right decision—which she did.

Students who do not take pre-AP often struggle in AP English. This struggle is good because it prepares them for college. Some of these students find that the struggle is too much for them and they drop the course or fail. Michelle struggled, but she did not drop the course, nor did she fail. In fact, she was doing well. Hers was a story of success. She trusted her teacher’s judgment and her own talent and work ethic and character. She had the courage to challenge herself and the resolve to succeed in that challenge.

Michelle had talent as a writer. I also know she had talent as an artist. It is hard for me to accept—it is heartbreaking and so terribly unfair—that she won’t continue to develop those talents and other talents and interests and enjoy the full life she deserved.

I will never forget Michelle and will use her good example in my efforts to inspire other students to challenge themselves and to persist in their struggle to make the most of their lives. My heart goes out to the Duran family and to all who knew and loved Michelle. – Steve Reitz (English)

Michelle was one of my students last year, a sophomore in my 1^st period English class.  Even though she was one of many kids who worked hard and cared about how she did as a student, Michelle was one who stood out as having an incredible amount of potential.  She was one of Pueblo’s success stories.  I placed hope in Michelle, because to me she represented what all kids here at Pueblo are capable of accomplishing.  Michelle inspired me and motivated me; losing her is heartbreaking.

Every time I saw Michelle, I asked her about her classes this year.  I usually saw her leaving Mr. Reitz’s AP English class, the class I wanted so badly for her to be successful in, the class I knew she had been afraid to take.  When she responded, she would always smile and give me a hug, and let me know that she was making it.  She was hanging in there, improving, and beginning to experience some of the success I know she wanted.  In Michelle, I felt validation, because she represented all the things I believed in as a teacher—that hard work makes success possible, that school is about learning more than grades, that when we believe in students we can help them believe in themselves.

When I first heard of Michelle’s death, I thought about how incredibly unfair life can be.  Michelle had so many doors open to her—not because of chance or luck, but because of her own hard work and dedication.  To see all those doors slammed shut is painful and difficult to accept, but all I can do is realize that I can use Michelle’s memory to remind me of the potential inside all my students.  I am so sad that I won’t get to see her realize all the hope I placed in her, but Michelle has reminded me that it is because of kids like her that I do what I do.  Even though she is gone, her memory can help remind me of that for many years to come. – Sarah Wilson (English)

Please leave your comments for Michelle’s family to read.

Pictures courtesy of the family.