by Laura Conde
Starting this 2017-18 school year, Ms. Raquel Alonso joins the Warrior Family—all of the way from Spain! Indeed, Pueblo High School is very proud to have her as our new Spanish teacher.
Despite the distance between Spain and Tucson, the transition to Pueblo has not been stressful or difficult for Alonso, as she had a positive attitude since the beginning.
“The students at Pueblo have adjusted very well in my classroom,” said Alonso. “They [students] work extremely hard, and I advise them to take advantage of every minute they are in my classroom.”
Despite this school year being Alonso’s first at Pueblo, she has had extensive teaching experiences as an international educator. Those include teaching in various positions in the United Kingdom and teaching Spanish courses at Reed College in Oregon (known for perhaps their most distinguished alumni, Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple).
Coming from schools with rigorous curricula, Alonso said that she plans to apply that very same academic discipline to her students here at Pueblo.
“You always want to learn as much as you can,” said Alonso. “I really do believe that everyone is capable of going to college.”
In the near future, Alonso hopes to continue enriching her own education.
“I love school!” she said. “That’s honestly the reason why I became a teacher in the first place. I do hope to earn a PhD in linguistics and maybe do some traveling along the way as well.”
For now, one of Alonso’s goals at Pueblo is to properly transition some of her current Spanish students to AP Spanish courses that will be available to them the following school year.