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Ms. Vickie Bellay: Thank You For ‘Getting Stuff Done’

By Jonathan Redondo & Emely Villanueva

At the end of August, Pueblo security monitor Ms. Vickie Bellay, who was committed to keeping PHS safer for the past 23 years, decided to retire and start the next chapter of her life.

Bellay’s time over the years—one of the longest campus security tenures in Pueblo High School history—has taught her a lot about Pueblo’s “awesome” students. She added that every year during her years at PHS was different because every year brought new kids and experiences.

Undoubtedly, Bellay’s legacy will continue to grow as the years pass. Her campus security colleagues echoed the same sentiment regarding Bellay: “When Vickie was around, stuff would get done.”

Ms. Nora Monge, campus monitor, said, “She [Vickie] is number one, and she has no idea how much she is going to be missed.”

Another monitor, Ms. Nellie Rivera, said, “We’ll miss Vickie a lot, but hopefully we’ll see each other throughout the years.”

Bellay said upon leaving Pueblo, “I hope students will understand why I was so strict. I was doing my job to uphold the rules and policies, and I treated everybody equally. I was always objective—with everyone.”

She added that being with students and seeing their success and their academic pursuits was one of the most rewarding parts of her job.

Bellay said, “Going to work at Pueblo was my job, but it was always a joy, and I always took my role very seriously. All I wanted for students was to see them become successful. I treated y’all [students] how I treat my own kids because I wanted them all to be their best.”

With all the thousands of connections with students, faculty, and staff that Bellay has made over the past 20+ years, the positive impressions she has created are everlasting.

Coach Of Sports Or Shoes?

by Alexis Vargas

Coach Daryl Jones is known for having one of the best “shoe games” out of Pueblo’s faculty and staff, but his appreciation for basketball has also been a recognized and inspiring trait.

After his shoe collection began three or four years ago, it has grown to a total of 30 pairs from brands such as Jordan, Nike, and UGG.

“Shoes that are worth the most would have to be either my UGG boots, Jordan 11 Cool Greys, Jordan 11 Gamma Blues, and Jordan 11 Legend Blues,” said Coach Jones.

Jones’ preferred sneaker has transitioned, currently favoring Nike Dunk Lows. He also settled the debate on the best athletic shoe.

Jones said, “I’m biased, so I would say Lebron James basketball shoes but if I’m going to be technical, CP3 basketball shoes are really comfortable.”

While his top shoes hold great value, so do his hopes for this year’s boys’ basketball team, especially with a majority of the team being seniors.

“[We’re aiming for ] the ‘Elite 8’. Obviously, the state championship is always the goal, but I think ‘Elite 8’ is more realistic,” said Jones. “I hope they win the state championship, that would be nice for them.”

Class Presidents/Reps Speak Up, Commit To Student Council

By Alyvette Moreno & Jenna Twaje

Pueblo High School Student Council teacher/advisor Mr. Gregory Obregon is confident that he can motivate his newly elected officers and lead them to successful and original student activities for the 2023-24 school year.

Obregon also wants his students to develop connections with one another and to focus more on the quality of Pueblo High School events.

“I want to make sure whatever student council does is done well and that their activities make a difference,” Obregon said.

He added that he is excited to bring into Student Council “new blood” this school year.

One of this year’s freshman representatives, Yamilett Lopez, said that she decided to be a part of Student Council this year because she wanted to get help Pueblo become even better and to boost school spirit.

Lopez plans to commit to being part of Pueblo’s Student Council all four years.

“One of the biggest challenges for the freshman class is being confident and sharing ideas,” Lopez said. “They [the Class of 2027] have already expressed a lot of great ideas, and they have open minds that want to be original and to be the best class ever. I love their spirit!”

Amy Aldana is the new sophomore president for her class this school year. She was vice-president as a freshman, and a two-year veteran in Student Council, Aldana plans to continue to be part of this organization during her junior and senior years.

“I decided to become a committed member of Student Council to get more involved with Pueblo and to leave with a legacy of lasting positive changes,” Aldana said.

She added that she will be challenged to inspire sophomores to communicate better with one another and to keep the dialogue open to all Class of 2026 students.

“One of my primary responsibilities is to have every sophomore’s opinion count and to be respected,” Aldana said.

This year’s junior class president is Paula Vega, who has been in Student Council since her freshman year; her plans are to commit to Student Council as a senior next year.

Vega said she felt like the right person for the job when she decided to run for the junior class president but added that she has her share of “challenges” ahead of her and the Class of 2025.

CCTV Goes Live At Pueblo

By Jose Nagore

More than 50 new cameras have been installed throughout Pueblo High School, replacing the old, dozen-year old nonfunctional cameras.

These new cameras cost nearly $90,000 and were funded by Tucson Unified School District, keeping Warriors safer than ever. In the short time they have been completely installed—a project that began late last school year and completed before the beginning of this school year—they have already prevented trespassers from entering campus; they have stopped fights quicker; and they have proved to be instrumental in getting more information about “other incidents”.

“[The cameras are] not necessarily to catch students doing wrong things,” said Ms. Karla Martinez, Assistance Principal, who was instrumental in this project. “These cameras are primarily for safety purposes. We can see if a student runs away from a fight, or see if someone jumps the fence to get in.”

These cameras are not located in the restroom for privacy purposes.

The screens for all camera film can be found in the offices of all four offices of our administrators, who are the only ones who have access to the recordings, which record 24/7.

“Do I feel safer? Yes, I do!” Martinez said.

New Senior Counselor ‘Digs’ His New Position

By Jose Jovel & Estevan Alvarado

Mr. Jose Alvarez joins Pueblo High School’s staff as the senior class counselor with the weight of their success on his shoulders and much to do in his new position.

Alvarez comes to Pueblo equipped not only with years of high school counseling experience but experience as a clinician and American Southwest archeologist.

“I felt welcomed immediately,” Alvarez said. “Pueblo is different and unique, and I recognized immediately that this school has its own special culture and personality—not to mention a rich community.”

Just before students arrived for the new school year, Alvarez suffered an accident in the auditorium, and he suffered a concussion and whiplash. Nine weeks later, he is still receiving treatment for this incident.

“In spite of the accident, I’ve been working as best as I can at my own pace,” Alvarez said. “If it hadn’t been for the concussion, I would be more caught up with work.”

After several weeks of constant schedule changes for seniors, Alvarez said that he is finally breathing a sigh of relief.

“It has been challenging adjusting seniors’ schedules and to ensure that they are on paths of success,” he said. “There’s no room to make mistakes with students—especially with seniors earning the necessary credits to graduate in May.”

As for the future, Alvarez said he plans to make Pueblo his “second home” and to continue to monitor his seniors’ destiny to graduate in eight months.

He also has a personal connection to Pueblo; Alvarez’ son, Gabriel “Escorpión” Alvarez, is a student here at Pueblo and a member of Mariachi Aztlán.

Donald Trump’s Indictments: A Comical Saga

An Opinion By Virgil Roiles

America…the land of the free and brave. Yet, somehow, someone who wasn’t either of them became the U.S. President: Donald John Trump, a man who accumulated wealth through unrecorded workers, using asbestos without clarifying so, and simply being a rich aristocrat without the manners of a human being.

And despite him leaving his office disgraced after attempting to bring about the destruction of the United States’ democratic process, he is continuing to make claims about how the election was “stolen” through “voter fraud”—an unsubtle way of shifting the blame from his sheer stupidity to fraud.

Yet we forget that the Republicans have even worse records on that. See Watergate, where Democracy found itself sabotaged by the GOP. See also gerrymandering against the black population in Alabama, diluting black voting in Georgia, diminishing an anti-gerrymandering committees’ reform power in Utah, and the 2003 redistricting of Texas to dilute Democratic voting power.

Men like him gerrymander; then they cry when they’re impeached and claim election fraud—a little comical were it not for the fact that it was on the verge of compromising our democracy. He also managed to earn the ire of the people he counted his ‘support’ on – the Armed Forces. To quote the highest authority in the Joint Chiefs of Staff; “The United States Military has no role in domestic politics, full stop.”—once said by Mark A. Milley, General in the U.S. Army and head of the Chiefs of Staff.

When one is under the delusion that they can do it alone as the eternal ruler of, say, a cult, you’d recall people like Scientologists or Branch Davidians—but never the Executive arm of the American Government. Yet, with Trump’s borderline politically suicidal actions, he’s earned at least four indictments. In the United States, indictments are rare for people belonging to the highest of the Executive Arm, even for people who are not at all there in the head – like the 43rd U.S. President.

This is not the case for Donald Trump, however. With 91 felonies and four separate state-level indictments, one wonders how he managed to get elected in the executive arm of the government—a place not for fraudsters, Klan supporters, or mob-affiliated nepotism babies, yet somehow—I suspect it to be a lack of proper education—he managed to take control of the executive arm anyway.

In Florida, Trump attempted to obstruct the government’s retrieval of extremely sensitive documents that should be returned to the government after a term ends, hoarding them for himself; these documents include U.S. nuclear secrets, foreign military plans, foreign capabilities, U.S. military activities, and a response plan to foreign attack – directly violating both the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Presidential Records Act, and alarming the National Archives and Records Administration, alongside a conspiracy to obstruct justice. Forty charges against Trump, and up to twelve against his associates. All this makes many wonder how in the world someone like him became president.