Dr. Brian Engel, Pueblo’s new chemistry teacher, expressed that he is happy to be a part of the Warrior community this year. Although he is new to Pueblo, he has been teaching for a total of 11 years now and still really enjoys it.
“I was good at explaining [my subject] and working with students,” said Engel.
He was a family doctor at the Banner South Campus for roughly a year prior to becoming a teacher but says that between the two, he prefers being a teacher.
He said, “I didn’t really like it [being a doctor]. It wasn’t what I expected. I wasn’t able to spend that much time with the patients and it was a lot of paperwork.”
Halfway through the semester, Engel said that he likes his new school.
“I like the people, teachers, administration, and students, they’ve been really helpful and understanding,” said Engel.
Pueblo Alumni, Mr. Diego Ramirez from the Class of 2012, has returned to his alma mater as a math RTI teacher after graduating from the University of Arizona.
“I came back to Pueblo because I feel it will always be my school,” said Ramirez. “Everyone has been welcoming.”
After high school, Ramirez was an AVID tutor at Cholla High School for nearly five years. Then, he taught algebra at Desert View for a summer before teaching summer school at Pueblo last summer.
“I chose teaching because I wanted to help students realize their potential,” Ramirez added. “I want my kids to be as successful as they could be.”
Ramirez’ inspiration sprouted from the outstanding math teachers that he had in high school.
“Mr. [Roman] Badalov was my biggest inspiration to become a math teacher,” Ramirez said. “I also had a lot of cool math teachers at Pueblo over my four years.”
Not only does Ramirez want to be a classroom teacher, but he also plans on being a principal in the near future. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Arizona—in educational leadership. However, he wants to be remembered as the “cool math teacher”.
Last school year, chemistry teacher Ms. Melissa Espindola was one of the unfortunate dozen or so teachers to be adversely affected by one of the most devastating vandalism cases in TUSD history; however, she now thrives in a bigger classroom with more materials at her disposal.
Espindola can now be found happily teaching honors chemistry students in Room 166 instead of the library conference room.
“I’m so glad that I got this room full of lab stations and plenty of space for my students to move around,” she said. “It is so much better than that little crammed room where I was not allowed to do any experiments.”
Espindola, along with other science teachers, would not have made it without the support from fellow colleagues and peers.
Ms. Elaine Straub, Pueblo’s forensic science teacher, said, “I cannot describe how delighted I am to be back in my room after it was utterly trashed.”
Last December and January, more than a dozen classrooms were severely vandalized—either through fire or water damage. Most science teachers were relocated for the remainder of the school year—an entire semester.
“Even though there is still some odd ends [that need to be addressed] such as not having my equipment replaced, other science teachers are still affected by the vandalism,” she said.
Teachers such as Espindola and new addition to the Pueblo family, Dr. Brian Engel, do not have water installed in their classrooms, although they remain hopeful that this situation is very temporary.
Despite being ecstatic to be back in her classroom, Espindola is dumbfounded by the thought that the window security barriers have not been installed yet, a project that she said should have been completed by now.
“It will be an embarrassment if my class were to be vandalized again because of this [lack of security barriers],” she said. “It’s like they are waiting for a vandalism to happen again; I don’t know why this issue is not a priority.”
Despite the inconveniences of teachers and students—as well as the sacrifices both groups had to endure—the Pueblo spirit remains fervid and fortified.
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.
Ms. Raquel Alonso (center) with some of her students.
“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.
Mr. Gerardo López, Pueblo Alumni from the Class of 2005, has now returned to become an Algebra 1 teacher. This will be Lopez’s first year here at Pueblo.
López was a former teacher’s aide in the Sunnyside School District, but he added this position pushed him to pursue a teaching career.
“It was during this time that I truly realized that I liked math and liked helping students just as much. So, I made the decision to become a teacher.”
Thus far, López said that he has enjoyed his experiences here at Pueblo by making connections with students and building relationships with them while teaching and motivating them to push themselves.
“I see some of the students going through the same struggles as I did when I was a teenager,” he said. “We can make connections, and so I’m kind of motivating them to do better in life.”
As a new teacher, López confessed that he has many strengths and a few weaknesses.
“One of my greatest strengths is being patient, which is one of the reasons why teaching has been so easy for me. However, one of my weaknesses is taking work home with me—not getting grading done at Pueblo.”
López said that he is “very happy” that he is initiating his full-time teaching career at Pueblo, and he is looking forward to adapting to a new lifestyle—a new school with great new students.
This past January, Ms. Rachael Sedgwick became TUSD’s newest member after a very narrow victory in the November 2016 election. In early May 2017, Sedgwick spoke to journalism students about her first five months in office.
Sedgwick boasted about being an Arizona native. In fact, she was born in Nogales, AZ, although she completed her education in many different places. Sedgwick attended middle school in Pennsylvania, high school in Connecticut and attended four different colleges.
Sedgwick said she has always been passionate about education, and she knew early on that she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, so she began teaching—and did so for 12 years.
On one occasion, one of her professors asked her class, “Why do you want to be a teacher?”
Sedgwick answered, “For the kids.”
The professor replied, “Then go home and have some.”
It was at this time that Sedgwick said that she wanted to make a change in the educational system. Her first endeavor was to apply for law school; she was accepted.
She also ran to become a member of the TUSD School Board in order to help change the negative perception of the district; Sedgwick was the victor in a very close election against Betts Putnam-Hidalgo in last November’s election.
“I’m here [on the School Board] to try to change the negative perception of the district by making the district and people realize that investing their time and money in education is investing in everyone’s future,” said Sedgwick.
Sedgwick admitted that it is difficult to keep one’s political views out of the dialogue among her other four school board members.
“Some people like to use these positions [being on school boards, etc.] to enhance their own career,” Sedgwick said. “We [on the TUSD School Board] need to stay focused on the issues affecting this district. A lot of people view TUSD negatively, and with more work, I know that we can change this negative perception.”
She added that Dr. Gabriel Trujillo, the interim TUSD Superintendent who superseded Dr. H. T. Sanchez after his resignation in March, is one of the candidates for the permanent superintendent position. Sedgwick and the other school board members have barely begun the process of evaluating candidates.
For now, Sedgwick said she wants to stay positive and hopeful—and to pass the Bar Exam this summer.
