Around Campus – Page 16 – Pueblo High School

Welcome Back, Mr. John Howe!

By Lauren Ahern and Nayeli Sanchez

As we near the end of this school year, it’s never too late to welcome back a former employee from Pueblo’s yesteryear. Mr. John Howe, a former Assistant Principal from the 2005-06 school year, has returned to Pueblo as a learning support coordinator.

Prior to being an Assistant Principal at Pueblo a decade ago, Howe worked at a number of schools all around Tucson as a Principal, Assistant Principal and as a middle school language arts and science teacher.

After a couple months off to try out a different career, Howe then decided to return to education.

“I reallymissed the school environment and working with students, faculty and staff,” Howe said.

As the Learning Support Coordinator (LSC), Howe said that his new position involves working with academic and discipline support. Howe also helps with peer mediations, strategizing how to improve students’ grades, and informing teachers about students’ specific needs.

Returning to Pueblo, Howe said, “Things haven’t changed here at Pueblo [since 2006], and that I’m happy to be back. Students are still courteous and respectful.”

Next year, Howe hopes to be back at the same job, although the position will be officially known as Multi-Tier System of Support (MTSS).

“I’ll be doing about the same things I’m doing now, which is ensuring the well-being of our students,” Howe said, “but I hope to be working with teachers more to reduce the number of referrals and to help teachers with classroom management strategies.”

Also, Howe is now managing all of the Youth On Their Own (YOTO) students.

“I really want to help students—and our staff—in any way possible,” he said. “I also like getting my share of exercise at this job, locating students and teachers in different classrooms across the campus. It’s a whole lot better than sitting at a desk all day.”

Warriors Receive Library Card, Access To Pima County Libraries

By Victor Garcia

New to Pueblo Magnet High School, librarian Ms. Marsha Jean Burrola issued library cards to Pueblo students on March 17, 2016.

Classes were invited to the library for four periods throughout the day, for a total of 10 classes. Burrola said that she had already been teaching research material to 12th graders, but wanted them to have access to more databases that Pima County public libraries can provide. By entering their card number and pin number, students gained an opportunity to have access to much more information.

Pueblo High School Librarian Marsha Jean Burrola

According to Burrola, about 170 Pueblo students received these cards, and about 70 thus far have signed up for the virtual library.

”I’d like for students to be aware of the resources available to them,” Burrola added.

She added that she was able to work with Mexican-American Studies Director Dr. Maria Figueroa and Pima Community Public Library (PCPL) in order to make the library card and virtual library a possibility at Pueblo. Normally, students under the age of 18 would need parent permission, but PCPL decided to give all students library cards in “real” time without parental permission. Students will be able to use these cards at any Pima County library as well as the internet.

Burrola stated that she wished that more students understood how being a part of this process could potentially help them with their academics. She also said that students should feel that they had to be a part of this program just because their teachers wanted them to have these opportunities.

“The opportunities to gain so much more information should be reward enough,” she said.

Burrola would love to offer our students more chances to sign up.

“I would love to continue this process [of getting more students signed up for this library card] in the fall,” Burrola said.

New Monitor Believes In Students’ Future

By Daniela Moreno

Pueblo High School Welcomes Monitor Rodrigo Cardenas — New Campus Monitor Rodrigo Cardenas

Mr. Rodrigo Cardenas, one of the newest additions to our Warrior Family, said he is very pleased to be working here at Pueblo as a monitor and looks forward to making a difference in our Warrior community.

Cardenas grew up in a small town in Sinaloa, Mexico, and he said that he learned to appreciate the small things in life—especially education.

“Enjoy it [education], and enjoy your high school to the fullest,” said Cardenas. “You have no idea how lucky you are to be at such a great school receiving this incredible education!”

Working in a high school has given Cardenas the ability to encourage students to not take school for granted but to take advantage of all it has to offer.

Cardenas, 22, plans to study criminology and eventually earn a degree in this field. He is going to enjoy being a monitor for as long as possible, but he does admit to having plans of grandeur.

“I didn’t want to be just another person,” said Cardenas, “I always wanted to make a difference.”

Thus far, Cardenas said that besides a few students giving him attitude, he has enjoyed his job immensely. He has been confused for a high school student himself, which he admitted can be a bit frustrating.

He added that he truly cares about Pueblo’s students and wants them, above all, to value their educational opportunities.

Cardenas said, “Our students’ minds are capable of so many great things.”

Eighth Graders Get An Early Start On Math At Pueblo

By Felicity Aguilar and Yisela Molina

8th Graders Taking Math At Pueblo High School 2016

For the second consecutive year, Pueblo Magnet High School has offered a program to teach Honors Algebra to over a dozen eighth graders from Hollinger K-8 and McCorkle Middle School.

These students attend this class four days each week and are taught by Pueblo math teacher Mr. Billy Campbell during first period.

Campbell said, “This class [algebra] will help these middle school students get a head start, so when they come back to Pueblo as freshmen, they will be one step ahead and will be able to take geometry a year earlier than most students.”

In order to get to Pueblo, these students walk, take the bus or get dropped off by family members. When class is over, Mrs. Laura Gallego (Pueblo’s Magnet Recuiter), Mr. Adalberto Rodriguez (Pueblo’s Media Specialist), Albert Ochoa (Pueblo’s Custodian) & others escort them back to school in time for their next class.

8th Graders Taking Math At Pueblo High School With Billy Campbell — 8th Graders in Math Teacher Mr. Billy Campbell’s class

“Mr. Campbell is a very creative teacher,” said Joseph Vega, an eighth grade McCorkle student. “He’s full of energy and enthusiasm, and he uses many methods to teach us. His class is really fun.”

Diana Quiroz, a student from Hollinger, said, “Mr. Campbell keeps us motivated to want to learn, he tells us stories to keep us interested!”

The idea of this program was a joint effort between Pueblo and Hollinger. In the future, Pueblo hopes to expand this program to include other middle schools.

Pueblo’s principal Dr. Augustine Romero said, “I wholeheartedly support the idea that Pueblo should have more collaboration with middle schools across the city—and perhaps expand to other subjects other than math.”

Warriors Solve Crime Scene

By Yamilex Garcia and Omar Quintana

Crime Scene Staged For Pueblo High School Forensics Class — Crime Scene Staged for Pueblo High School Forensics Class

On Wednesday and Thursday, February 10 and 11, Pueblo’s forensic class, taught by Ms. Elaine Straub, experienced their third live crime scene; students were required to examine a car accident and apply the skills they have learned in class throughout this school year.

Straub said that this particular crime scene will test her students’ critical thinking skills.

“This is a higher caliber crime scene than the previous scenarios this school year,” Straub said. “There will be a few more this school year that will further challenge students’ critical thinking skills.”

Students were required to collect evidence and examine their discoveries, including taking photographs, taking measurements and fingerprinting.

Senior Rocio Rodriguez said, “Taking part in a simulated crime scene is so much better than reading out of a textbook. We students are able to actually see what happened and use critical thinking skills and making inferences from the clues. It makes so much more sense and practical to let us figure things out for ourselves.”

Straub added that Ms. Marie Little, who teaches auto, and her students helped stage this simulated crime scene. Several other teachers used this location for their own curriculum, including Ms. Emma Tarazon, whose students took various pictures in a variety of light settings, and Mr. Rana Medhi, who took his creative writing students to the scene so that they could write about a story about their observations.

“On a gorgeous day like today, students really like being out of the classroom and writing stories,” said senior Mia Contreras. “More teachers should get their students outdoors and take advantage of all that our school offers.”

Mr. Ernie Somoza’s CMT (Communications Media Technology) freshmen students used the drone to shoot an aerial of simulated crime scene. (Video below) Sophomore Hector Valenzuela and freshman Andrew Romero controlled the drone, and sophomore Victor Llanos edited the video.

Welcome, Mr. Montaño!

By Lauren Ahern and Nayeli Sanchez

This semester, Pueblo has gained a new assistant principal, Mr. David Montaño, after Mr. Joel Bacalia accepted a position at University High School. Although the school year is half over, Montaño said that he is very excited to be a “whole part” of Pueblo in 2016.

Although Montaño was born in California, he has lived in Tucson for nearly 45 years and attended the University of Arizona, earning his degree in social studies. His professional career has been very eclectic; he has taught at Maxwell Middle School as well as Naylor (K-8) as a social studies teacher. His focus shifted to administration, which led him to Cholla High School, Palo Verde High School, Rincon High School, Secrist Middle School… and now Pueblo.

New Assistant Principal David Montaño Talking To Pueblo Students At Lunch — New Assistant Principal David Montaño talking to Pueblo students at lunch

“Oh, it’s [Pueblo] beautiful!” said Montaño. “Pueblo is such a wonderful family. Once I got here, I felt accepted, and I wasn’t nervous at all.”

Montaño’s responsibilities and duties as an assistant principal include freshman discipline (with last names beginning with “M” through “Z”), developing and improving curriculum, summer school, testing and data.

He added that his professional responsibility is to support students and especially our teachers. Above all, Montaño wholeheartedly wants to help students to believe that they can change to make the school a better place.

“We are all unique, and we should all have self-confidence. We make a difference in someone’s life,” he said.

Montaño believes that he will be at Pueblo for “a long time”, and he hopes that his legacy will be to have known in his heart that he helped students to believe that they truly can achieve their dreams.