Around Campus – Page 16 – Pueblo High School

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.

Stay Out Of The Hallways, Get To Class!

By Xamantha Williams

Student traffic in the halls and excessive tardiness have always been a colossal problems at Pueblo, but these problems escalated to new disturbing levels this school year—due in part to a lack of security. Administrators and faculty here at Pueblo have been working diligently to resolve these issues throughout this first semester.

Monitors, too, are doing all that they can to ensure that students make it to their classes on time, but because we are short-handed two monitors at the moment, tardies are becoming excessive this school year. Currently, Pueblo has just four monitors, the least amount in recent years.

Ms. Nora Monge, one of Pueblo’s monitors, said, “It’s so important for students to be on time to school and their classes. Tardiness definitely negatively affects grades, and being tardy shows a lack of responsibility and a lack of respect. Many students truly need to do a better job of getting to class on time. There shouldn’t be anybody roaming the hallways.” She paused and said, “Quiet hallways mean that students are learning in their classrooms.”

Teachers, too, are becoming increasingly extremely frustrated about the abundance of tardies.

“Students need to treat school like it’s a job,” said Mr. Pete Pederson, who teaches graphic design and yearbook.” He paused and added, “When I was in high school, nobody was late. Students just weren’t. Over the years, unfortunately, students have become very lax about tardiness.”

While some students are excused for being absent and tardy, many others do not get excused which sometimes leaves the tardy as an absence.

“Students need to know the rules of this school and take responsibility for their own actions and their own learning,” said attendance clerk and office manager Ms. Rosalie Sinteral.

Most students at Pueblo want their peers to be in class during class time and use their passing periods wisely and responsibly.

Senior Marissa Padilla said, “It’s so frustrating when you’re in the hallway, and you see people standing and talking in the middle of a walkway while trying to get to class. I know how attendance is important and I try to always be on time.”

Pueblo High School Crowded Hallways — Crowded hallways during passing period

Padilla added, “Students need to remember why they are here at Pueblo.”

TRIO Helps Students With Collegiate Futures

By Xamantha Williams

Among all of the great resources this school has to offer, one of the greatest is Mr. Carlos Gonzales, Jr., who is Pueblo’s Trio Educational Talent Search Program Coordinator.

Trio Carlos Gonzales Pueblo — TRiO Program Coordinator Carlos Gonzales (right) with Iram Arce.

Gonzales is here on campus as a college advisor for Trio students three days out of the school week; he can be found either in the College and Career Center or in the library. TRIO is not an acronym and actually stands for the word “Three”, which represents the three parts of the TRIO program: Upward Bound, Education and Student Support Services. Gonzales said that he specializes in the second program.

Gonzales said, “I definitely like to get to know my students starting from their freshman year up until their senior year because I feel it takes a long time to develop a real relationship with a student.”

He focuses on preparing students for applying for colleges, looking for scholarships, and helping students to choose the best college for them.

One of the many students who appreciate Gonzales is sophomore Iram Arce, who said, “Mr. Gonzales keeps me motivated no matter how challenging things may seem. So far, he has helped me open more doors to my future. I’m so lucky to have such an amazing person who does such an amazing job in this program.”