October 27 was Pueblo Pride Day, a time when our Warriors and other volunteers met after school in the cafeteria at 3:30 p.m., and for an hour, they cleaned and better our Pueblo community.
Volunteers participating in Pueblo Pride Clean-Up Day
This event, which was started by the Science Club (sponsored by Dr. Lolita Levine) was bigger and better this year. CCLC provided snacks and water for participants who worked hard to beautify our campus.
Students and volunteers performed duties such as weeding the garden, picking up trash and painting the red drive way curve.
“Everybody is smiling, and that’s the best part,” Levine said. “It’s nice to see teachers and students working side by side.”
Students were separated into different groups in the cafeteria, which will each be led by their own leaders for different sections at school.
Ms. Elizabeth Raizk hauling off some brush.
One of the group leaders is Ms. Elizabeth Raizk, one of Pueblo’s science teachers, and she was in charge of the garden group.
“This is how we show our Pueblo community that we are doing more things [community service] to make Pueblo a better place,” Raizk said. “Pueblo gets cleaner, and it shows our community how great we are. This event is a win-win scenario.”
“I really want to emphasize our school and nourish our soul,” Levine said. “This is not just a school—it is our home.”
The title is self-explanatory. Every two weeks or so, I will ask students to respond to a particular question. Their answers will vary from simple to complex responses. Here is this edition’s question:
What would you fix about Pueblo?
“Students mistreat the school, and they really shouldn’t.” (Leslie Robles, senior)
“They [teachers] don’t care about their students’ feelings, they only care about their job.” (Daniella Contreras, senior)
“The air conditioning isn’t right. They want us to work in a proper environment, yet they don’t provide proper temperatures for class. A lot of teachers have to use their own money when the school should be providing the supplies. School trips aren’t handled efficiently. The athletics department and our academic programs don’t get the same amount of treatment or funding, and there really should be a balance.” (Jose C. Martinez, senior)
“The lunch lines are horrible in first lunch. By the time you get your lunch, it’s time to go.” (Frankie Verdugo, senior)
“The food has no flavor and I have no morale to keep going. Our staff here at Pueblo wants us to do our best, but we can’t do that by eating this quality of food. We also need more supplies for teachers; they shouldn’t have to pay for classroom supplies with money out of their own pockets.” (Hector Jimenez, senior)
“The food is nasty.” (Emilio Grijalva, senior)
“The sausage was literally hanging out of my corn dog during lunch because it was so soggy and wet. What type of corn dog is wet? I can’t stand the cheese here, too, it’s disgusting.” (Mina Van Garder, senior)
“We don’t get enough food.” (Payton Rios-Sanders, senior)
“The ratio between students and teachers should be way different. There should be fewer students in our classes; a class of 35 or more is ridiculous.” (Kimberly Lerma, junior)
“I think that we don’t have enough time in our classes.” (Eneida Flores, senior)
“I took credit recovery ‘Edgenuity’ during the summer. The site crashed the last few days, and once I finally got back on the site, all of my work was gone. I feel like our school should spend our money more wisely. I remember during my sophomore or junior year; we spent over $4,000 dollars on our Cyber Café that nobody uses. They’re planning on doing tutoring there, but we have a library for that.” (Roman Romero, senior)
“There’s almost never soap in the restroom, and that’s absolutely disgusting.” (Shaira Perez, senior)
“Sanitation is a super huge problem. There’s no toilet-paper, no paper towels. This is illegal, isn’t it?” (Aaron Andrade, senior)
This is that time of the year that many seniors start to realize that graduation is only seven months away, and with a new quarter underway, it’s time to start swallowing that reality pill. Many seniors are preparing and planning for a collegiate future, but to do this, they will first have to take the ACT.
Students must achieve a score of 22-36 on the ACT to receive a scholarship in and/or out of state.
TUSD pays for all juniors to take the ACT in April, and there are opportunities to take the ACT retakes throughout the school year. A student has numerous opportunities to obtain their desired score.
“You’re ignorant for not being serious about the test, because even I wasn’t, now I know how important that test was and how it could’ve helped me,” said senior Alejandro Arguellez.
Arguellez came to Pueblo to follow his dream: to play basketball. He has dreams of playing for UCLA and joining the NBA. However, he will first need to take the ACT, which he plans to do tomorrow, Oct. 24.
“I knew that I needed to prepare for the test because I learned a long time ago that not preparing is preparing for failure,” Arguellez said.
Another senior, Kia Guedes, has been studying for the ACT, which she will also take this Saturday, October 24. She plans to score high because she has prepared for this test. For the remainder of this school year, she will maintain her high GPA and continue to work diligently to earn a scholarship to the University of Arizona.
Sal Varela and Kia Guedes prepare for ACT Test
“I’m not nervous,” Guedes said. “I’ve taken the pre-ACT, and I’ve been preparing for the real test since the first day of this school year.” She paused and added, “I think that three months of preparing for the ACT is more than enough time. I just need to go in tomorrow and take this test seriously opposed to junior year when I first took it.”
Salvador Varela, a senior who will be graduating with the Class of 2016, is also planning to take the ACT this Saturday. Varela has been preparing since the beginning of the summer and admits that he is a little nervous. His plans are to attend Pima Community College; he then plans to transfer to the U of A.
“I feel pretty confident about this test, because a lot is expected,” said Varela. “It’s nice to know that I can retake this test if I bomb it tomorrow, but I’m feeling fairly confident about this test.”
For more information on taking the ACT, students can see Mr. Ruben Romero in the College and Career Center; you can email him ruben.romero@tusd1.org or contact him at (520) 225-4542.
Dr. Maria Bicknell, Pueblo’s marketing teacher and CTE coordinator, said, “Every subject will be tutored because our teachers are so talented.”
Bicknell said that the teachers volunteering for tutoring include, Mr. Steve Lopez, Ms. Rhesa Olsen, Ms. Rhonda Alexander and Ms. Pamela Shapiro. Bicknell said that she, too, will be a tutor, and she and the other teachers will be helping students with a variety of subjects.
On Monday, Sept. 28, a Town Hall meeting was held in Pueblo’s library in order to inform our community of the decisions being made regarding our school’s magnet status.
District officials were present, including TUSD Superintendent Dr. H. T. Sanchez, as well as a dozen Pueblo students, mostly from media classes, as well as several Pueblo teachers.
Dr. Augustine Romero explains the Magnet Program situation.
Dr. Augustine Romero, Pueblo’s principal, began this meeting by giving a brief history of Pueblo’s magnet status, which began back in 1992. The focus of this magnet school back then—as it is now—communications. The effort to transition to a magnet school was challenging, despite the effort to attract students from other regions of Tucson to make our student population more racially diverse.
Fast forward to 2015…
“Equality in our schools only shows what everyone deserves, but equity is what we need in this case,” said Dr. Romero. “The diversity of our student enrollment should not be a determining factor when they have [shown a considerable rise in academic success].”
This year, however, Pueblo was on the verge of having its magnet status removed, but our Native American student population helped meet the integration goal. Pueblo has become restless because of this standing question: What would happen if we lost our magnet status?
“We are already under-funded as it is,” added Romero.
The removal of Pueblo’s magnet status would result in the loss of about $538,000 of funds. This being the money that pays for teachers, student field trips, additional staff, and programs. These magnet funds are generated through local taxes.
“The reduction in funding would be detrimental to Pueblo,” said TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez.
Sanchez added, “If you pay rent or mortgage you are [helping fund Pueblo], and these are local dollars.”
TUSD Superintendent Dr. HT Sanchez answered many questions regarding future of Magnet Program.
Although Pueblo is gradually achieving racial integration, students must accomplish higher academic levels in order to improve our chances of keeping our magnet status.
“Higher grades, AP class enrollments, more scholarships, acceptance to institutions of higher learning, and higher scores on semester exams will help to support our efforts of keeping Pueblo’s magnet status,” explained Sanchez.
Romero echoed the same response.
Dr. Willis Hawley appointed by federal court judge Bury, referred to as the ‘Special Master’, who originally placed Pueblo on a list of schools to lose their magnet status has since removed us. However, our magnet status remains endangered and Dr. Hawley will return in about a year to raise the question once again.
“Lots of advisement is taken into account when making a decision regarding a school’s magnet status, including the community’s and ex-administrators’ opinions,” said Sanchez. “But ultimately the ‘Special Master’ gives his own recommendation.”
“People just want to be a part of something positive, it’s going to be harder to achieve racial diversity with a lack of something positive [our magnet status] benefitting our school,” said Romero.
Pueblo’s magnet coordinator Ms. Laura Gallego, said that if Pueblo were to lose its magnet status, it would result in more students in classrooms because there would be fewer teachers because there are several who are paid out of the magnet money budget.
“It worries me [losing Pueblo’s magnet status] because the communications program is what makes Pueblo unique,” said Skyblue Estrella, a senior at Pueblo, who attended this meeting. “If Pueblo loses its magnet status, we will not only lose what makes it special, but also a part of our community that we students hold dear [teachers and students].”
English teacher Ms. Constance Onsae said, “I think the parent meeting went well. A lot of information was shared about the current magnet status [dilemma] and how parents can work to get around the process and obtain the magnet money Pueblo deserves, even in our current financial state.”
She paused and added, “I do believe that Dr. Sanchez seems to be doing all he can to help the Pueblo magnet status.”
Pueblo will remain on the “Endangered” list regarding its magnet status, and in one year, the issue will be discussed once again. In essence, Pueblo’s magnet status is “safe” for now, but the evaluation process will resume next year to discuss the fate of the school’s magnet status for the 2017-18 school year.
“I am hopeful that we will retain our magnet status after next year and years thereafter,” said Dr. Romero. “The criteria has been established for us and we must continue down a path towards greater integration and elevation of our levels of academic achievement.”
Anticipation, excitement and school pride filled the halls of Pueblo during Spirit Week, which began on Monday, September 21—and progressed to Pueblo’s homecoming night on Friday, September 25.
Our mighty Warriors showed their Pueblo Pride in the wide-spread participation of spirit week festivities. These included Slumber Party Day, Dynamic Duo Day, Disney Day, Tropical Day, and Straight Outta Pueblo Day. Throughout this week, there were many games during lunch in which each class was given the opportunity to gain spirit points.
Our school’s pride continued in the Lever Gym for the first spirit assembly of the year.
“The assembly was great, all four of the classes really brought their school spirit,” said senior Kevin Valdez.
After extensive recognition of clubs and academic success around campus, the winners of the spirit assembly were determined. The seniors seized the victory.
“The assembly was different from the others because everyone actually participated,” said senior Candelaria Guerrero. “Even the freshmen were trying to win.”
Warrior Cheer getting the crowd going.
The day came to a beautiful end as the homecoming game approached. Clubs lined up with different items to sell in order to raise money at our annual Homecoming Tailgate Party. The bleachers filled up with anxious spectators who waited for the football game to begin.
Pueblo Magnet High School hosted its jubilant 60th Anniversary of its homecoming football game on Friday, September 25, 2015. The Warrior football team’s homecoming victory over the Douglas Bulldogs, with a final score of 48-0, was perhaps the team’s most dramatic win on homecoming night in many years.
Warrior Football dominated the entire game.
The Warriors dominated the football game throughout the evening and refused to let the Bulldogs score even once! Pueblo’s very own senior Justin Pledger received Jack in the Box Player of the Week for KVOA Channel 4.
“We played more as a team against Douglas, and we are coming together as a family,” Pledger said. “I feel like I’m contributing to the team and doing my best to take us to the playoffs.”
There were plenty of homecoming tailgate activities that Pueblo clubs offered. There was a variety of food choices and games throughout the night from which students and alumni could choose.
Warrior Marching Band entertained throughout the night.
“Homecoming was a major success!” exclaimed senior Bernadette Romero, “It was super fun to raise money for our clubs, and it was great to see our football team experience such a victorious win!”
During halftime of the football game, our fall 2015 homecoming king and queen of Pueblo Magnet High School were crowned: Emmanuel Buelna and Daniella Contreras.
2015 King & Queen
Homecoming King Emmanuel Buelna said, “I’m humbled by the votes that I received from my fellow peers in my senior class. I was genuinely surprised that I was crowned king!”
Homecoming Queen Daniella Contreras said, “I was shocked that I won! This was the first time that I did something out of character. I’m shy, and I broke out of my shell during campaign week.” She added, “I usually stay away from big crowds, but this experience allowed me to gain a lot of new friends.”
