Warriors Show Thanksgiving Spirit

  

By Ashley Cordova & Elizabeth Noriega

In spirit of Thanksgiving, our Warriors always show their generosity to the Pueblo community and to the entire city. This is especially true of marketing teacher’s Dr. Maria Bicknell’s students, who made over 400 sandwiches for the Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community; these sandwiches will be distributed to the hungry.

Bicknell said that her marketing classes learn about different social responsibilities, including feeding the homeless.

“It’s [Casa Maria has] been there for so long, and it’s a valuable service that promotes justice and dignity to people who are not only homeless but also are members of the working community,” Bicknell said.

She added that many of her students generous brought condiments, bread and delicatessen meats in order to make the hundreds of sandwiches.

Junior Alexis Castro, one of Bicknell’s marketing students, said, “My favorite part of this project is getting to help people because it’s so rewarding and so humbling.”

Another marketing student, Alexis Basurto, a senior, said, “I have learned to appreciate the little things in life and not to take anything for granted.”

Drama Performances Help Clothing Bank

by Viviana Cruz

Pueblo Players Drama

For the past three years, Pueblo’s drama department has been hosting annual variety shows during the first semester of the school year. This year, however, has been quite different. For the 2017-18 school year, the advanced theater class decided to host a charity show called “From Screen to Stage”, in order to lend a hand to Pueblo’s very own community clothing bank, currently run by our CBI students.

The show ran at the Little Theater on Monday, Oct. 2, and Tuesday, Oct. 3, and the overwhelming support was unexpected to these individuals as both nights were nearly sold out. The drama club raised $335, and all of the money will benefit the clothing bank. Live music during the performances was played by Mr. Johny Vargas’ guitar students.

Drama director and teacher Ms. Sarah Sutton said, “The purpose of this show was to bring in people who can donate, and we did that by performing pieces the audience was familiar with from movies and TV shows.”

The scenes were very eclectic classic movie scenes—from The Breakfast Club, Mean Girls, House Bunny, Friends, Aladdin, Donnie Darko—among others.

Actress Cheyenne Vega, a senior, said, “The outcome [of our performances] was great! Our actors love to perform and entertain people, but we also love to help out as much as we can—that’s why we performed our show.”

Exceptional education department chair Ms. Trevia Heath said, “We really appreciated what the drama students did for us! Their show collected numerous hygiene items along with more than $300—which will definitely help us purchase socks and underwear, which are always in high demand.”

Actor Milo Madrid, another senior, said, “I worked hard in every show. However, because I was representing not just the drama department but also supporting the clothing bank and our school’s CBI students, this opportunity gave me a little boost to work harder.”

The drama department has never put on a charity show like this before, and because of the effort made by students and teachers—as well as their success—the group said that they are certain this type of performance won’t be their last.

Every Drop Counts: Warriors Donate 43 Pints Of Blood!

by Brianna Ozuna

Cynthia & Daniela

On Tuesday Oct. 3, Student Council promoted yet another very successful blood drive—again, in the South Gym, from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Sponsored by the American Red Cross, Pueblo students 16 and older were given the opportunity to participate by donating blood.

Senior Yamaika Romano said, “I wanted to help those in need. Our community is always in desperate need of blood.”

This particular blood drive is the first of four for this school year. The next drive is taking place in December, said Student Council advisor Ms. Kari Warner. She wants to remind students that they need to have parental permission (signature) if they are 16 or 17; 18+ year old students do not need parental permission but must still meet other requirements (height/weight ratio, no tattoos in the recent past, and other criterion—check out the Red Cross website for more information).

Red Cross Chair, Ms. Allissa Barone, said, “They [students] help our community in immeasurable ways. Their generosity is always deeply appreciated. Our donors at Pueblo are definitely heros.”

Pueblo students are not the only ones who rolled up their sleeves; teachers, staff and administrators did as well.

Ms. Hannah Yoder, a math and psychology teacher, said, “I donate blood as often as I can because I have type O-positive. It’s the most common blood type, so it’s always in demand.”

Pueblo’s Student Council Advisor was very pleased with the first blood drive of the school year.

Warner said, “We collected 43 pints today! Our goal was 35, so we are very excited with how well we did.”

She added that she will announce the next blood drive, schedule for some time in December, Warner said.

National Honor Society: Still In A League Of Its Own

By Josselyn Rivera

Pueblo’s National Honor Society (NHS) continues its highly reputable status. This organization continues to corral some of Pueblo’s highest-achieving students—not only in academics but also in character.

The requirements for being in NHS continue to be very specific and very high. Students are required to earn at least a 3.6 grade point average (GPA), have some community service experience, possess a “good” character, including having leadership experience and/or motivation to be a great leader.

NHS is a community service-based club, serving the needs not only at Pueblo but also the community itself. This year, for example, NHS has committed to fundraising for Pima Animal Care Center (PACC). NHS students have raised money from car washes and other activities to raise funds for the PACC.

According to NHS sponsor Ms. Kelly Crane, “We raise money so they [Pima Animal Care Center] can use it as they need.”

NHS currently has 63 members. Of these, 29 are new members joining this spring semester. Crane reported that 20 seniors in NHS will be graduating with honors in May.

One of those seniors, Valentino Lugo, president of NHS, said that this club helps contribute to society by getting students to volunteer because that is the way to get into this club besides having high grades.

Valentino said, “I have really liked being president this school year because it’s a good way to communicate with everybody in the school. I’ve really gotten to know a lot of underclassmen.”

He added that although he has enjoyed the privilege and prestige of being one of Pueblo’s most elite clubs, he is ready to “pass the torch” onto somebody else next year.

Clothing Bank Offers Opportunities to CBI Students

  

By Yamilex Garcia and Omar Quintana

On Dec. 16, 2016, Pueblo Magnet High School held its grand opening to commemorate the school’s first clothing bank, in the former T-5 building, offering a enormous variety of shoes, clothes and accessories for boys and girls—as well as adults—in need of these items.

The clothing bank also teaches Pueblo’s CBI students special job skills including sewing, ironing, working with the cash register and stocking items regularly.

“It’s challenging for our CBI students to get jobs, so we’re offering opportunities to build on their resume of skills,” said Ms. Trevia Heath, who is Pueblo’s Exceptional Education Coordinator.

Everything in the community bank was donated by teachers, staff and students. All working items are then washed, ironed, and hung in the clothing bank racks.

“If it needs to be washed, vended or sewed, we teach our students how to fix it,” said Heath.

Health acknowledged many Pueblo individuals for making the clothing bank a reality—and especially the following: Ms. Rhonda Alexander, Mr. Derek Gunnels, Ms. Jamie Hogue and Mr. Miguel Sandoval.

Gunnels said, “The entire project was Ms. Heath’s idea, and slowly but surely, it became a reality. Our first period core class helped us a lot with getting the clothing bank looking the way it is today.”

Sophomore Celestina Mariñez, one of the many students who were instrumental in helping to make the clothing bank a reality, said, “I wish people could have seen this space a year ago! I was one of the first people to be in this room and wonder if we could really make it work. But, Ms. Heath never let us believe that we couldn’t achieve this dream. There were pigeons living in here! And, you can’t believe all of the [trash] that we found while cleaning this room!”

Mariñez said that she will be one of the workers in the clothing bank. She said that she is looking forward to her training—learning how to be a cashier, a stocker and anything else that needs to be done.

Heath said that many individuals made this clothing bank possible, including: Dr. Augustine Romero (principal) and the rest of the administrative team; TSW staff members; Tucson area businesses (Cathey’s Sew and Vac, Home Depot, Office Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement) as well as the entire Pueblo community, including parents, who have been “beyond generous,” Heath said.

“We’ve been overwhelmed with people’s generosity,” Heath said. “Some of these donations have been individuals outside of the school, which means a lot to the Pueblo community.”

The clothing bank owes its existence to the WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act), who approved the $10,000 grant which was used to buy racks, hangers and sewing machines—among other items necessary to making the clothing bank a reality.

Students in need of any sort of clothing item or accessory can simply talk to the teachers, who then refer them to the TWS staff.

Heath said, “Sometimes it’s hard for students to ask for help, so we make it a discreet process.”

She added that if a grant gets approved for next year, her plan is to open a greenhouse near the Science Club’s garden.

“This [garden] could definitely give students a chance to learn agricultural skills and add to their resumes,” Heath said.

Read report by Barbara Grijalva of Tucson News Now:
Tucson school struggling to cope with vandalism is giving back to the community

Pueblo Pride Day ~ October 27, 2015

Iram Arce El Guerrero Pueblo 2015

By Iram Arce

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.

Pueblo Pride Day Warrior Volunteers
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.

Pueblo Pride Day Elizabeth Raizk
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.”