Pueblo High School senior Leanna Payan has been selected as a semifinalist in a prestigious Arizona state scholarship.
The Flinn Scholarship offers full tuition for any of the three main in-state universities. Just 80 of 1,000 high school senior applicants are selected as semifinalists for two rounds of interviews, which narrows to only 20 Flinn scholars.
Leanna Payan said, “What drew me to applying was the fact that it was so supportive, and I knew people who received this award including Samuel Gonzalez last year.”
This is the 39th generation of Flinn Scholars. Students are offered over $130,000 dollars for tuition, housing, meals, and opportunities to study abroad.
Payan is one of six students from Tucson who made it to the finalist round.
She said, “For me, becoming a Flinn Scholar would mean being in a community with people who actually want to do school and want a better future for themselves.”
Payan will learn in April if she is officially a Flinn Scholar.
“Just to make it this far is an honor,” Payan said.
Inagural Class Of Pueblo College Preparatory Academy
Pueblo’s College Preparatory Academy, co-coordinated with counselor Dr. Teresa Toro, is an open access program, and has been helping many students to prepare for collegiate futures.
This
program has spiked the interest of over 200 Pueblo students who are active
members; over six years of preparation was necessary to make the academy become
a reality. Students must participate in their selection of 18 AP honors, dual
enrollment and culturally relevant classes, as well as participate in volunteer
programs.
“This [Academy]
is something that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time,” said Toro. She
added that her efforts would not have come to fruition if it were not for the co-coordination
with Assistant Principal Mr. Rafael Montaño and Principal Mr. Frank Rosthenhausler.
Toro said
that the main goal of this program is to help guide students earn as much
scholarship money as possible by pushing their boundaries and setting high
expectations.
She said, “I
want my students to dream big and help expose them to big opportunities.”
Sophomores
Giselle-Paris Aubrey and David Cañez have big dreams for their futures, and
they admitted that they wanted the challenges that the Academy offers students.
“I want to
go to the U of A,” said Aubrey, “and the Academy is going to help me get
there.”
Cañez
said, “The courses [in the Academy] are rigorous, but I’m up for the challenges
that the Academy is going to provide me and to prepare me for a great college
future.”
Despite
the academic benefits, students are willing to work hard and address all of the
stress that committing to the Academy may cause.
“A lot of students may think that they want to
join the academy,” said Cañez, “but they need to make sure that they can commit
to its rigorous pace.”
She added
that students who want to be in the Academy are welcome to attend support
groups. Tutoring also is available to Academy students before and after school,
everyday throughout the school year.
She added
that there is support for all students who are taking rigorous classes.
Toro wants
everybody to know that the study groups are all year, and held in the Parent
and Student Café; also, Game Day is on Mondays; walk-in Distress groups are
held on Tuesdays after school; and tutoring is every day during “zero” hour in
the library.
“I want my
students to feel like they’re part of a family and that we support them in
their post-secondary endeavors,” said Toro.
Two very talented and deserving Class of 2019 seniors found out on April 27 that they were the recipients of the prestigious Dorrance Scholarship.
Yazmín Almazán and Héctor Gámez were chosen among hundreds of applications. Only 12 students are selected per in-state university (the University of Arizona; Arizona State University; and Northern Arizona University).
Almazán said, “I had my interview on a Friday; the very next day, I was notified. I was very excited to learn this because there was a lot of competition—unfortunately even from some of my close friends at Pueblo. For a few years, no students from Pueblo were awarded the Dorrance scholarship, and to be one of two students from Pueblo to receive the award this year makes this reception even more exciting.”
Gámez said, “I found out that I received the Dorrance scholarship while I was doing yardwork with my father. I was so excited that I screamed, and I scared my mother.”
Both students plan to attend the University of Arizona following graduation.
Almazán will be studying molecular and cellular biology, and she plans to pursue a minor physiology.
“I’ve been extremely interested in this field for several years due to my experience in biotechnology with Dr. Andrew Lettes in my sophomore year,” Almazán said. “I also want to credit Mr. Bill Richards, my honors biology teacher during my freshman year. He persuaded me to enroll in Dr. Lettes’ class, and I’m so glad that I did because of all of the new knowledge that I would be introduced to—as well as all of the opportunities Dr. Lettes encouraged me to take advantage of.”
Over the past few years, Almazán has fervidly been involved with summer workshops and internships at the University of Arizona regarding biomedical research.
“This collegiate experience really inspired to further my aspirations into research and medicine,” Almazán said.
As for Gamez… This is his second year at Pueblo. Prior to that, he lived in Sonora, Mexico, and knew very little English prior to coming to Tucson. This year, as a senior, he is enrolled in four advanced placement classes, included AP English. Following graduation, Gamez plans to pursue a career in neuroscience—specifically to become an orthopedic surgeon.
“A lot of family members have bad backs, and I think this inspired to pursue orthopedics—because I might be able to help them,” Gamez said.
“I knew nobody when I came to Pueblo, and there was already the language barrier to overcome,” Gamez said. “Receiving this scholarship is an affirmation of all of the hard work it took to acclimate to Pueblo and to life in the United States.”
Both Almazan and Gamez are eligible to participate in the Dorrance Study Abroad Program, which lasts for one semester—an experience that introduces students to different cultures, both in theory (academically) and in practice (the study abroad experience itself)—which contributes to global citizenship.
The Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild’s Annual Art Scholarship Competition awards scholarships to high school seniors who: 1) will attend college in the fall of 2019, and 2) plan to pursue a career in art, art education, or an art related-field.
Pueblo students submitted artworks and were judged on the following criteria: sense of design, composition, and technical skill, originality, handling of materials, presentation and visual expression/impact.
Congratulation to Class of 2019 Seniors Alejandra Flores & Rohan Ather for winning $500 Merit Scholarships! Here they are posing next to their winning art piece.
On Oct. 24, several thousand high school seniors (and even some juniors!) attended College Night, once again held at the Tucson Convention Center—a golden opportunity for our Southern Arizona near-high school graduates to be offered hundreds of collegiate choices and opportunities.
Nearly 50 of our Pueblo Warriors attended this two-hour evening event, giving students enough time to tour the booths for each college. There were nearly 200 colleges and universities represented at this event.
Class of 2018 Senior Carlos Chavez at Tucson College Night
Senior Ashely Andrade said she enjoyed looking at the U of A booth—which offered her education for her career interest in nursing.
Senior Robert Marinez also enjoyed the U of A booth since it offered engineering.
Senior Iram Arce said, “I spent a lot of time talking to representatives from the University of New Mexico not necessarily about that school’s academic classes but because of the great personality of the representative. He didn’t treat us condescendingly, and I picked up a couple of tips about college while I was talking to him.”
Seniors who have an idea of their future career have simplified their options based on what universities had to offer.
Senior Adela Garados said that she enjoyed speaking with multiple college and university booths.
“I really want to study foreign languages such as Italian and French,” Garados said. “It’s difficult to find universities and colleges that offer languages as a career.”
Plenty of high school juniors who attended College Night, as they are already becoming curious about their futures.
“Attending College Night was refreshing and definitely eye-opening,” junior Laura Conde said. “Even though I won’t be graduating for another year and a half, I am taking my time deciding where to attend college when I graduate in 2019. It’ll be here sooner than later.”
With the arrival of many new faculty and staff members, Pueblo welcomes new College and Career support interventionist, Mr. Alejandro Menchaca, to the Warrior family.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Menchaca taught two years of Spanish before moving to Arizona approximately two years later, where he taught another five years of Spanish. However, despite leaving his high school job, he still wanted to continue work with secondary education students due to his passion for teaching.
“Working in [high] schools with students is great because they are very optimistic and very energetic,” said Menchaca.
“I really like Pueblo because of Dr. Romero’s leadership,” Menchaca said. He paused and added, “I also like working at Pueblo because it’s a South side community, and I’m able to relate to the Latin community.”
This year, Menchaca hopes to work closely with students, teachers, parents and the community to help with whatever he can. However, for now he has a lot of advice for our seniors.
“I recommend they [seniors] participate in events that I am helping to plan,” he said. “Our seniors also need to complete their FASFA, learn about college and the many career opportunities. At the same time, they also need to ask their teachers about their college experiences. I hope that the events that I help coordinate this school year will allow our seniors to better prepare for post-high school life.”
