This past weekend we took the 3 state qualifiers to the Division III State Wrestling Championships. They were Christian Felix at 128 lbs, Billy Bertsch at 154 lbs. and Will Smith at 285 lbs.
With these three wrestlers we managed to finish 24th out of 48 teams.
5th Place for Christian Felix at 128lbs.
Christian Felix won his final match of the season to finish in 5th place.
6th Place for Will Smith at 285lbs.
Will Smith finished in 6th place!
Christian has been knocking on the door the last two years, falling short of placing by one match. He finally broke in. This was Will’s first year wrestling and to finish in 6th place at the State Tournament is quite an accomplishment!
Please congratulate these young men for a job well done & a great season!
Pueblo’s advanced theatre students participated in the Southern Arizona Festival of Theatre at the University of Arizona on January 24, to compete against other drama programs in Tucson area high schools.
Senior Andrea Martinez won three superior ratings, qualifying her for state in Phoenix. She performed monologues from Jake’s Women by Neil Simon and The Scottish Play by William Shakespeare.
Martinez said, “It was an overwhelming experience! I got to spend this moment with people who have the same passion as me. This experience taught me a lot about myself.”
Ms. Sarah Sutton, Pueblo’s drama teacher, said, “I knew during rehearsals that Andrea Martinez was doing really well. I was and am very proud of her.”
Pueblo’s drama students who attended the festival performed solo monologues, small group plays; musicals, and duets.
Sutton began preparing her students after winter break, which involved daily practices to be competitive by late January. Her students selected their own material that they wanted to perform.
Senior Santos Barbosa said, “Everyone there tried their very best and had lots of fun.” Barbosa said that he performed a duet from the play/movie, The Producers called “We Can Do It”with his drama class peer, Gilbert Becerra, a junior.
Sutton said, “I’m hoping that we continue this tradition each year. I’m confident that this year’s beginning students will eventually be in competition with other drama students across Southern Arizona.”
Our very own Warrior, senior Cesar Rivera, was totally surprised with Super Bowl XLIX (49) tickets—as well as vouchers for transportation costs.
Comcast NBC Universal and The Boys and Girls Club of Tucson teamed to make one deserving member’s dream come true with two tickets to the Super Bowl; and, on Friday, Jan. 16, that lucky person was Cesar Rivera.
Rivera said, “I was just sitting in the background waiting to get interviewed until a guy just came up to me with two tickets telling me that I’m going to the Super Bowl. Of course, without any hesitations, I said ‘YES!’” He paused and added, “With my other ticket, I took my dad.”
Rivera said that the two-hour trip to Glendale, Ariz., was very “adventurous”—in fact, he said, “ “It was sick!”, referring to his intense enthusiasm for the experience.
“I met so many NFL players such as Larry Fitzgerald, Odell Beckham, Andrew Luck, Aaron Rodgers and Colin Kaepernick.”
Cesar Rivera met some of his favorite players at the Superbowl
Rivera said that he and his father left Tucson on the Thursday before the Super Bowl and returned home on Monday, the day after the event.
“My dad and I took a tour of the Cardinal football field,” Rivera said, “and then we went tailgating before heading to the big game. We were seated near the [Seattle] Seahawks’ end zone, although there were a lot of [New England] Patriots fans around me.” Rivera said, “I even got to see the fight that went down between the two teams!”
Rivera said that despite all of the excitement he experienced, the most amazing moment was being in the front row seats to the NFL honors show.
“It’s like being at the Grammy’s,” Rivera said. “But instead of music, great NFL players were being honored.”
He added, “Since it was my first time attending the honors award show, I didn’t know we were supposed to be dressed fancy, so my dad and I went right away to rent some neat tuxedos.”
Pueblo offers many electives to its more than 1,500 students, and one of the most integral branches of the communication magnet program is photography, which provides students beginning and advanced classes.
Sophomore Jacqueline Guerrero wholeheartedly believes that students should enroll in photography classes in the future because of the many benefits the program offers; she attests to how beginning photography has helped her in numerous ways.
“This class truly has prepared me to be more professional and to interact with others,” Guerrero said. “I’ve really learned how to express myself better.”
She said that she enjoys how teacher Ms. Emma Tarazon gives her and her peers opportunities to go out of the classroom and take pictures—not just randomly but specifically for Tarazon’s assignments.
“Sometimes she [Ms. Tarazon] wants very precise pictures,” Guerrero said. “Everything we do is for a purpose. We are being prepared to be advanced photo students, and I intend to stick to this program hopefully all four years of high school.”
Felicity Aguilar interviewing Ms. Tarazon
Students use the Macs frequently—learning an array of photography editing skills, including restoring old photographs and learning how to remove unwanted objects in pictures to make them more aesthetic.
Guerrero said that she has also enjoyed learning how to use different cameras, including film cameras and learning how to develop pictures “the old-school” way.
“I really encourage other students to enroll in this program because photography will help them to become better people,” Guerrero affirmed. “You’ll learn how to view the world in a different way and be more positive, which is always a good thing.”
Another student, Analise Verdugo, who transferred to Pueblo from Cienega High School last semester, said that she is glad that she enrolled in photography because she is not only having fun but also learning a lot of strategies about photography.
Verdugo said, “I really enjoy the days when we students are allowed to go outside—to take a break from being cooped up inside of a classroom—and learning new techniques about photography, including lighting and shadows. And, who doesn’t like taking pictures? This is such a great class!”
Despite having some mixed classes of beginning and advanced photography students, teacher Ms. Emma Tarazon has observed improvements with her first-year students.
She said, “Despite the agonizing challenges of teaching two totally different groups of students at once, I’ve had to somehow make it work like a lot of electives teachers at Pueblo.” She paused and added, “It’s not fair for the advanced students to be with beginning students, although there are opportunities for job-shadowing, which is a valid way to teach beginning students and reinforce what my experienced photography students already know.”
One student, sophomore Kimberly Teran, said that she enjoys her beginning photography so much that she is considering a career as a photographer.
“Ms. Tarazon has truly been helpful and has taught me so much in a short period of time regarding photography,” Teran said. “This is one of the very few classes I’ve had at Pueblo that has been both fun and academically rewarding.”
After a dozen years as a science teacher at Pueblo Magnet High School, Mr. James Uomoto decided to retire last month at the end of the first semester —or, as he would prefer to call it: “to switch his focus.”
Since ’02, Uomoto taught freshman integrated science and physics. He occasionally interjected to his students not only his enthusiasm for his subject matter, but his passion for his other job—owning and maintaining a motorized bicycle shop, which he affectionately calls “U-MOTO Motorized Bicycles”.
“I am not actually retiring,” Uomoto asserted. “I’m just transitioning to my business full-time.”
Although excited for the success of his bike business, Uomoto said that he could not deny his sadness about leaving Pueblo, his home, after 12 years.
“I will definitely miss helping students grow and achieve, being part of the process of helping student better themselves,” he said. “I’m also going to miss the faculty and staff here at Pueblo because they are truly the standard of excellent education.”
Uomoto said that he was inspired by his father, an Amphi Middle School teacher, to become an educator after witnessing the joy that his students brought to him.
He added that education is not a particularly easy field to dive into, but wants future educators to know some of the most valuable lessons he has learned while at Pueblo.
“You [new teachers] definitely need to develop a sense of humor early on,” Uomoto said, “and don’t take things to seriously or you’ll go crazy!”
“Teaching always comes with its share of challenges,” he said. Uomoto’s biggest challenge, he said,” was finding new ways to inspire students and to engage them intellectually.”
“The challenge is to motivate students to find the answers as to why they need to pursue education in life,” he said. “It’s a good challenge, though, don’t get me wrong. Anything in life worth doing is a challenge, and I appreciate it because it has helped me become better at my craft.
With a heavy heart, Pueblo Magnet High School says its goodbyes to Mr. James Uomoto and wishes him luck in all of his future endeavors.
If you would like to learn more about U-MOTO Bicycles, visit umotobikes.com.
The annual Vocabulary Bee was the buzz earlier this semester, and on Nov. 24, two Pueblo Magnet High School students competed—sophomore Valentino Lugo, and the victor, junior Bernadette Romero.
According to counselor Ms. Teresa Toro, the Academic Scholar Club wants to address the need for the students to use the most frequently used words on the SAT/ACT in order to help them be more successful for higher college-entrance exam scores and also to increase their diction in all writing assignments.
“Last year, I lost the Bee,” Romero said, “so I’ve been studying ever since because I really wanted to be the champion this school year. For the past year, I’ve been practicing using all the words in sentences—and I even tried to use these words on a daily basis.” She paused and added, “I felt very successful as the Vocabulary Bee champion this semester.”
“The Vocabulary Bee started with great support, but unfortunately, the enthusiasm seemed to wane,” Toro said. “Maybe we can generate more enthusiasm next year because we really want our students to increase their word choice.”
Toro said, “This contest is not a traditional spelling bee. Students are not required to spell the vocabulary word. But, they do have to enunciate the words, know their definitions and be able to utilize the words in sentences.”
She added that it’s not too early to promote interest for next year’s Vocabulary Bee, and if students are interested in participating, they should find a teacher-mentor who would like to spend time preparing them for the next Vocabulary Bee in the fall of 2015.
Romero has been rewarded with a Samsung Galaxy tablet and will have the opportunity to have lunch with her mentor and Pueblo’s principal Dr. Augustine Romero, on Wednesday, Dec. 17.
Mr. Jesus Orduño, Romero’s teacher mentor, was awarded a tote bag full of school supplies.
