Pueblo High School

Warriors Welcome New Assistant Principal

By Anais Salais

Pueblo Magnet High School welcomes a new member to the administration team this year, Ms. Alma Carmona-Alday, who is the new Assistant Principal of Community, Advanced Learning and Academic Associated Projects.

This is Carmona-Alday’s first assistant principal position, and with her strong background in education in teaching kindergarten—as well as being a learning support coordinator for TUSD at McCorkle K-8—she said that she feels ready to make a positive impact at Pueblo.

“I feel really welcomed and I am excited to be here!” said Carmona-Alday. “I love being in the classrooms and at the lunches because it gives me the chance to get to know the students better.”

Carmona-Alday was born and raised here in Tucson. She attended Davis Elementary, Utterback Middle School and Tucson High Magnet School. She earned two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Arizona in bilingual education and Spanish, as well as two master’s degrees from Northern Arizona University—in school counseling and educational leadership.

Even though she is very busy with her duties as an assistant principal, Carmona-Alday said that she enjoys dancing and even was a Zumba instructor at Desert View High School.

She admitted that she always loved dancing, and for many years, she thought that she would become a full-time dance teacher.

“After I earned my administrative degree, I found out that Pueblo didn’t have a dance teacher for a while, and I was hoping to become long-term substitute teacher—but I couldn’t because all of the work I was involved with as an administrator,” Carmona-Alday said.

Her husband is a teacher at Sunnyside High School, and they have two children, ages three and five.

“I wwouldn’t have gotten where I am now without my husband and family,” said Carmona-Alday.

Carmona-Alday has a positive outlook on this school year and the future of Pueblo that she aims to be a part of.

“I never thought I would love Pueblo so much,” she said. “I hope to be here for a long period of time.”

She admitted that she is very ambitious and that her goal is to one day become a principal. Her goal for now is to inspire Pueblo students to help make a positive impact at the school and in the community.

“Pueblo is going to be what our students make of it, and I hope that our students don’t ever give up on Pueblo,” said Carmona-Alday.

Warriors ‘Invade’ College Fair

By Isaac Montiel

The Tucson College Fair took place on the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 30 at the Tucson Convention Center, and several thousand Southern Arizona high school students—mostly seniors—took advantage of the more than 200 colleges present to answer questions about their schools.

Mr. Ruben Romero, Pueblo’s College and Career counselor, said, “It’s always important for students to make a face-to-face contact when meeting a college representative. Students always have great information about dozens of colleges at these fairs. The more options students have, the more prepared they will be for post-high school life.”

Principal Dr. Augustine Romero said, “It is really important for our students—especially our seniors—to attend the College Fair because they need to be prepared for the next level after high school.”

Besides all of the Arizona colleges and universities in attendance, many out of state colleges also had informational booths available for students.

Pueblo senior Gelsey Grijalva, one of the estimated more than 50 Pueblo seniors who attended the Tucson College Fair, said, “There were so many colleges there—it almost was overwhelming! But, there are colleges for everybody out there.” She paused and said, “I’m still not sure of where I’m attending college, but at least I know there are opportunities out there for me and the rest of my peers who might also be undecided about their futures.”

She paused and said, “I felt confident when I left the fair—it was like a wake-up call for me being a senior because now I realize how quickly this year is flying by. Up until now, I’ve been in denial about being a senior. The College Fair was definitely a slap in the face—like, ‘Wake up, Gelsey!’

Another Pueblo senior, Gabriela Gastelum, who attended the College Fair, said, “I was able to get information about a few schools—from a few film and art schools in New York City. I really want to major in broadcast journalism or anything associated with journalism. I’m so ready for the real world and I’m not afraid of graduating.”

Pueblo Surging, But ‘Major Mountain’ Awaits Tonight

Pueblo vs. Nogales is also KOLD 13 Game of the Week:

Pueblo will look to stretch their winning streak to four straight games Friday night when the Warriors host Nogales in a Week 5 high school football matchup.

Pueblo (3-1) opened the season with a late one-point loss at Amphi but has rolled off victories over Santa Rita, Rio Rico and Rincon.

The Warriors are led by 1st-year head coach Brandon Sanders, a former Arizona Wildcats defensive star who made it to the NFL with the New York Giants.

The Apaches enter at 2-2 having won two straight over Douglas and Cholla.

Nogales at Pueblo is our Overtime Game of the Week. David Kelly will be lives from the south side with a report in during the KOLD News 13 at 6 and you can see the game highlights Friday night on Overtime which kickoffs on KOLD News 13 at 10:20 p.m.

Jorge Romero Pueblo Warriors Football — Jorge Romero (Class of 2016)

Pueblo’s Memo Berube and Jorge Romero both had doubts about their football team coming into this season. In fact, Berube, a senior, was toying with the idea of hanging up his cleats for good.
He’s glad he didn’t.

In just four games, Pueblo (3-1) has already matched its win total from each of the last three seasons. Furthermore, a win tonight would mark just the second time in the last 10 years the Warriors have registered four victories in a season.

“I’ve never felt this great during football,” said Berube, who missed most of last season with a left knee injury. “I wasn’t expecting as good of a season so far and came into the spring with some doubts.”

First-year coach Brandon Sanders and the Warriors host Nogales tonight at 7 with a chance to win their fourth straight game — a rarity in itself for Pueblo recently.

To make sure his players aren’t coming into the game overconfident, Sanders has reminded them that they haven’t been within 49 points of the Apaches in the last two years.

Nogales (2-2) has won seven straight meetings between the schools, most recently with a 56-0 win 2013, and holds a 14-6 advantage in the series. The last time Pueblo topped the Apaches was in 2000.

Coach Brandon Sanders Pueblo Warriors Football — Coach Brandon Sanders

“That’s a major mountain for these kids,” said Sanders, a member of the UA’s “Desert Swarm” defense in the mid-1990s and a former NFL player. “We don’t shy away from anything; we recognize it, we own up to it and we step up to take on the challenge.

“That’s what I want to see: Can we step up to the challenge to play?”

The Warriors have already conquered one challenge this season, scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to rally against Santa Rita in Week 2. Since then, Pueblo has outscored opponents 81-12 in two games.

“It transitioned from the field to the locker room,” said Romero, a junior who leads the team with 581 yards rushing and six touchdowns. “You should have seen the lock room; there was so much adrenaline, you could see that we wanted to play.”

Since taking over last spring, Sanders has reconnected with Pueblo’s storied past. Former coach Curly Santa Cruz is among those who Sanders has brought in to speak with the team. After all, Santa Cruz spent 15 years with the program and was the last one to lead the Warriors to the state playoffs, in 1990. The way Romero sees it, however, that’s about to change.

“A lot of people have high expectations for us but there’s also still a lot of low,” Romero said. “We had doubts from a lot of people coming into the season but we’re ready to prove them wrong.”

Courtesy of Tucson.com (Daniel Gaona)

Warriors Lose First Game, Prepare For Santa Rita On Friday

By Isaac Montiel

For their first home scrimmage, our Warriors dominated the Titans of Palo Verde, playing what we call “Warrior Football”.

It seemed that this victorious spirit would continue last Friday night when our Warriors traveled to Amphi High School for Pueblo’s first game of the season. The Warriors had a great start at 13-0—touchdowns by junior George Romero (aka “Drake”)—until the fourth quarter when the Amphi Panthers leaped into winning territory, and being victorious in the last five minutes with a two-point conversion.

Senior Jorge Lopez said, “This game was a wake-up call. We got cocky and didn’t play up to our potential.”

Another senior, Jesus Gutierrez, said, “It’s not too late for us to change. We will keep working hard and not let one defeat drag us down.”

Coach Brandon Sanders said, “We are working on our discipline and making sure that all of the little things are done right for the game on Friday.”

This Friday’s game is a “white-out” game in which fans are encouraged to wear white in support of the Warriors, in an effort to “psych-out” the opponents.

This school year, Pueblo Magnet High School’s varsity football team has had a tough start. Coming from a 3-7 losing season last year, they will recover quite well.

This year with the hope of the new coach, our Warriors will have one of the best seasons they’ve seen in a long time, according to many of this year’s players. Every athlete on the team has worked hard all summer and has surpassed all expectations in “passing league” as well as other tournaments they have participated in.

In The News: New TUSD Program Gives Biotech Students Leg Up

Pueblo High School juniors Justin Pledger, 15, and Vanessa Santacruz, 16, are among 240 Tucson Unified School District biotech students who will work closely with local employers to create career pathways and improve the district’s classroom instruction.

A new program launched Monday will help enable TUSD biotech students to take control of their future, researching career opportunities available locally and what employers are looking for.

The initiative is part of an effort to grow interest in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — and to create career pathways with help from students themselves. The information gathered by students will be shared with the Tucson Unified School District and Pima County One-Stop to develop meaningful programming.

About 240 students from Pueblo and Tucson high schools will take part in the Biotech Pipeline effort.

Students will gather information on nearly two dozen local biotech businesses and conduct interviews to make career connections, learn what companies are looking for and how that connects with what they are learning in the classroom.

“This gives students the opportunity to explore what they want to be and take the next steps,” said Carolina Canastillo, 16, an aspiring veterinarian. “I think it will help students understand what we are learning.”

While participating students have much to gain from the program, by documenting findings the lessons learned can be expanded upon and implemented for future students with an interest in STEM.

“Students learn quite a few skills in the classroom, and through working with people in the industry they’re able to see the application of those skills,” said TUSD Superintendent H.T. Sanchez. “The best part is it ties our kids to employers to begin the conversation about what the employers are looking for in terms of their workforce. That, of course, better informs … all of us in what we need to have in our curriculum.”

Courtesy of the Arizona Daily Star

Former U of A Coach Dick Tomey Visits Pueblo

Courtesy of The Arizona Daily Star

On Saturday, before Dick Tomey spoke to about 300 high school football players and coaches at the Coaches for Charity Kickoff Classic Luncheon, before he spoke with about 400 coaches of all manner at Pima College, he visited Pueblo High School, which hasn’t had a winning season in more than 10 years.

Tomey wanted to see how Pueblo’s new head coach, Brandon Sanders, is doing in his first year as a prep head coach. From 1992-95, Sanders was one of the best safeties in college football, an absolute anchor of the “Desert Swarm” years.

Few coaches in Tucson have a more difficult assignment than Sanders does at Pueblo. Tomey met with the Pueblo coaches and the team. His message was simple: You’ll learn more from your struggles than anything else. Don’t get discouraged.

That’s Dick Tomey. Forget his career victory total (183), he was always about people first, football later.

One of those who attended Saturday’s luncheon at the Double Tree hotel was Tim Davis, who has coached at Alabama, Florida, USC, Wisconsin and for the Miami Dolphins. It was Tomey who gave Davis a career-changing opportunity in 1987, Tomey’s first Arizona season.

“I had been hauling meat in Wisconsin,” Davis said. “Dick called and gave me an opportunity to be a graduate assistant coach. It changed my life. It all goes back to him.”

Tomey, who has been out of coaching for three years, is retired and lives in Honolulu. He is 76, looks 56, and has become an in-demand public speaker.

“I always look forward to coming back to Tucson,” Tomey said. “I could talk about the fond memories of the people I met here forever.”