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By Daniela Moreno & Robert Moroyoqui<\/p>\n After nearly 30 years of diligence and dedication to Pueblo High School, math teacher and ex-wrestling coach Mr. Steve Lopez joined the Valencia Middle School staff as an assistant principal.<\/p>\n Lopez\u2019 love of teaching and education is due to the persuasive words of Mr. Richard Gastelum, who was Pueblo\u2019s principal during this time. Gastelum also managed an ice cream shop where Lopez enjoyed his first after school job. Lopez heeded the advice from Gastelum\u2014to pursue education as a career. After graduating from the University of Arizona, Lopez began his teaching career at Pueblo\u2014and Gastelum was still principal. Both Lopez and Gastelum have remained \u201clifelong friends\u201d.<\/p>\n Not only has Lopez taught math to several thousand students over the years, he also coached our wrestling team to many victorious seasons, which included a State champion team in 2008. (His son, Brandon Lopez, a senior at the time, was on this team.)<\/p>\n Mr. Manny Galvan, former English teacher and current permanent substitute-teacher, was Mr. Lopez\u2019 assistant coach from 1993 until 2016, when Coach Lopez decided to resign and pass the torch on to Mr. Paul Vasquez (who attended Pueblo and was a wrestling State champion in 2004 and 2005).<\/p>\n \u201cMr. Lopez has worked very hard to become an assistant principal. I see this move as a first step in returning to Pueblo as a future administrator. Working with him as an assistant coach was a pleasure. He got his wrestlers to perform at their utmost potential.\u201d<\/p>\n Vasquez said, \u201cCoach Lopez is truly an awesome person and a great advocate for Pueblo High School. I just want to say to him \u2018Thank you, Mr. Lopez, for all of the help that you have given me\u2014even in college. I would get out of work at 9 at night, and you would still find time to tutor me regarding my college math courses\u2014for free!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Lopez loves teaching, but he said that he would like to continue making a difference in his community. This is why he has decided to take the job as assistant principal at Valencia Middle School.<\/p>\n “I see myself working for another ten years and really make a difference in the lives of students and to enhance their quality of education,” said Lopez.<\/p>\n He does admit that teaching students has not been easy\u2014especially the ones who don’t feel like learning.<\/p>\n \u201c[This job has been] all worth it,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n He added, “Kids can sometimes resist us [teachers] to the death, but I like the challenge of making them say ‘I want to learn.\u2019”<\/p>\n Lopez advises new teachers to be tenacious about this profession: “You [teachers are] probably never going to be rich, but teach because you love it.\u201d<\/p>\n He admitted that leaving is not going to be easy for him, and confesses that he will really miss \u201ceverything\u201d about Pueblo\u2014specifically, students and staff.<\/p>\n “Pueblo is home. Pueblo is where I feel like I definitely belong, where I feel like I mattered,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n Many staff members expressed their goodbyes and wishes words for Mr. Lopez.<\/p>\n Ms. Jessica Bernal-Mejia, history teacher, said, “Steve [Lopez] was like my Pueblo tio, always picking on me, but I knew he had my back. I’m going to miss him, but I know that he is going to be a great principal.\u201d<\/p>\n Principal Dr. Augustine Romero said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to miss Mr. Lopez very much. He has been a huge inspiration to many, many students. At the same time, we\u2019re very proud and happy for him regarding this opportunity to become an assistant principal.\u201d<\/p>\n One of Lopez\u2019 math colleagues, Ms. Paulette Livio, said, \u201cI\u2019m very excited that Mr. Lopez finally got the chance to become an administrator [at Valencia Middle School], but we\u2019re very sad to lose him.\u201d<\/p>\n Math teacher Mr. Billy Campbell said, \u201cMr. Lopez has been a mentor to me. He\u2019s helped me to grow as a math teacher. I\u2019ve learned from him what it truly means to be a teacher and a leader.\u201d He paused and added, \u201cMr. Lopez is the kind of man who walks-the-walk and doesn\u2019t just talk. When I occasionally feel down about myself, I tell myself, \u2018I need to put my Steve [Lopez] hat on.\u2019\u201d \u00a0\u00a0 By Daniela Moreno & Robert Moroyoqui After nearly 30 years of diligence and dedication to Pueblo High School, math teacher and ex-wrestling coach Mr. Steve Lopez joined the Valencia Middle School staff as an assistant principal. Lopez\u2019 love of teaching and education is due to the persuasive words of Mr. Richard Gastelum, who was … Continue reading So Long, \u2018Stud\u2019\u2014You\u2019re Just \u2018A Phone Call Away\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[256,258,309],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pA2u4-KK","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2898"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2905,"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2898\/revisions\/2905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pueblowarriors.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Steve-Lopez-Goodbye-Lunch.jpg\")
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>Probably the person who will miss Mr. Lopez the most in the math department is his close friend and colleague, Ms. Martha Avila-Miranda. \u201cI wish him [Lopez] all of the wisdom in his new position [as assistant principal]. It\u2019s going to be really difficult getting used to not seeing him\u2014he\u2019s been here for nearly 30 years. However, he\u2019s just a phone call away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"