By: Nayeli Esqueda
May 26th, 2017

Who can believe it that the school year is about to end in less than a month. It feels like just yesterday that we began the first quarter of high school. This year went by very quick. It’s hard to believe that everyone will be moving one grade level higher. Then we have the seniors. They’ll be graduating this year, after that they’ll be heading to college or other future plans that they might have in mind. Not only will we be advancing in grade level but first year teachers and staff members will have one year completed under their belt. One of these new staff members include our beloved principal Mr. Rugraff.

During his first year as principal Rugraff believes that the year was very fast and furious, and can’t believe that the year is coming to a close. He’s glad that he was able to be to see all the great successes of Phoenix. These successes coming from all the school from sports, choir, band, clubs, and justy hearing great stories from the students themselves. During his year Rugraff learned a lot both from the students and staff and being acquainted with them. Rugraff noticed that students care for other students and how teachers cared for students, “Phoenix has a caring aura.” This shows that Phoenix is a place where students and staff get along well and that we care for one another. When asked about his about Phoenix over the past year he replied with “Phoenix is a diverse high school where students get along with one another.” Rugraff believes that a thing that he did well was able to listen very closely and be able to understand the need of certain individuals.

Goals and expectations that he has for upcoming years as Principal will be able to improve students academics and how we can also use data in order to prepare lessons that align with the needs of students. This will impact students because it will then make lessons and assignments easier to receive when students aren’t at school due to sports or extracurricular activities.  Another goal that he has would be able to increase the attendance, increase graduation rate, and be able to make everyone’s hope a reality. “Phoenix has a lot of opportunity to all and helps students have a connection and be able to help the students find their paths.”

Thank you Mr. Rugraff for being able to provide the time and answers that were needed to be able to write this article. Congratulations for completing your first year as our principal. Also, congrats to all the other teachers and staff members that also completed their first year at Phoenix. See you in the next edition Pirates.