Promoting Classes:

Culinary with Mrs. Ranne

By Kimberly Cardenas Torres

Mrs. Ranne’s goal is to keep the program going and get more involved with FCCLA which is the student organization for culinary. The concept of culinary is to teach kids how to cook for themselves as a life skill. Mrs. Ranne’s beginner students are learning the basics, like making yeast bread. Meanwhile, her advanced students are learning new recipes of their choice with the ingredients they have available. Mrs.Ranne used to be a professional chef for five years. She still wanted to be involved in the cooking industry, but no longer work at restaurants. She didn’t start teaching until someone asked her if she was a teacher. Mrs.Ranne gets asked a lot about what her favorite food to make and teach is. She answered by saying this, ¨My favorite food to teach is Southern cuisine and fried chicken, beans, and lots of different types of salads.¨ She doesn’t have a favorite food to make because she told me, ¨I just like eating food.¨

Student of the Month: Madisyn Bronson

By: Stella Bock and Autumn Meadows

Madisyn Bronson, a sophomore at Poston Butte High School was chosen to be Student of the Month in October. She is a creative student, focused on becoming a tattoo artist. At the moment, she is the apprentice of a tattoo artist.

Madisyn is very proud of her skills and anyone who could see her work would be astonished. She is not just fast at tattooing, but is also great at it. Outside of school, she is your ordinary creative and athletic student. Like most kids during quarantine, she dyed her hair; she has dyed her hair every color you can think of. This year she plans on making the wrestling team at Poston Butte. Away from school, she hangs out with friends, is a tattoo artist's apprentice, and works on her diamond paintings at home.

One of Madisyn’s favorite quotes is, “Nothing gold can stay forever,” by Robert Frost. This is true throughout life and Madisyn knows this. Madisyn is a hardworking human being, dedicated to her interests and only what she loves doing. Following her heart is something Madisyn is passionate about. Her advice to other students is to have good behavior and to work hard on your grades. She encourages you to follow your heart and listen to what it wants; be the person you want to be.

Wishes for Teachers Grant

by Farrah Muhammad

This November, two of Poston Butte’s teachers were awarded a $2,500 grant from the Desert Financial Fiesta Bowl Wishes for Teachers Program.

The Wishes for Teachers Program provides grants directly to 400 teachers across the state of Arizona to celebrate and aid teachers in enhancing their schools and classrooms.

The program has awarded over $3.5M in the last 5 years, and doubled the amount of winners in 2021.

Both Mrs. Carr and Mr. Gwin won this grant on behalf of Poston Butte High School.

Mr. Gwin describes teaching, “as a profession that you kinda fall into.” Mrs. Carr and Mr. Gwin shared their stories of falling into their passion for teaching.

Mr. Gwin began his college education at Northern Arizona University as an engineering major, after his third year studying to be an engineer he realized, “I’m a people person and engineers are not people, people. They sit behind computers, and I have to have interaction daily. I realized engineering was probably not the best career for me.”

After reaching this realization, Mr. Gwin became an education major. He went on to get his Masters in Education at Grand Canyon University and is currently working on further grad work at Arizona State University.

Since finding his passion, he has been teaching high school math for 14 years in Arizona, and he has been coaching basketball for 24 years.

Mr. Gwin’s funniest teaching experience was when a student decided to settle the debate between whether an iPhone or a Samsung was sturdiest, so they threw both against his classroom wall. Ironically, the students did learn something that day. The Samsung phone was sturdiest!

He also shared his most heartful moment as an educator. When teaching at a past high school, he assisted a student who had been struggling in math. Mr. Gwin was able to get the student where he needed to be in time for the ACT. The student attended ASU and went on to the NFL!

Despite all of the challenges after a year of remote learning, Mr. Gwin is delighted to see and interact with his students face to face.

Mrs. Carr is a 12th grade English teacher. She has been at Poston Butte for 4 out of her 15 years of teaching.

Mrs. Carr has lived in Japan, Illinois, Michigan, Arizona, and her home state Texas.

Now that she is settled in Arizona, Mrs. Carr “loves the energy of high school. I love it here,” she says. “I love preparing students for their futures.”

One her most fond memories that speak to her skill as an educator is when she was unexpectedly pulled from her classroom and another teacher looked over her eighth grade students. When she returned, “ There was a student who had taken the lead and was actually continuing the lesson.”

In that moment, Mrs Carr shared that, “I was so proud of them because they were acting like they were ready for high school. Like they were ready for real responsibility. That was really exciting.”

Since leaving Cooper Basin Middle School, Mrs. Carr has taught English to upperclassmen. Her words of encouragement for students transitioning out of high school are, “Don't think that you have to have everything figured out as soon as you graduate. But have a Plan A and a Plan B. Try to find something that you are passionate about and sometimes that takes time.”

Initially, Mrs. Carr majored in Psychology at the University of Maryland Japan Division. Soon after she found her place as an educator and completed her Bachelors in Education. She went on to get her graduate degree in Curriculum Instruction at Grand Canyon University.

Mrs. Carr plans to use the grant money towards novel sets for 9-12 grade English classes. Mr. Gwin plans to purchase scientific calculators, protractors, compasses, and graphing calculators for the math department, and if the money permits, Mr. Gwin will use it toward any additional necessities for our classrooms.

After a difficult year of online schooling, we should all take time to appreciate dedicated teachers like Mr. Gwin and Mrs. Carr!