We are happy to announce to the world, the release of a series of videos of former GESD students who have completed their university degrees. While at GESD, Raul Rojas Valadez was a former Desert View Elementary and Southwest Junior High School student. He was one of the first group of students involved with ACT, the Center for Talented Youth Program (CTY), and also took algebra courses at Arizona Western College. Raul graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Linguistics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) . He is currently employed as a math teacher at Southwest Junior High School, teaches math at Arizona Western College, and also works for the Center for Talented Youth Program (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University.

Coming Back to San Luis is a video series of Former GESD Alumni who have completed their university degrees . Wendy Lara is a former Cesar Chavez Elementary and Southwest Junior High School student. Wendy was in the Early College Program where she took ACT Prep courses, advanced algebra through Arizona Western College , and attended the Center for Talented Youth Program at Johns Hopkins University. Wendy graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Robotic Engineering and will start employment in robotics. We are extremely excited to feature her story on this ECP website. Please stay tuned for more videos of former alumni. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-E3YYKUyDA

Former GESD32 Alumni (San Luis Middle School) was feature in the Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology Magazine as Top Hispanic Women in Technology. Congratulations Angelica for your contributions to the aerospace engineering field . You are an inspiration to all of us here in San Luis, Arizona and to the Gadsden Elementary School District 32. Please check out this article.

Angelica Ceniceros has worked as a systems engineer at Raytheon Technologies since 2017. She also provides mentoring for young engineers and is a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) tutor in her local community. Angelica earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering with a minor in women and gender studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Earlier in her career, Angelica did an internship at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She was an MIT Science and Technology Initiatives Mexico Intern and served as a foreign language conversation assistant in Spain, where she assisted teachers and provided support for about 140 students.

She also served as a researcher in the Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program; and with the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer, or OSIRIS-REx. In 2020, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touched down on an asteroid more than 200 million miles from Earth and grabbed dust and rocks from a sample site called Nightingale.

In her current position, Angelica creates models and Department of Defense-Air Force documentation capturing program architecture and requirements. Her knowledge of model-based systems engineering tools and artifacts has allowed her to lead major sub-contractors and collaborate with other Raytheon divisions.

Alum Offers Advice to Prospective Engineers

Sunday, February 7, 2021 Angelica Ceniceros

AME alum Angelica Ceniceros, who earned her MS in aerospace engineering in 2017, recently offered advice to prospective engineers at Gadsden Elementary School District #32, of which she is also an alum. After Ceniceros earned her master’s, she took a job with Raytheon Missiles & Defense and earned a National Women of Color STEM Rising Star Award.

“Engineering is an incredibly engaging and rewarding discipline which offers a wide scope of projects and pursuits all over the world. It will provide you with the knowledge and skills to implement your ideas in order to design and innovate our technology infrastructure; more importantly, it will give you the tools and freedom to change the world and contribute in any place or field you want to be in,” Ceniceros said. “Even though this academic and professional path will seem challenging at times, pushing yourself to your goal and solving unpredictable problems forces you to grow.”

During her time at the University of Arizona, Ceniceros was awarded a 2016 Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation Scholarship for Service from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Getting Ahead of the Game

André Bulas is a rising star. He has been extremely busy taking CTY courses online to get ahead of the game. André took Honors Algebra I as a 6th grader, and he is now currently enrolled in Honors Algebra II . This is an individually-paced online course. The class provides videos, an e-book, practice problems, and other online course materials for support. An instructor is also available on a weekly basis to provide academic assistance. Honors Algebra II prepares the student for Pre- Calculus and AP Statistics. André is also taking Math 121 at AWC with Mr. Arrizon. André will be enrolling in the Pre-calculus course at Arizona Western College in the Spring of 2022. I would like to encourage students to explore different academic options. The CTY Online Program offers courses in a variety of learning platforms. Financial aid is available. Please visit: https://cty.jhu.edu/programs/online/courses

Congratulations André Bulas

Orientation and Registration Night at the AWC San Luis Learning Center

We are happy to report that 110, 7th and 8th graders from the Gadsden School District are enrolled in algebra courses at Arizona Western College for Fall of 2021. There are a total of five math sections specifically dedicated to this project. The AWC part-time adjunct faculty professors teaching for the Gadsden Math Project are also employees of the Gadsden school district. Jesús Arrizón, Lucía Alvarez, and Raúl Rojas, are currently teaching Math 81, while Maribel Thompson and Raúl Rojas offer Math 121. Orientation and Registration Night was a huge success. Five computer laboratories were utilized at full capacity to register students, including the front counter. It was really nice to see all the excitement generated by the event . Parents accompanied their children and participated in the orientation and the registration process. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to the AWC San Luis Learning Center for organizing this event in conjunction with the Early College Program. Special thanks to Lucia Alvarez, Maribel Thompson, Jesús Arrizón and Rául Rojas for encouraging students to enroll at AWC. A huge shout out to our school principals, district administration and school board members, for supporting the project. I would also like to thank the AWC San Luis staff, including Omar Heredia – Advising and Student Services Coordinator, Patti Arrizon- AWC Clerk, Laura Bremontes- Administrative Assistant, and Susanna Zambrano-AWC Associate Dean for South Yuma County. Keep up the good work.

Jesús Homero Chávez – Early College Program

at San Luis Middle School

and Southwest Junior High

Tuesday thru Friday 3:15 to 5:00pm

Students Investing in Their Future

We are happy and delighted to share that eighty 5th and 6th grade students from our elementary schools, are participating in our Advanced After School Tutoring Program. These students are learning mathematical concepts that are two to three years above their grade level. Additionally, students are preparing to take the American College Test ( ACT), the same test seniors in high school take to apply for universities. The test will be offered February 12, 2022, at Southwest Junior High School, an official ACT testing center. I would like to thank all the school principals , teachers, school secretaries, parents, transportation , food service, and all of those GESD employees that are involved with this program. A big thank you to our after school teachers, Ms. Thompson, Mr. Rojas, Ms. Beltran, and Mr. Arrizon.