Tina:

Maddie Tharp, Za Barrett

With heavy hearts and loving thoughts, the AHS community said farewell this year to a
beloved teacher and advisor- and an integral part of Animas culture. Tina Trujillo, a part of our
community for over six years, has officially taken a new job at an environmental education
organization.
“Tina brought so much joy to advisory," recalls Tina's advisee Za Barrett. "I always felt
like I had her to support me when times were tough.” Now, Tina is sailing off to new horizons,
leaving the Osprey community with fond memories of her time here.
“Coming to Animas kinda took a couple years for me," recounted Tina. As an FLC
teacher-ed student, she was required to student-teach, as Madi does now, in a local school.
After exploring many schools in the Four Corners area, she finally settled on doing her field
hours at AHS. Tina first worked under Colleen, our biology teacher at that time. "I thought this
was a really funky school," she said, with a laugh. "It was nothing like I'd ever seen before.
Every time I left I was always like, 'Huh, that was some cool stuff.'”
When Tina graduated from Fort Lewis, she was searching for a career that allowed her
autonomy. “I was very choosy about which schools I applied to,” Tina explained. She was
offered a job at two schools- Animas and another small charter in Angel Fire, New Mexico. ”I'm
really grateful that I chose Animas," she concluded.
Her students and advisees agree with that statement. "Tina was like a friend to me, just
made every single day so fun and exciting. I'm going to miss her so much," expressed Tina’s
advisee Rio Edmondson.
In her first years at AHS, Tina worked as a biology teacher, taught a science fiction
course, and hosted a hacky sack X-Block. ”I played hacky sack in my classroom!... It was really
fun. It got heated, too,” Tina recalled. Later she switched to teaching biology and physics. Over
the course of her career, she taught all sorts of science-related electives and eventually led
skateboarding and color guard X-Blocks. “I think what made Color Guard a cool X-Block was
that it gave us a chance to get credits, but it was also a great chance to be a part of a group.
Whatever Tina did just brought people together.” commented sophomore Illyria Brunner, who
participated in Color Guard.
At the beginning of this year, Tina took on a student teacher- Madi Neukirch. While
family matters eventually drew Tina away for a while, Madi won't forget the time they spent
together. “Tina was a phenomenal cooperating teacher while I had her," Madi- now AHS’s
interim physics teacher- conveyed. "Although we didn't have as much time together as perhaps I
would have wanted, she was able to prepare me well for that transition in the time that we did
have.”
Tina has always been a passionate teacher and nature-lover at heart- and now, she gets
to use her skills and passions to help those who need it. With lots of love, the AHS community
wishes Tina well as she transitions to her new job.