Miss New Mexico pays AHA a visit

 

            “I finally figured out at the age of 15, that I was a victim of domestic abuse by my father.” These are the powerful words of Madison Tabet, the newly crowned Miss New Mexico.  Tabet visited Atrisco Heritage Academy High School recently to speak to a group of AHA newspaper students.

Tabet, 19, has chosen domestic violence and dating violence as the issue she will talk about this year while representing New Mexico. She will compete for the title of Miss America in Las Vegas in January.

Tabet grew up in Albuquerque and went to Hope Christian School from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her mother, Dianne, graduated from Rio Grande High School in 1980. Madison is a dancer, and has a college scholarship to a performing arts school in Pittsburg, Pa. Tabet has been dancing since she was 18 months old, she said.

“Dancing completely got time through the roughest times in my life,” Tabet said. “I want to use the power of words to talk about the signs of domestic violence and to help people realize they have to get out of this abuse before it gets verbal or physical.”

With domestic violence being something close to her heart, she decided to make that issue her platform. A platform is a cause that all the Miss America contestants choose to support during their year as a state winner. Choosing to inform people about domestic violence was easy for Tabet to choose.

“I was 17 when I just knew this wasn’t the family situation any of us needed to be in,” Tabet said.

When asked about pageant life and what it takes to get ready to compete, Tabet said it is a mix of physical fitness, poise and understanding current events well enough to handle the questioning of the judges in January.

“It’s very nerve wracking,” Tabet said. “The pressure is enormous. But I am doing all I can to be ready to answer any question, whether it be about politics, the war and education.”

Tabet was quick to thank her mother and her two younger brothers for helping her get to this point.

“My mom helped me though all of the hard work,” she said. “She gave me a sense of self-worth and self-confidence.”

Being in pageants “is not just about the glitz and glam. It’s about being positive and helping others and talking a stand to help the community and the world, if possible.”

AHA Raises Awareness for Breast Cancer

Think in Pink: Breast Cancer Awareness Center Stage at AHA

By Amanda Otero

Jaguar News Staff Writer

Get geared up in all the pink you can find because Think Pink week is here! October 11-15 Atrisco Heritage Academy is raising awareness for Breast Cancer. For each day of this week AHA will have a different theme and activity. Here are this week’s events:

·         Monday was Pink Trivia Day. Students were tested on their breast cancer knowledge.

·         Tuesday is Volley for The Cure. The AHA volleyball team takes on Moriarty at 6:30 p.m. in the Jaguar Den. Student council, which organized the week, hopes to fill the stands with AHA fans dressed in pink!

·         Wednesday is Putt for The Cure. Golfernoggins, a local miniature golf course, will be at AHA at lunch with two holes set up. Everyone gets a chance to make a hole-in-one for a special prize from Golfernoggins.

·         Thursday is Tough Guys Wear Pink. Players from the New Mexico Thunderbirds, the Mustangs hockey team, and many more will come dressed in their best pink attire, to join all the “tough guys and gals” of Atrisco who are wearing pink. Also later in the day, our AHA football players will be accessorizing their uniforms with pink.

·         Friday is the AHA Pink Parade! Student council wants all AHA students dressed in pink from head-to-toe! At lunch there will also be a Penny Wars to see which class earns the most points in collecting pennies. There also will be a live concert by Sam & Nate.

All week AHA will be selling pink wooden roses, bracelets, and much more. Students will also bring in pennies and change to get ready for the penny wars on Friday! All proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen for The Cure foundation. AHA will make a pink ribbon in honor of our friends and family who are battling breast cancer, and those who have died from the disease. Atrisco Heritage Academy students are raising awareness for important causes in a fun way that will reach all students. Let’s make a difference, bring in all your pennies and let’s watch our buckets fill with change!

AHA Art Going Round the World for a Good Cause

AHA Art Going Round the World for a Good Cause

Jag News Staff

An Atrisco Heritage Academy High School art project that will travel around the globe could raise thousands of dollars for a school in Kenya.

The Vihiga Education City school is based on Christian values and principles. It is a school for students as young as three up to nine years old.. Founded in 2007, the same as Atrisco Heritage Academy, the new school has many needs. The AHA project will help them purchase basic supplies and equipment for their students.

Several classes taught by Robert Carr are participating. Students designed pictures based on a theme. The students picked “Passion” as their theme. That inspired different drawings. AHA students started the drawings, and then picked six to be shipped out to schools across the world to be viewed and expanded on. The art was sent to schools in Ireland, Kenya, Arkansas, Colorado and Oklahoma.

“This project is a living piece of art," Carr said. "Students from around the world have view it and some will then put their own perspective on it and it will be returned to us here at AHA. We'll then see this work of art and all the influences that went into making it."

After the art comes back to AHA, Carr and the Jaguar students will organize an auction in May to sell the pieces.The potential for selling these international works of art is incredible, he said.

"The school in Kenya needs many things. It is a new elementary school," Carr said. "It’s a lot like our school, but it is not completed yet. I do want our students to be part of something much larger than just their circle here in Albuquerque."

One of the art students, Crystal Ampuran, said her passion is art, so she created a drawing she hopes others will be interested in as well. “I am so glad to be able to help someone else in another part of the world.”

Volleyball team loses heartbreaker in first varsity home game

By Jesse Robledo
Jag News Online Writer

Momentum is an interesting thing, when it’s with you, life rolls along fine, when it’s taken away, you can fall flat.
That summed up Thursday night’s varsity volleyball game between Atrisco Heritage Academy and Rio Grande High in the Jaguar Den. The Lady Jags lost 25-23 in the final game. They had won the first game, but then the Ravens’ experience started to take over.
However the news wasn’t all bad for the Lady Jags. This is a varsity team playing for the first year with no seniors. Rio has several seniors with a lot of varsity experience on their side. That’s why Coach Vickie Meyer is optimistic about the rest of the season.

“I hope the girls do not get down about this,” Coach Meyer said. “They played so well and worked hard, but now I think they see this as a game we could have won. We need to keep that attitude because this is a team of strong players who want to get better every game.”
The next varsity game is Tuesday, Sept. 14 against Highland High Hornets in the Jaguar Den.

AHA loses in school's first varsity game

Sophomore Jeremy Sanchez scored the first
varsity touchdown in Atrisco Heritage Academy
history.However, the Jaguars lost their debut as a varsity team,
41-19, against the Albuquerque High
Bulldogs, Saturday at Milne Stadium.
The game was stopped in the fourth quarter and then delayed for about half an hour
because of lightening. When it resumed, the
Jaguars were unable to catch the Bulldogs.
AHA quarterback Andrew Lopez connected
with Sanchez early in the game to set up the score. It was
Sanchez who ran it in from about five yards for the first varsity score in school history.
Lopez later scored the second touchdown on
a running play.
AHA’s next varsity game is Friday at Valencia
High School in Los Lunas at 7 p.m.

DECA to Open Thursday

Atrisco Heritage Academy High School's DECA snack bar will open Thursday, Aug. 26. Many AHA students are eagerly awaiting the opening because school lunch lines have been longer than usual. The school has added about 500 more students from last year.
"Sometimes I wait five or 10 minutes to get my lunch," said Brandon Arnold, an AHA junior. "When DECA opens I can get a slice of pizza and a Gatorade a lot quicker."
DECA sponsor teacher Roland Soto said the snack bar wasn't ready to open until this week because students were still being transferred into special Business Academy classes designed to run the snack bar.
DECA snack bar offers pizza, subs, chips, cookies, cereal bars, burritos, drinks, and salads.
Students are in charge of stocking, selling and cleaning up after the snack bar closes each day. It's a lot of work, but Mr. Soto said his Business Academy students are up for the challenges.
"The DECA snack bar is only one of the retail-oriented businesses we will be running," he said. "DECA will also open a Jag Store sometime in the near future."
The store will be in the C-Building on campus, and it will offer hats, shirts, beanies and other school spirit gear.