By: Kristina Mertz, Farah Standley, and Aaliyah Herrera

Ms. Gomez is a vital part of Pleasanton High School, as she can always be seen smiling and representing a positive role model for her students. PHS the Quill has decided to make her our first Teacher Spotlight of the 2021-2022 school year.

When asked about her education, Ms. Gomez replied, “… I did graduate from Pleasanton High School… I graduated [in] 2009, right after I graduated I went to UTSA, University of Texas in San Antonio… got my four year undergraduate degree from [UTSA] in Art and Art History… as of right now i’m currently working on my Masters Degree also at UTSA… its been the same, its an education curriculum.” She later added, “This is my start of my 9th year of teaching… so it [has] been a long time, it doesn’t feel that way actually though, because I look back at it and I’m like, ‘oh my god it’s gone by so fast!’… Initially, I started teaching right after… [I] graduated in May. I started teaching in August and it was just something that I wanted to do. I wanted to share my passion for art with my students..” Although she currently teaches at Pleasanton, she hasn’t always taught here. “The school I taught at… previously was … Lytle High School, that was the first school that I taught at.”

As an alumni from PHS, Ms. Gomez says, “… I was in volleyball, I was in track, I was actually obviously in art… I was in theater club… and that’s pretty much it, but I had a lot of fun. All of the clubs I was in were very entertaining and I had a lot of friends that were also involved…”

Ms. Gomez was also happy to share about how she feels about being an art teacher,

“…I love teaching and being passionate about what I love and, so I think sharing that passion with students is super important… It’s always nice to have that connection with students that know how I feel about art, and so it’s… between that and getting students to appreciate it.” She then contributed, “I also love building relationships, getting students to see what they can do after high school.” But it seems all teachers need a vacation, Ms. Gomez shared with us that, “…I don’t travel as much as I used to… When I have time off, I’ll try to go either to the beach, or I’ll go out hiking somewhere, but normally, I stay somewhere in Texas… Favorite place I’ll probably have to say is, Hawaii… That was a pretty fun place to go… I’d go back in a heartbeat..”

      Fun fact: Ms. Gomez’s favorite color in primary terms is blue, she said “I like different shades of blue. So I like turquoise, I like minty blues, I like aqua blues, and so I say blue but then in general that’s what I mean when I say blue…”

Thank you Ms. Gomez, for your wonderful communication skills  and your willingness to touch students’ hearts!