By: Jaelyn Morales

Ms. Infante is a teacher here at Pleasanton High School. This is her first year teaching at Pleasanton and she has already made a big impact on the students here. She teaches both World History and World Geography. Ms. Infante always has a bright smile on her face and even with a mask on you can tell she enjoys teaching and takes her job seriously. “She is a fun and interactive teacher that makes it easy for us to understand and grasp the information that is being taught,” said Alexis Ramos, a student of Ms. Infante’s World History class. 

Ms. Infante graduated from Los Fresnos High School and went on to receive her Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts/Social Studies Composite from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Before coming to Pleasanton, she was a teacher at Harlingen High School for 1 year and then taught at Bruni High School for 2 years.

When asked what her favorite part about being a teacher is, Ms. Infante responded, “I love interacting with my students and I love teaching them new things.” Although there are a lot of good and fun things about being a teacher, there are also a lot of difficulties teachers go through and one in particular this year is Covid-19.

When asked what the hardest part about teaching is, Ms. Infante responded, “All the changes this year because of Covid-19 have made it more difficult, but with the help of other teachers I wasn’t as nervous my first two weeks.” This school year has been difficult for everyone in some way, but that hasn’t stopped Ms. Infante and other teachers from trying their hardest to make sure we are safe and learning new concepts, principles, and skills.

Ms. Infante has done an amazing job this year and her positivity and encouragement that has brightened many people’s days has not gone unnoticed. Thank you Ms. Infante for being a hardworking and inspiring teacher and for everything you do in and out of the classroom.

By: Jaelyn Morales

Basketball players RJ Marquez, Juan Lopez, Heaven Marquez, Kayli Kennedy, and Reagan Moore pose for a picture.

The Pleasanton girls’ and boys’ basketball teams started their season off with scrimmages to get ready for their upcoming games. The Lady Eagles had their first scrimmage of the season on Saturday, October 31, against Alamo Heights. The following Tuesday, November 3, they played the Dilley Wolves. Their first game was supposed to be on Tuesday, November 10, against Crystal City, but was sadly cancelled. Their official first game was on Friday, November 13, against Bandera. They lost with a score of 39-37, but it was a very close game. When asked what her biggest goal for this season is, sophomore Sadie Mcada responded, “My biggest goal is getting our team to have a positive outlook on this season even through the obstacles, work harder than ever.” The Lady Eagles are starting the season off strong and positive and, most of all, they are aiming high this year.  

The Eagles had their first scrimmage on Saturday, November 7, against Southwest/Highlands. Then they played the following Tuesday, November 10, against the Lytle Pirates. Their first game of the season was Tuesday, November 17, against Brooks Academy. The Eagles are off to a good start, but will need to keep working hard to have another incredible season like last year. To put into perspective the Eagles had booked their first trip to the regional tournament since 1991. They did this by beating Port Isabel in the regional quarterfinals and faced Stafford in the class 4A Regional Semifinals, but sadly lost. Even though this year has been a challenge, that won’t stop either team from giving it all they got on and off the court.

By: Jaelyn Morales

Mrs. Pippen

Mrs. Pippen has a very important role here at Pleasanton High School. For those who might not know, Mrs. Pippen is the registrar here at PHS, which means she is in charge of everything from report cards, progress reports, and grades to the records, enrolling and withdrawing students, and assisting parents when they need help. 

She started her job here at PHS in 2005 working in the Library, but 5 years later in 2010, she got a position working in the counselor’s office as the registrar. Since then she has been very busy helping every student in 9th-12th grade with things such as making their schedule for the school year, taking care of all the grades and GPAs, which are very important, and up keeping folders also known as PRC’s (every student has one) in a records room, which has records all the way back from the 1930’s and has to find them when a college or business is faxing them. After helping the students here at PHS, she now has to help the students who are either enrolling or withdrawing. She does this by contacting the other schools to get information, or for those withdrawing, she contacts the new school to make sure they’re going to school there and not being considered a dropout. 

This year has been a little more hectic for the staff at PHS because of Covid-19, but that did not stop them from working their hardest to give us students everything we need for this school year. “ I get a lot of help from the counseling department, we’re a great team and we enjoy working together,” Mrs. Pippen said, “We all get along and we get the job done.” Mrs. Pippen has done an outstanding job this year, as well as the other staff, and together they have exceeded in trying to make sure this school year goes great for everyone. Although this school year has been different from others, she’s still striving to help students, teachers, parents, and other staff members out, and that is why she deserves this month’s Staff Spotlight.

By: Jaelyn Morales

Lady Eagles celebrate after winning the point against Hondo | J Garcia

The Pleasanton Lady Eagles started the season off with seven straight wins before falling to Poth and now stand at 10 wins and 8 losses, but with district starting they will have to step it up and play even harder to make it to playoffs and hopefully be bi-district champs again.

 Last year, the Lady Eagles made it to the playoffs after beating the Cuero Gobblers and had a spectacular first playoff game against Devine, by getting the win and becoming bi-district champs after 5 sensational sets. Sadly their next game ended their playoff run with a loss against the Hidalgo Pirates, but this year the Lady Eagles want to make a comeback and for that to happen they will need to work together as a team and overcome their obstacles.                                                                                                                    

 Their first district game of the season was against Cuero on Tuesday, September 22 and they fought hard till the end, though unfortunately came out with a loss. The score for that game was ( 25-23, 20-25, 18-25, 20-25 ) and although they were defeated it was an exciting game to watch. JV and Freshman also lost their games, but hustled and the score was close throughout the game. When asked about how this season is going so far, Angel Tucker responded, “So far it’s been okay, but we as a team have had a habit of taking too many breaks during a game and that sometimes causes us to be defeated. We’ve had some pretty good wins but I hope we can fight for every point in our upcoming district games.” Fighting for every point will be necessary in their upcoming games so they can make it to the playoffs and be champions, but to do that they will need your support. They hope to see more fans at their future games so please show your eagle spirit and come on out to one of their games and cheer them on. Let’s go Lady Eagles!