Soleng Tom Elementary School

Maria previously split her time as a school counselor between two separate Tucson Unified schools, but six years ago an opportunity to work full time opened up at Soleng Tom Elementary – and she took it. Since then, she has loved working at the eastside school and helping students on a daily basis.
 
She has an extensive 20+-year teaching experience on top of her counseling, but outside of work, she loves hiking, reading, and doing anything that will better herself so she may continue to help others. 

“Working as a school counselor is giving me the opportunity to work with a student in the social emotional component,” Maria said. “I couldn’t do much work [in that area] as a teacher, even though you are looking out for the whole wellbeing of the student.” 

Patsy is an Arizona transplant by way of Louisiana. Although there are certain food items and recipes she misses from her home state, over the last four years, Patsy has come to love the southwest, including the culture and food scene in Tucson. She’s also a big fan of not having high humidity around messing up her hair. 

With two school-aged children at the time of the move, Patsy was looking at possible schools. After taking a tour of Soleng Tom, she not only knew she wanted her kids to go there, but she wanted to work there as well! Now, all three of her children are enrolled at the eastside school. 

“As soon as I got here, you could feel all the kindness just coming off the staff members,” Patsy said. “And when you were walking through the halls, even though it was still summertime, you could see that everybody cared about their students, and they wanted us here.” 

Jennifer is a Tucson Unified product through and through. The Instructional Specialist grew up attending TUSD schools – Dunham for elementary, Secrist for middle school, and graduated from Santa Rita High School. Now, she’s been part of Soleng Tom’s staff for 14 years, juggling a few different roles – like cafeteria monitor – before moving into the instructional specialist position a few years ago.  

And her kids also grew up attending TUSD schools. 

“All of my kids came through this school as well, and, so, being able to be here when my kids were enrolled was fun,” Jennifer said. “Then, as they moved on, just the staying power of the staff and the people here at Soleng Tom was what made me stay.”