Mathew Futch
Staff Reporter
Everyday, we walk around our beautiful campus and ignore the staff who work behind the scenes here at Ironwood. Today, I will be talking about two of our lovely security guards that work here on campus, Corina and Mr. Zuniga who have both worked extremely hard to keep Ironwood safe.
Both of them are having their first year here at Ironwood. Their responsibilities around the Ironwood campus is to maintain safety and order, be coverage for teachers, make sure students and the public can get in and out of campus, and make sure property is not damaged.
Corina started working here because she has four daughters who graduated and one who is currently going to Ironwood. She knows the campus pretty well due to this, so she decided to apply here after she retired from the Maricopa County Sheriff office.
Mr. Zuniga started working here after he retired from the sheriff department as well. His wife, Mrs. Zuniga works at Ironwood, and he states, “she said I have to continue to work. I am in my eighth year as a security guard, [I] worked at Kellis for seven years, and this is my first year here.”
When asked about the positives of working at Ironwood, he said “Staff, the staff is great to work with, everyone is cheerful, and willing to assist me since I am the new guy. Kids are great, I noticed that more here than at Kellis. The students are more respectful and conscious.”
Corina was asked the same question, she says “Merta, Reece, [all together a] very positive [community], it is very close to home, and I am very comfortable here and I really enjoy coming into work everyday it is nice” She was also asked what the challenges of working at Ironwood are, she states that there are not many challenges at Ironwood, but students can be though even that is rare. She also claims she plans on to keep working here for a few years, 3 years at the least.
Mr. Zuniga was asked the same questions, and he said, “Well, not every kid has a good day, so I have to acknowledge that and it was me learning to try and come off less tense and be calm, approach them according to not make the students day worst, I wanna be here for them.” Mr. Zuniga also says he plans on working for 2 more years at Ironwood.
Both were asked what their goals going forward are, Mr. Zuniga responded with, “To be better, get to know more of the students, so they can trust with anything they have and I want to get to know more staff.” Meanwhile Corina responded, “Watch my youngest graduate then go onto my full retirement instead of my partial retirement.”
Corina as an individual, has five daughters, has been married for over twenty years to someone she met while working in the sheriff's office, she plans on retiring in the lovely pine trees up north one day. She has over twenty-four dogs, cats, tortoises, hamsters, rats, and she also collects Volkswagens.
Mr. Zuniga, or Jerry is fifty-four, born in Nogales, went to college on a basketball scholarship at Arizona Western, which is where he met his delightful wife Bonnie, or as we know her, Mrs. Zuniga in room 401. He has two kids, he served and retired from the sheriff department after twenty-five years. He is looking forward to retiring and spending the rest of his life with the love of his life. He loves traveling and once he travels would like to use a map he wishes to fill up pictures for every state.
It was a great pleasure of mine to be able to interview these two delightful security guards, do not be scared to say hello to our newest eagles.
Image Credit: Mathew Futch
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