We welcome our Newest Edition to our South El Monte family with open arms and would love to learn more about them. As we went to visit them in their new familiar classrooms we had the pleasure of speaking with Ms. Truilijo, Dr. Munoz, and Mr. Duong. It is my pleasure to be introducing the new additions of the 2023-2024 school year staff, to better help get to know them.
I had the pleasure of meeting three of the new teachers, as well as getting to know them better. For example, as I had the opportunity to speak to Ms. Truilijo, it turns out she was a fellow alumnus from our lovely South El Monte High School. She commented that it was very bittersweet coming back to her “home”. She mentioned how she taught at Mountain View, as well as El Monte, but once she heard about the opportunity of coming back home she had to take it. “Teaching is calling, I think I’m meant to be a teacher, a couch, and a club advisor, everything I do here.” Ms. Truiljio said as I asked her why she is teaching English at South. She feels complete now as she is back in her community.
Dr. Munoz also mentioned how she was from the community and attended Mountain View. She came to South El Monte as she felt she had to give back to her community. She was encouraged to work in the CBI program South offers as she wished to make her younger niece proud. Her niece is her passion for teaching. She says, “She graduated from this program, from the CBI program. Which is why when I saw the opening to apply, this feels like alignment, I feel like I’m meant to apply for this position.” As we got to know more about the lovely Dr. Munoz, we got to hear her heartfelt story.
As we learn Dr. Munoz and Ms. Trujillo are alumni we find out that they are fellow district alumni and we also find out, that Mr. Duong is a Rosemead alumnus. Mr. Duong says he got into teaching as he felt encouraged by his past teachers. He plans to stay here in the South as he feels a part of the family. He wanted to make history more enjoyable, as he felt it always had a bad reputation. “If we take a deep look into history, you can sort of see how it sorta shaped our life.” He hopes to change people’s view of History and make it more entertaining and interesting.
We welcome everyone to our South El Monte High School family with open arms. Thank you for being here with us!
