Tag Archives: Burges High School

A project that began as a community service outlet for two sisters a year ago is now flourishing into a full-fledged service under the direction of the two girls’ younger sister.

Bella’s Bargain, a thrift store that opened at Burges High School to give all students access to stylish and affordable clothing regardless of income, celebrated its first anniversary earlier this month.

The store is the brainchild of Burges alumnae Arabella and Isabella Cadena, twins who are now freshmen at the University of Texas at Austin. Bella’s Bargains provides donated clothing free of charge to any student in need, while those who can afford it pay a minimal charge.

The twins younger sister, Burges sophomore Mia Cadena, is now the president of the school organization that operates the thrift shop.

“It’s been amazing to see Bella’s Bargains grow over the last year. We have had thousands of donations from hundreds of people, Mia Cadena said. “I really do feel like the store makes a huge difference.”

Burges Early College counselor Alice Drury said the store has had a significant impact on the lives of students.

“We’ve been able to address the needs of some students who were very much in need of clothing,” she said. “The best part is that this store has become a symbol of the spirit of giving among not just our students, but the neighborhood and business community here at Burges, too.”

As Bella’s Bargains moves into its second year, student organizers hope to continue expanding the services it has provided.

The store, which is housed in Burges’ former custodial house, continues to gather donated clothes that may be useful for teenagers. In order to help students who may wish to attend end-of-school year celebrations, Bella’s Bargains hopes to collect as many used prom dresses and suits as possible.

Students and adults who wish to donate clothing , may drop it off at the school.

Burges teacher Keith Townsend speaks eloquently and passionately about his 30-year career in drama, forensics and debate – grinning with pride about his students’ accomplishments.

After only a few minutes of his time, it’s evident why New York’s Hofstra University selected him in its inaugural tradition of honoring forensic coaches regionally and nationally. He will be honored in March at the university’s Pi Kappa Delta National Speech and Debate Association Championship Tournament.

“At the tournament, we will present you with a certificate recognizing your leadership in and service to the debate and forensic community, a few little gifts from our Hofstra gift shop symbolizing our hope that you will be proud of your Hofstra connection, and a modest honorarium as a token of our recognition,” wrote Benjamin Rifkin, Dean of Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in his letter to Townsend.

The award also recognizes his role in supporting speech and debate in El Paso.

“It’s sort of neat to get that kind of a recognition. But it’s like, okay, this is absolutely the last coaching award. There are no more that exist,” he chuckled. “It’s when they start giving you awards like this, it’s like ‘wow, okay, I guess my career is over.’”

But the Burges teacher still has too much fire to retire – committed to coming to work before the sun rises every day to prepare for class and his students, as well as getting that ideal parking space.

“I’m having a good time with this and I can’t even tell you how great the students are,” he said. “I’m just really impressed with these kids. I have a job that I look forward to coming to everyday. That’s what makes this so good.”

Townsend’s career took a 360 turn from being a first-year teacher at Burges in the 1980s to spending seven years at Bowie High, moving on to Bel Air High during its reconstitution days, teaching at El Paso Community College for 17 years and then returning in 2017 to teach more generations of Mustangs.

Townsend lights up reminiscing about his Bowie student who won a state and national championship in persuasive speaking. Then there’s Jacob Rodriguez, Bowie’s current theater teacher, who sat in his class in the 1990s and won second place in nationals in poetry.

“I begged to go to Bowie because they didn’t have a program,” Townsend said. “I said ‘I can get a speech and a theater program there.’ What we had for seven years was the top program in the city.”

In his second stint at Burges, Townsend teaches dual credit speech, technical theater & design and musical theater. He comfortably walks through the multipurpose room – cans of paints, saws and other power tools strategically set throughout the room – watching his advanced students build sets in preparation for Burges’ upcoming show “All Hallow’s Eve Dream.” The dark 2075 adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” will be staged beginning next week.

He and fellow theater teacher Fernie Arana challenged students to think outside the box during the development of their upcoming production. It took the students a couple weeks to transform their traditional mindset and go deeper into a more creative realm.

“I’d tell them ‘you’re on the right track but now take it further. Go as far as you can. I can pull you back, but I can’t pull you up. They had the most wild, outrageous ideas. Once I could get them to start doing that and trusting themselves, they came up with awesome ideas. We want to take the Burges program, get them to really think outside of the box and be really be over the top creative.”

Chloe Curtis, Burges senior, first met Townsend with his sister at EPCC shows and eventually performed under his direction there and with Viva El Paso. She’s currently taking his musical theater class.

“You can tell he has such a deep passion for what he does,” she said. “He cares about the kids and getting the story across.

Four JROTC students from this East-Central school packed their bags for a trip to Washington, but this was no vacation.

The incoming seniors competed in the 2018 Army JROTC Academic Bowl, also known as JLAB, where they won two of the nine competitions there and ranked among the top 3 percent of all JROTC teams in the country.

The Mustangs who competed were Camila de Leon, Jeremiah Davis Bell, Ryan Cruz and Dylan Jimenez.

“It’s a great honor to represent Burges JROTC and EPISD on a national level,” said JROTC instructor Jose Hernandez. “Our motto is ‘Our discipline got us started, and our passion keeps us going.’ That’s what got us this far.”

The competition officially started last November with more than 1,000 teams participating in Level I and Level II. Only the top 32 teams are chosen to compete at the championship.

“I believe we have a really strong team,” Hernandez said. “They know who’s good at what so they each can focus on their individual subjects.”

Cruz, who has been in JROTC the last three years, joined the academic team his sophomore year.

“As far as I know, this is the first time Burges has qualified for a competition like this,” Cruz said. “So, we are hoping this sets the standard for years to come.”

The team has been preparing by watching competitions from previous years and studying nonstop.

“It’s very rewarding because when we first started we didn’t expect to get this far,” Jimenez said. “We have been going over study material online. There’s nothing specific to study for because they will ask you anything from bodies of water around the world to Greek mythology. You really just have to be prepared for anything.”

Camilla de Leon excels at language arts – something she puts to good use as part of the academic team.

“Since we are not given specific things to study, we would get together and study things we are learning in class,” she said. “We also would drill each other on facts, anything from math, English, history and current events.”

For fellow teammate Jeremiah Davis Bell, the team has become much more than just academic achievement.

“We all have our own individual strengths, and we help each other however we can,” he said. “We are like family. We are brothers and sisters.”

He hopes the competition will help showcase the school.

“It feels awe inspiring to represent the District,” he said. “I see it as a chance to show other schools around the nation that anyone can make it if you put forth the effort.”

Two Burges Mustangs were among the best current-events debaters in the state after their outstanding participation in the University Interscholastic League Congressional Debate in Austin earlier this month.

Senior Emilio Posada and junior Devin Cain went head-to-head against some of the top debaters in Texas at the state competition.

“The kids get a chance to sit in a chamber of their peers and debate topics that parallel actual topics that are on the floor of Congress. Topics like immigration and federal funding,” said Burges Coach Jacklyn Ochoa. “They get the docket with all the bills and research it on their own time and make speeches to compete.”

Posada and Cain were the only EPISD students to qualify for state.

“They did very well. They did lots of research and worked very hard,” Ochoa said.

Congress is an individual contest in a large group setting, which models the legislative process of democracy. Within the mock legislative assembly competition, students draft legislation and research real-world social and political policies prior to the contest to prepare their speeches.

The state meet gave the Burges students a glimpse into the tough state competition, which they said will help other future EPISD contestants do better in future years.

“I was complimented by other coaches on their demeanor, research and their ability to handle parliamentary procedures,” Ochoa said. “They acquire a lot of knowledge and are up to date on current events, which helps them become responsible adults because they realize how the impact of these issues.”

In addition to practice after school on Tuesdays and Thursday, students spent any free time researching and learning as much as possible.

“Information is the most powerful tool we have. The more informed, the more active the youth is, especially with current events, the more good can come to our communities,” Posada said. “Being part of the debate team has opened a lot of doors for me. I’ve had people tell me that for someone my age, it’s impressive I can speak professionally in front of so many people.”

Posada has been part of the debate team all four years – something he says has impacted his outlook on life.

“It really opens a lot of doors, learning to speak and obtaining information,” he said. “I’m very grateful for everything I have learned and all these experiences.”

This is the first year Cain competes at UIL state competition.

“I was very happy to go. It was very challenging. One of the best things this year is how far we have gotten. You have to be prepared because you have to know everything and be able to back it up,” he said. “One of the biggest things I have learned is patience, but more importantly when to say things and when not to.”

Cain thinks people should stay informed, especially in today’s world where they are is a lot of information to digest.

“It’s important because it’s not really helpful if you’re in a society where no one understands what’s going,” he said. “If you understand current events and are familiar with public speaking you can talk in public with other people.”

His advice: “Always use multiple sources. If you use multiple sources that all same thing, it makes your point a lot more credible.”