TUSD has 15 high schools, and this year, Teagan chose to be a part of Sahuaro’s Cougar community. Teagan Chandler, a 10th grader, didn’t start high school here; she transferred from UHS this past fall.
Unbeknownst to many, this was always the plan…Teagan never wanted to attend UHS. Like many others, she had heard the horror stories of the homework load, didn’t know lots of people attending, and it was far from her house. Nonetheless, her parents forced her to enroll. Despite going in with a good attitude, she didn’t have the best experience and decided to transfer. This was because, “The students created a hostile environment because everyone was trying to compete with each other. And there was just a lot of competition to be the best,” Teagan stated.
Not everything about UHS is negative Teagan shared, “I will say that the teachers at UHS are amazing.” While at UHS, Teagan was in Student Council and took many AP/honors classes, such as Honors Spanish 1/2, Honors English 10, Honors Algebra 1/2, AP Environmental Science, and AP Human Geography. In Student Council, she was the manager of bulletin boards around the school, head of homecoming design, and head of financial for their inaugural dance.
Since transferring to Sahuaro, Teagan has become involved in much more. She manages girls’ soccer with Jasmine Berrellez-Ozuna, where they assist in tasks including pumping, labeling, cleaning and fetching balls, repairing nets, filling up water, making sure players are taken care of and accounted for, helping coaches where they need it, and eventually analyzing games. She is a member of the book club, culinary club, and NHS. She is again taking 2 AP classes, AP Psychology and AP World History, along with Honors English 10, and Honors Algebra 2. In the spring semester, she plans on trying out for either tennis or cheer’s summer squad.
Between the two schools, Teagan would say the biggest difference is that “Students can actually be happy for each other and celebrate each other’s achievements rather than trying to be better than one another.”
Over the next 2 years, Teagan will continue on her AP/Honors track in hopes of obtaining a full scholarship to a college. Although she took a break this year, she fully intends to return to Student Council her Junior year. She also plans on joining JTED’s Public Law and Safety program in her senior year.
Regarding her future, Teagan has known since middle school she wants to go into criminology. To further her passion, she attended a middle school Public Law and Safety camp. At the camp, attendees dusted for fingerprints, learned basic laws, and learned about local criminals in the area. Her reasoning being, “I have always felt that human trafficking doesn’t have enough light on it and it is a good opportunity for me to help out with the cause.” She wants to major in Criminology, and eventually work in the FBI. To work towards this, she is maintaining her 4.3 GPA and has been accepted for a program called Teen FBI Academy in Phoenix this summer.
