From painting classrooms into creative and innovative learning places for all students to leading schools to success, Associate Principal Paige Trujillo advances to the next step of her career with her new role at Prosper High School. Trujillo said her passion for education stems from her old ceramics classroom, where her teacher – Mr. Gabbert, inspired her to pursue a career in education.

“At first I thought I wanted to be a writer. I really connected with English, and I loved writing, but then I had a teacher my junior year of high school, Mr. Gabbert – he was my ceramics teacher. He had a long braided ponytail, mid-back. He always had music playing, and I just loved being in ceramics class with him,” Trujillo said. “He was the first person that ever saw me as not an athlete. I was a big-time athlete, and you know, that kind of ran my life, but he saw me as an artist.”

At the beginning of her education career, Trujillo taught fifth and sixth grade in Indiana, and she taught at the same school her ceramics teacher did – Mr. Gabbert.

“He was so cool, like somebody who could see past what everybody else thought of me,” Trujillo said. “New and different, and that just really made me want to be a teacher, specifically an art teacher.”

Trujillo continued her ceramic teacher’s job when he retired, and a year later she moved to Texas after she married Ricky Trujillo. Both of them work at Prosper high.

“My husband’s also a coach,” Trujillo said. “He coaches football here, and when we had our daughter, we knew that we both couldn’t coach. It was just going to be a lot in our family because we also didn’t really have any family close. I kind of stepped back and wanted him to be able to coach and do all that.”

Trujillo worked at Braswell High School before coming to Prosper.

“At a certain point, I just remember feeling this feeling that I’ll go back to school, study, and figure out this admin thing,” Trujillo said. “I had really great administrators that poured into me, and I really connected with them. It made me think about education in a different way, and so working with them inspired me to see what it was all about. I’m so glad I did.” 

Since the start of her career as an art teacher to now, Trujillo said she’s created many long-lasting memories throughout her years in education.

“Beating Allen in football – that was crazy and really fun,” Trujillo said. “That level of energy and kids, how excited everybody was, that was amazing. The blackout pep rallies are one of my favorite memories. I love everybody getting excited, and Mr. Jones doing his pep rally thing.”

This year, Trujillo will lead Prosper high as associate principal alongside Principal Nick Jones. Both of them have been working together to achieve the goals they set for this year.

“The work that we’ve done these past couple years, and trying to become a model PLC (professional learning community) campus, has been really rewarding as an assistant principal and now as the associate principal,” Trujillo said. “To see our campus grow, and to see the data supporting the work that we’re doing, because it’s been the one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done in education.”

As associate principal, Trujillo makes sure to support Mr. Jones.

“My role as the associate principal is to support Mr. Jones’s goals here for PHS. My job is going to help ensure that his goals happen,” Trujillo said. “We want to become a model PLC campus and get recognized by the Solution Tree. We want to do that by the end of this year. That’s been our goal ever since he came here.”

Trujillo works alongside administraters to improve content delivered in classrooms and to make sure all teachers have the resources they need to be successful.

“Another one of our goals, and things that we’re always focusing on, is just improving and working on the campus culture and climate here,” Trujillo said. “We want this to be a place where kids love to come to school and a place where adults love to come work. We want fun pep rallies and spirit weeks and all that stuff. So, we’re continuing to help work and bolster that.”

As associate principal, Trujillo said her previous role as assistant principal has prepared her for this new position.

“Teaching really does inform a lot of what we do,” Trujillo said. “Because, in the administration role, we work with a lot of teachers. You help teachers grow their practice, and you make sure that the whole campus is learning – that every single student is learning.” 

There are also challenges that Trujillo faces as associate principal.

“There are other things that you don’t do as a teacher, that you do as an administrator when it comes to discipline,” Trujillo said. “You know, different conversations that you have with people, and so I think just learning the ins and outs of what those new pieces were was challenging at the beginning, but it’s also fun. I love challenges. I’m a competitive person. So, it was new, and it was different.”

Trujillo worked as an assistant principal at Prosper for three years before becoming the associate principal.

“I would like to say how grateful I am for Mr. Jones,” Trujillo said. “He is an amazing leader and a great mentor. I’ve learned so much from him, and I don’t know if I would be where I am today without his mentorship. He’s so great at giving the people around him the knowledge that he has.”

Besides working alongside administration, Trujillo expressed the passion she has for all of her students and creating a ‘great’ environment for all of the students here.

 “I just love the energy in the building,” Trujillo said. “Me and Mr. Jones are here all summer, while people are gone, so the building feels kind of sad without everybody in it. The best thing is when teachers come back and all that energy, and then y’all come back, and that’s even more energy. I just love, I truly love this job, and I love prosper High School. When everybody comes back, that’s the best part of coming back to school.”

Trujillo continues collaborating with Jones, and the administration members to improve the environment at school and spread the mission she has.

“Our mission and vision here at PHS is ensuring that we all learn at a high level,” Trujillo said. “So we make sure every single kid at PHS is learning at a high level – at grade level or higher. It is my responsibility to think about every single student – and make sure nobody slips through the cracks.”

This article received updates for links, grammar and style Aug. 16.