Meet the Desert Sunrise High School staff

Marlene Armstrong, DSHS principal 

Armstrong and her husband owned a business and she worked in the private sector before going into education.  

Once she got into education, she taught K-5 computers, middle school technology and career explorations, and high school engineering.

Armstrong started the first rural Arizona engineering program and was eventually named Arizona Rural Teacher of the Year in 2012. 

She lives in Gilbert and has worked in Maricopa for the past two years. She worked at Maricopa High School her first year and spent most of the last year preparing to become the new DSHS principal.

She said it's been "incredible" for her to be in these roles, and that MUSD has been very supportive and encouraging.

She's been an administrator for 10 years, and DSHS is the second new high school she has helped open, as she was also part of opening San Tan Charter High School in Gilbert in 2018. 

Armstrong is a passionate educator, a leader with a vision focusing on climate and culture, cultivating relationships and creating an environment where the students can experience real world learning opportunities.

She values and supports her staff and teachers by "encouraging them to be innovative, creative and self-driven."

Armstrong recognizes and believes in the individual contributions and talents each teacher brings to the high school and she "empowers her staff to be positive role models to their students."

She's most excited about seeing students arrive to the new school. Students, after all, are the reason why she got into education.

Armstrong also enjoys working with adults, empowering other educators to do great things with kids, making their work "more fruitful."

She noted that one challenge the DSHS staff will face is creating an identity for the high school since many of the students will come from charter and middle schools, while others will come from MHS. 

Phillip Verdugo, DSHS planning assistant principal and athletic director

Verdugo grew up in the "beautiful state" of Arizona.

This new year at DSHS will be his first time acting in the role of assistant principal. Last school year, he was a teacher on special assignment, similar a dean of students, between Santa Rosa Elementary and Pima Butte Elementary. 

Verdugo lives in Gilbert. He said he enjoys the commute since it gives him time to catch up with family and friends and listen to podcasts and audiobooks. 

Back in the day, he attended Hamilton High School and was a student athlete. He graduated from there in 2005.

After high school, Verdugo attended ASU and graduated with a bachelor's degree in cross-categorial special education. Then, he returned to his high school as a special education teacher and coach.

For two years, he taught at North High School, then taught and coached at Marcos de Niza High School before transitioning to MUSD.

Verdugo's been at MUSD for three years and will be a Golden Hawk this year. 

He's "blessed to be a part of this amazing team," who he described as really "forward thinking" and "open-minded." They all share their thoughts and collaborate and count the days until they see it all come to life.

Verdugo is excited for the first day of school, seeing the kids get off the buses or dropped off by a parent or guardian and walking the halls and taking it all in as they get to see the school for the first time as they're going to class.

He really hopes students as excited and eager to "get going" as the staff are.

A challenge for staff he foresees will be working with the increase of student enrollment since Maricopa as a whole is in a high growth phase. Another challenge is meeting the needs of all the students and families at DSHS.

The staff will work together and rely on the systems they've put in place and strategically planned. With those, he anticipates they'll be "more than OK" and successful in the end.

Nicole Rincon, DSHS student government adviser and girls soccer head coach

Rincon came from the Southeastern U.S., moving with her husband to Arizona in 2019.

They've lived in Maricopa since 2019, though they briefly lived in Chandler for about a month. Since moving to Arizona, she's worked for MUSD at Desert Wind Middle School.

Rincon's excited to be a teacher at DSHS. This will be her 12th year as an educator.

She spent two years teaching high school and nine at the middle school level.

This past soccer season, Rincon helped MHS.

She'll teach the Career and Technical Education Business Management program under the Leadership Academy at DSHS, which will be offered as a dual enrollment course with Central Arizona College.

Rincon said opening a new high school is a "milestone" or "benchmark" for any city or district to have. She believes it says a lot about the Maricopa community and how much the city is growing.

Rincon graduated from the University of Tennessee and Alabama A&M with a Bachelor's degree in geography and cultural studies, Master of Education in secondary education and completed 27 additional credit hours in a Master of Business Administration program.

At DSHS, she's looking forward to combining her love of teaching with her previous professional experiences in sales and international logistics.

Rincon likes helping students understand new concepts, build self-confidence and achieve more than they originally thought possible. 

She enjoys seeing the students' journey from the beginning of the year to the end, and watching students evolve. She said that one activity she often does with students at the end of the year is reflection in class, which enables them tp realize how much they've accomplished over the past year.

She finds it fun teaching high school students since they can dive deeper into the information, especially 11th and 12th grade, when they have their own experiences and real world application to pull from. 

A challenge Rincon's looking to the students for guidance on is learning how to operate social media. She wants to be up-to-date on her social and cultural references. 

Her hope through learning to mastery social media is to be more aware of what's influencing students outside of school and catching their attention to better relate to them and understand how they think. 

And one thing she's looking forward to in the upcoming school year is working with student government to help set up traditions and make DSHS its own unique place in the district.

Rincon's really excited to work with other faculty members on staff too, noting that the staff has already started forming professional friendships.

Allie Krigbaum, DSHS college and career counselor and EdRising teacher

Krigbaum knows "students learn best from teachers they like," which is why "she loves making deep connections with her students."

She's lived in Maricopa for 10 years.

For 15 years, she's been a teacher at the elementary and high school levels.

She previously taught at Butterfield Elementary for eight years and MHS for one.

Krigbaum has "always had a passion for helping students," whether it's training them to be teachers or giving them knowledge for future career decisions.

She also loves teaching high school, though, initially, she wasn't sure if teaching at the high school level was right for her. At the time she made the transition, she was unsure about how to connect with high schoolers since she really connected with younger students in elementary school.

But teaching young adults ended up being Krigbaum's favorite year she's ever had teaching.

She loved being a part of all those high school memories such as prom and football games. She also likes having students come to her for advice and having deep conversations about their life decisions.

Krigbaum feels there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything in. She and the other staff want to make this high school the best it can be and the best experience for the students. 

With the planning the staff has done, she feels like they can accomplish all they're wanting to do. 

Krigbaum is most excited about watching everything unfold at DSHS after planning it out and meeting the parents and students.

Her husband will also be teaching at DSHS, and the pair is proud all their kids go to MUSD schools.

Krigbaum has a Bachelor's degree in elementary education, a master's  in curriculum and instruction from Arizona State University and a post-baccalaureate in speech pathology from California State Fullerton.

Krigbaum's role at the new high school will be as a dual enrollment instructor for DSHS and CAC. She works with Arizona State University in a variety of departments, selecting and granting scholarships to qualified students.

She's "excited and eager" to welcome DSHS students in July.