Ms. Kirsten Tomko has been teaching as Armijo since 1997, first as a German teacher and currently as a math teacher. Her relationship with Armijo, however, goes even farther back as she herself graduated from Armijo High School. She was mainly influenced by her former German teacher, Mr. Joe Summers, who recently retired as a Multimedia teacher and often comes back to the campus to substitute.

Even though she had done some summer jobs when she was a college student, her main job for the last 20 years has been teaching. She aspired to be a teacher because she enjoyed watching students achieve some level of understanding, “and it is exciting to see someone’s light bulb go on,” she said.

One thing Ms. Tomko said she would like for Armijo is for the school to be more modernized with the facilities and the equipment. She notices that so much of the campus and the teaching methods are the same as when she went to school. For students who, like her, are inspired to teach, she would encourage them to “make sure that there is where your passion lies and make sure that you are ready to do the day-to- day tasks.”

While teaching is important to her, Ms. Tomko also enjoys reading and spending time with her three children. She likes to get involved in their hobbies.