by 
Warren James
Megan Corder
Ma. Immaculada B. Mongcupa
Copper Basin News
Copper Basin area schools welcomed back students last week and also welcomed three new teachers in the Ray District. The Hayden-Winkelman District faculty remains the same as last year.
Megan Corder is the new first grade teacher at Ray. She earned an Associates in Elementary Ed from CAC, Apache Junction and received her Bachelors in Early Elementary Ed-Special and General Ed from Northern Arizona last spring.
She chose education as a career because she feels like she was meant to help change lives and said what better way to do that than to help children succeed educationally. She added that education is the biggest stepping stone to a person’s success, and she really wants to help people become successful in and out of school. “Those ‘Ah, ha!’ moments that you get with students are truly an amazing feeling,” she said.
Her career goals include teaching as long as she possibly can and also hopes to obtain her Masters degree as she loves being in the classroom both professionally and as a student.
She is engaged to Gary Vinson and they plan to wed next spring.
Megan enjoys working with clay and has a small ceramics studio at A Diamond Ranch where she lives and she participates annually in the oracle Artists’ Studio tour. She also enjoys reading both for educational purposes and pleasure and she loves animals. On the ranch they have three cattle dogs and an inside dog. They also have cattle and five horses and two cats.
Ma. Immaculada B. Mongcupa is teaching Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Financial Algebra, Geometry, Pre-Calculus and Math Concept 2 all at the high school level.
She has a B.S. in Mathematics from Stilliman University and hold has a B.S. Commerce major in Accounting.
She chose teaching as a career because she like mathematics. Her career goals is to eventually be a financial consultant.
She is married to Romulo Mongcuga and they have three children. Ma. Mildred B. Mongoupa who is a fourth year nursing student, Michelle B. Mongcupa, a third year accounting student and Ma. Marical B. Mangcupa, a first year nursing student.
Her hobbies and interests include table tennis, chess and internet surfing.
Warren James is the new Physics/Engineering/Chemistry teacher at the high school. He holds a Bachelor in Secondary Education-Physics from Bukidnon State University, Philippines; and a Master of Science in Teaching Physical Science with a major in Physics and a minor in Chemistry from Mindanoa University of Science and Technology, Philippines. He also has earned a certificate in Engineering Design from Purdue University, Indiana.
He won a fellowship in applied physics (nanotechnology) at Stanford University in 2011 and has taught physics for the last 12 years, including six years in the Philippines, four years at Baltimore City Public Schools in Maryland and two years at Imagine Prep H.S. in Apache Junction.
He enjoys robotics, playing volleyball and traveling in his leisure time.
Vicki started her career in the journalism field while attending Ray High School in Kearny with an excellent teacher who took her by the hand and guided her. She worked on the school newspaper and as a senior was a co-editor. Her dream was to go on to college to study journalism and eventually to travel the world reporting the news. This dream was interrupted by life circumstances. She stayed in Kearny and went to work for the Copper Basin News in 1964 as a typesetter. Her editor was Ira Q. Toler and he also was a good teacher. After marrying and having children, her desires to again work in the newspaper field surfaced. She responded to an ad for a position in advertising for the Copper Basin News which included selling, lay-out and design. She was hired on the spot. The business has greatly changed with technology and the introduction of desktop publishing. She was fortunate enough to be a part of it. She has now worked for Copper Area News Publishers on and off for over 30 years, starting when John Seater was the publisher. She has held many positions over the years, but is most proud to be named a reporter. She loves to write and is so grateful for being given that chance.
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