A Walk to Church

One thing that is very nice about living in such a small town is being able to walk places with Xander.  On Sunday he and I had a nice walk together to get to the church.  At the church he had a lesson and played with his friends.  I had a hard time keeping him in primary though.  At one point I left the restroom and was informed that he was out in the parking lot!  Crazy boy.

Pinon High School Class of 2015

It has been a true honor to assist, train, educate, and prepare these young people for the next steps in life that they are about to take.  Mrs. Maynard and I both dressed semi-traditionally for the event to honor the students and their culture.  I am excited to hear great things about these wonderful young men and women in the years to come.

Reaching out to USU

I love it out here in Pinon and I love my old university, USU.  So with the many job openings that are becoming available and with the problems that the school district is having at filling them I reached out to my alma mater.  This is the email that I sent out.  Even if you are not a USU student perhaps you should consider coming to Pinon for the same reasons.

Hello,

Do you know of any graduates who are looking for work, are adventurous, and who are open to an incredible multicultural experience that will open doors for them?  

Some reasons why USU graduates should consider Pinon,

Housing is provided by the school district due to the fact that we are on federal land.  Rent is a paycheck deduction of about 300 a month(I have a three bedroom, two bathroom house).  Due to the low cost of living several of my peers have been able to save large amounts of money and put down payments on houses when they eventually move on. 

Pinon is the number one performing school district in Navajo Nation.

Job Security.  Pinon is the wealthiest school district in the state of Arizona.  If all federal funding were to be cut off, Pinon could still operate for several years without laying off any employees.

Pinon Unified School District is also one of the highest paying school districts in Arizona.

Working at Pinon has been a wonderful experience for me.  Since graduating from USU in 2010, I have worked here in the heart of Navajo Nation.  This year my family and I decided to move to a new area.  During interviews employers were very interested to hear about my cultural experiences and I became a finalist for several positions around the country before finally accepting a job in Memphis, TN.  I truly feel that this experience has started my career off on the right foot.

If you know of anyone who would be interested I would be happy to answer questions about the area, put them in contact with human resources and school administrators, give information about the LDS branch, and help them start a career in teaching.

Thank you and have a nice day,

Brent Maynard

Wrestling Banquet

Tonight I held the wrestling banquet and honored my student athletes from the middle school who worked so hard with me this last season.  It was a great success thanks to my wife Pamela who helped plan the event and even made two cakes for it.

Living in Navajo Nation things are done very differently than in the rest of the world.  It is customary to start any event with a prayer in Navajo.  I felt excited for the opportunity since it would be one of the final times that I would ever get to hear a Navajo prayer.  However when I asked for volunteers everyone remained silent.  My son Xander however took the opportunity to publicly sing the ABC's as loud as he could.  I encouraged him and helped him.  Everyone clapped for him.  He was pretty proud of himself.

After Xander's performance I asked again if anyone would pray in Navajo, when no one responded I prayed in Spanish.

Many more of the students showed up as the families were getting food to eat.  All but one of my wrestlers attended the event.  Once we had a good crowd and people were no longer in line to get food I handed out the awards and I also told them that I would be leaving Pinon.

So much food was brought to the event that there was a lot left over.  I kept joking with the wrestlers that it was okay to go get more since they would not have to make weight in the morning.  I love this sport and the students I have coached.  I will miss nights like this out here in Pinon.

Pinon FEA (Future Educators Association)

Today I submitted my end of the year report to the district office in order to get my stipend.  I also submitted my end of the year report to district for my CTE program.  All in all, pretty much the same thing.  It feels strange that it is coming to an end so soon.  We FINALLY got the shirts we ordered back and February and we were able to take a fantastic photograph with the group, almost everyone was there.

I have always wanted a long and varied career in teaching.  I have often imagined that if it were to end it would end at the university level.  I've always thought of my future as being a professor of history or perhaps of humanities/literature but teaching this course has begun to change my mind.  Seeing these students in action with the elementary and middle school students has made me pause and wonder if I would not be better as a trainer in an education program.

I love this group of students.  They are hard working and career and goal oriented.  I hope they make great teachers one day.

Scenic Trip Through Navajo Nation

We had the chance to see my brother Keith on Sunday.  We met up with him in Gallup, New Mexico, just outside of Navajo Nation.  We have not seen him since 2012.  It was a great time getting to meet up with him for breakfast as he was on his way to Utah to possibly buy a house.  It's kind of funny that the two of us are both moving this summer.  He is moving a week before we are.

 After seeing Keith and doing a little shopping for necessities we took the boys to a park and let them play for about an hour.  Xander had a blast running around the enormous playground and going around the various walkways and sliding down.  Curtis had a lot of fun walking around and swinging.

 Pamela decided to take us on a scenic trip on our way back.  These photos were taken near the town of Navajo, New Mexico.

Lake Wheatfield is a spectacular natural beauty here in Navajo Nation.  We stopped here and let the boys splash around a little bit.

To get from Wheatfield to Pinon we had to drive through the beautiful Canyon de Chelly, no pictures since I drove that section of the trip.  The last two photos are from the section of road between Chinle and Pinon.