The finance office is vital for our school to function, without it the school would be majorly unorganized and chaotic. Luckily for us, Ms. Gloria Otero has taken the position of finance manager here at Sahuaro to replace Ms. Lori, who has moved on to working for the district.

Ms. Otero is a native Tucsonan who loves her family and pets dearly; she has six kids and three pit bulls. In her free time, she enjoys mountain biking, taking long drives, and reading. Her favorite book is The Bible as she grew up religious. She has an intriguing heritage, back on January 10th, 1789 Don Toribio de Otero (her uncle many generations back) received the first Spanish land grant in Arizona from King Charles IV. Her family built a schoolhouse, a hall, and a post office in exchange for them to provide food and housing for the Spanish conquistadors.

As she is native to Tucson, she went to Apollo Jr. High and Sunny Side High School. After high school, she went to a career college and studied business and ran multiple restaurants. Ms. Otero wanted to try something new, so she applied for a job at Cholla High School as a cafeteria manager, and ended up working there for 14 years. She has no regrets moving to Sahuaro. She has a background in finance from her restaurant experience and is really enjoying the new job at Sahuaro.

I asked Ms. Otero why she likes the job and she replied,”I really enjoy the students, just like at Cholla. I enjoy interacting with the students, the staff, and the administration.” The job as finance manager can be quite challenging, especially during the beginning of the school year. She noted, “The challenge of the job is what I love the best, I like to keep busy and learning something new is great for me. I’m really happy here and that’s why I’m willing to learn what I can, I want to learn everything I can to serve everyone the best I can.”