Everyone remembers their first day here at Cardinal City – even our staff members. Two and a half years ago, our principal Antoinette Gutierrez stepped foot on our campus for her first day. In an emotional interview, she explained just how that day was for her. The one word she could find to explain how that day went was ‘insane.’ She exclaimed how she was ‘So white!’ and hadn’t realized it until that moment. She had been informed that Cardinal City was like a college campus, with students frollicking around and attending class on their own accord, but she didn’t believe it until that first morning. She stood in the quad as the bell rang, and it was evident that no one was moving with purpose. When the final bell rang, there was a ridiculous amount of students still standing around, and not in class. Dr. Gutierrez then realized that there was a lot of work to do. Although our students weren’t the most purposeful or excited to get to class, they were respectful and kind to her, which pleasantly surprised her. She knew that we definitely had potential. For her first week here at Cardinal City, people from the district checked on her daily, worried she would quit by the time the week was over. There was no need to worry though, because she knew that she was where she was supposed to be. She was home.