By Juliana Segura
The Centennialight
As of April 1, 2024, Alex Trujillo replaced Dave Craddock in the principal position at Centennial. In his first official week, Trujillo has felt welcomed by staff and students and is looking forward to the rest of his Bulldog journey.
As Centennial’s new principal, Trujillo is determined to help bring Centennial to the spotlight and heavily encourages people to notice all of the astounding things Bulldogs have accomplished.
“I want to ensure that students know about all of the awesome programs we have available,” Trujillo stated. “I want students to participate in the many extracurricular activities that we have.”
Trujillo shared it was always a long-term goal to work in administration, so he was eager to join Central High School as Assistant Principal in 2018 after teaching for 35 years in three different schools, one being Centennial.
Moving from Centennial to Central, and back to Centennial, Trujillo has had the unique opportunity of switching between two strong rival schools and has seen both sides of the rivalry, traditions, and passion around the big game.
Not only has he seen sides of the Centennial-Central rivalry, but he has also experienced the East-South rivalry as he graduated from South High School in the class of 1990 where he played football.
He returned to South for 15 years as an English Language Learner (ELL) teacher working with students who speak different languages and returning to the football program, this time as an assistant coach.
“Coaching was an important piece to that motivation of coming to work everyday; working with students outside of the classroom and in that sport being able to really support them.”
After teaching and coaching at South, he found himself working at a middle school as an English teacher for 18 years. He continued as an English teacher at Centennial for two years before joining the Wildcats as an administrator.
Trujillo has found his greatest motivator to be, “The positive impact you can make on students and lead them to the opportunities that they are not aware of.”
Finally, Trujillo wants Centennial Bulldogs to know, “I will always strive to do my best. I will make decisions based on the interest of students, what's best for them, and what’s best for the community. I want everyone to know that I want to work together to make Centennial the best high school it can be.”
