Lawson captures another tennis title

Kelsey Lawson, a 15-year-old Corona del Sol student and south Tempe resident, won the Girls 18 & Under Tanoan Sweet 16 tennis title last month in Albuquerque, N.M. En route to her victory, in the semi-final, Lawson defeated Mele Iongi, the 2008 State 5A1 Champion and East Valley Tribune High School Girls Player of the Year, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Lawson then beat Michaela Oldani of Scottsdale in the final, 6-1, 6-3.

     Lawson will be a junior at Corona and has led her varsity tennis team as the No. 1 player for two years. She is two-time Tempe-All City, two-time Central Region Player of the Year, and two-time East Valley First Team All-State.

She also led her Corona del Sol girls tennis team to a semifinal finish in the team State tournament this year. Lawson finished third in the State singles Championships in 2007 and fourth in 2008.

Lopez advances in school district

Tempe resident Juvenal Lopez on July 1 became Human Resources director for the Phoenix Union High School District, after serving as Metro Tech High principal the past two years.

Lopez will be responsible for certificated (teachers) employees as the Human Relations director. He was at Metro Tech for five years as principal and assistant principal. He came to Phoenix Union in 2003 from the Kyrene School District in Tempe, where he was an administrator for 12 years, including four as an assistant principal at Altadena Middle School. He also was a teacher for five years in the Mesa School District.

Lopez earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education and master’s in educational leadership at Arizona State University. Lopez graduated from high school in Bagdad, Ariz., where he worked in the copper mining industry as an engineering technician prior to becoming a teacher.