Focus on TUSD - December 2007

Awards and Recognition
Borton teacher wins UA scholarship
Sara L. Ruopp, Exceptional Education teacher in the ABLE Preschool at Borton Primary Magnet School, is one of the University of Arizona students who was awarded the College of Education 2007 Erasmus Circle Scholarship Award. Ruopp is pursuing her master's degree in Severe and Multiple Disabilities at the university.

Erasmus Circle Scholars are considered to be outstanding College of Education students who have shown promise in their area of study and research," wrote Borton Principal Teri Melendez in an e-mail. "Being named a College of Education Erasmus Circle Scholar is a great honor. In addition to this great distinction, they receive a $500 scholarship, which is to be used for research, travel, books and/or tuition. Funding comes from the Erasmus Circle Patrons and Erasmus Circle Boosters," wrote Melendez.

Design award goes to Safford student
Daniela Pastor, a sixth-grade visual art student at Safford Magnet Middle School, took first place for her Rain Forest Design in a competition sponsored by the Southern Arizona Chapter of the Society of Design Administration, an affiliate of the American Institute of Architects. Daniela's teacher is Karen Mitchell. In celebration of designing the new Tucson Children's Museum and other exhibits, the students competed by constructing buildings from business cards, glue and toothpicks. Daniela's and other winning designs will be displayed through Dec. 20 at the Tucson Children's Museum, 200 S. Sixth Ave.

Secrist students spread joy to UMC pediatric patients
Students from Secrist Middle School, 3400 S. Houghton Road, visit pediatric patients at University Medical Center several times each year as part of the school's community service program.

Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade student council members visit patients in UMC's Children's Playroom, said school nurse Jan Hart-Fast, R.N. Groups of five or six students are accompanied by Hart-Fast and another Secrist faculty member. A different art project is chosen for each visit. "The purpose of these community service visits is to give these children an opportunity to have some fun experiencing activities that other healthy kids can do," said seventh-grader Sophie Stewart. "It helps us grow as people and appreciate important things in life, like our health," added Stewart.

Brandon Harvison, in sixth grade, said he likes going "because we get to help people and the patients look forward to our visits."

Being able to interact with these children outside of our school is what eighth-grader Morgan Sinibaldi enjoys about UMC. "I think we would like this if we were the ones in the hospital," added Sinibaldi.

Usually the art project has a theme such as Thanksgiving or Valentines, said Hart-Fast. If there are some patients too ill for the playroom, Secrist students leave art items to be taken to their rooms. "I am very proud of our young people for participating. They exhibit empathy and concern while bringing smiles to the children's faces. It is a joy to accompany them to UMC," said Hart-Fast.

Johnston and Stein receive Ben's Bells
Dorie Johnston, a TUSD dropout-prevention specialist, was a Ben's Bell recipient the week of Dec. 7; and Pamela Stein, a seventh-grade math teacher at Gridley Middle School, was a recipient the week of Dec. 1.

Johnston was nominated by three of her students at the Downtown Alternative High School, one of seven sites she covers for the District. They nominated her on behalf of the whole school because "she's a really good person," said Kayla Edwards, 17, who made the nomination along with Serina Zazueta and Amanda Brown.

Stein was nominated by Jeanne Holt, who saw Stein leading a study group at an East Side coffee shop. "It just was a really unusually nice thing that she was doing, interacting with the kids like she was and letting them know they were important enough for her to spend her time on," Holt said in an Arizona Daily Star story.

Stein teaches pre-algebra and life skills at Gridley, 350 S. Harrison Road, and began the voluntary study group for her math students around seven years ago, shortly after she arrived at Gridley. She has taught for about 23 years in TUSD and was at Miller Elementary for about 15 years before moving to Gridley.

Johnston has worked with TUSD since 1985, starting in vocational training at the old Gump Special Education Middle School, then moving to Tucson High Magnet School as a senior community representative. That's where she saw a need for someone to work with at-risk students, so she applied for the dropout-prevention job, said an Arizona Daily Star story.

The Ben's Bells project was started by Jeanette Maré-Packard and her husband, Dean, to honor their 2-year-old son, Ben, who died suddenly from croup in March 2002. Bells are presented to individuals who are nominated because of their acts of kindness and selflessness. The Ben's Bells Web site says the "mission is to inspire, educate and motivate each other to realize the impact of intentional kindness and to empower individuals to act according to that awareness, thereby changing our world."

Catalina Junior AFROTC student solos in Cessna
"Cadet Major Ryan Martinson successfully defied the law of gravity on Sunday. He soloed in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk. Way to go Ryan!" wrote Senior Aerospace Science Instructor August I. De Rosa, Lt. Col., USAF, Ret., in an e-mail on Dec. 10. Ryan attends Catalina Magnet High School.

Mission View Robotics Team wins at regional competition
Mission View Elementary School Robotics Team members were winners at the Tucson Regional Robotics Competition, placing fourth out of 36 competitors.

"They received a special award for the quality of their oral presentation on energy conservation and took fourth place in the Robotics portion of the competition. They were commended for their cooperative spirit and qualified to be one of 10 teams selected to compete in the statewide competition in Phoenix on Dec. 15," wrote Principal Elizabeth Redondo in an e-mail. They were also one of the youngest teams in the competition, she wrote.

Members of the team are fifth-graders Jocelyn Bustamante, Paulina Nunez, Estefania Gastelum, Jose Luis Frederico, Gustavo Gamez, Jonathan Moreira, Eric Hernandez, David Vera and Anthony Toro.

For the last six months the students spent Monday and Friday afternoons in the library building and programming their robots and practicing their missions.

EEF grant to mentor at-risk middle school students
The Educational Enrichment Foundation recently learned that it will receive a $9,700 grant for a new program, Project Turnaround, which is designed to provide mentoring to middle school students in Tucson City Council Ward III who have been suspended from school. The project is aimed at students in Doolen Middle School and Richey K-8 School.

This new project, funded by Voices in Action, was originally suggested by Principal Supervisor Jim Fish, a member of the EEF Board of Directors. The program is based on a "highly successful program with which he was affiliated in Montgomery County, Md.," wrote Bob Padilla, EEF executive director, in an e-mail.

"The students will be located in rooms or libraries in churches, synagogues, and neighborhood centers and will receive mentoring from retired teachers from the Tucson area. The intent is to allow the students to continue their academic progress in a non-judgmental environment and ultimately return to their schools with a greater sense of harmony, cooperation, and enhanced self image," wrote Padilla.

The grant was written by Padilla and Fish, who also answered questions during on oral review with the selection committee.

Mariachi Tesoro wins competition
Mariachi Tesoro, which has 10-13 year-old students from Davis Magnet Elementary School, Roskruge Magnet Middle School and Doolen Middle School, won first-place in a competition in San Antonio the weekend of Dec. 1. As the only Arizona group, Mariachi Tesoro beat a three-time champion group from Houston. Mariachi Tesoro opened for Mariachi Vargas de Technitilan on Dec. 1.

Jaime Valenzuela, whose father is TUSD employee, Alfredo, directs the group.

TUSD will use $99,000 CTE grants in high schools
TUSD has received more than $99,000 in grant funds through the Arizona Innovative CTE Programs awards from the Arizona Department of Education. The grant will be used for biotechnology classes in TUSD's Career and Technical Education programs at Palo Verde Magnet High, Pueblo Magnet High and Tucson High Magnet schools.

TUSD will use its grant to improve work-based learning opportunities for students in biomedical health technology classes, said Kathy Prather, TUSD's director of Career and Technical Education.

"Many thanks to TUSD biomedical tech teachers Andrew Lettes, Kevin Kehl and Margaret Wilch, along with grant writers Lorrane McPherson, David Fuller and Debbie Leonetti for their involvement with the grant application," Prather said.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced the grant award in Lettes' biomedical science classroom at Pueblo.

TUSD is the only Pima County school district to receive a grant. "There were 23 individual applications for the competitive award -- and of those the selection committee selected five final candidates that received management approval for award," said Steve Peterson, CTE research specialist with the Arizona Department of Education.

TUSD has national board-certified teachers
Three TUSD instructors have been named new national board-certified teachers.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certified Theresa Arntz, a language arts teacher who left TUSD in May; Mark Brady, a Whitmore Elementary School exceptional education teacher, and Julie Torres, a Wright Elementary School kindergarten teacher.

Nationwide, 8,500 teachers received the certification this year for a total of 63,821. Arizona ranks 21st in the nation for the total number of new national board-certified teachers.

THMS students' designs chosen
The University of Arizona's College of Engineering has chosen race car designs by three TUSD students to be printed using the college's three-dimensional printer.

Ray Umashankar, assistant dean of the college, chose Kyle Morgan, Alex Kline and Gilbert Sandoval from Marea Jenness's engineering tech lab class at Tucson High Magnet School.

They used SolidWorks, the same computer design program many industry engineers use, to design the race cars. The cars were printed using the college's Z-Corp three-dimensional printer, an ink-jet based process that prints the parts' cross-sectional geometry on layers of powder spread on top of each other.

The UA's College of Engineering supports the class as a way for high school students to jumpstart a college education in engineering.

Pueblo journalism awarded grant
The Pueblo Magnet High School Electronic Journalism Program has been awarded the grant to produce the Pima and Santa Cruz counties' Career and Technical Education Best Practices DVD. The video will be shown during the Second Annual Pima County/Santa Cruz County CTE Symposium on Feb. 29 and March 1 at the Pima Air and Space Museum.

Pam Shapiro heads up the journalism program.

TUSD - Proud Supporter of Small Classes

Photos in the December issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations, unless otherwise noted.

The deadline to submit material for the January Focus is Friday, Jan. 11. The Focus will be published Monday, Jan. 21. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the online Tip Sheet.