Awards and Recognition
ABA members honored
Six companies, all members of the Arizona Builders' Alliance, received kudos and awards in September 2008 for performing volunteer construction work in a learning laboratory that actually is a renovation project at Catalina High Magnet School, 3645 E. Pima St.
The companies, Bright Design Associates; Achilles Air Conditioning Systems; Madera Mechanical Co.; Wilson Electric; GES Construction; and Universal Wallboard Corp.; contributed advice, labor and materials to Arizona Builders' Alliance's (ABA) effort to convert an abandoned locker room at the mid-town school into a learning laboratory for teaching heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology (HVAC).
The companies were honored Sept. 16 at an ABA membership dinner before nearly 150 of their peers. A representative of each company was presented a plaque featuring images of apprenticeship students working at the learning laboratory.
The learning laboratory has a dual mission. During regular school hours, high school students are scheduled to work and learn there. Adults in the ABA apprenticeship program will use the lab after high school classes have been completed.
ABA offers apprenticeship education in HVAC, electrical and plumbing. ABA apprenticeship programs are run through Pima Community College, and students who satisfactorily complete courses, held during early evening hours so as not to disrupt apprentices' work schedule, receive college credit for their work.
Catalina High is the only Tucson Unified Schools offering instruction in HVAC, said Catalina building trades lead teacher Hollis Simmons, who also was recognized for his help on the project. High school HVAC students meet early in the morning with instructor Jerry Childress, a long-time Tucsonan and air conditioning expert.
ABA, a nonprofit trade organization representing the state's commercial building industry, leased the area from Tucson Unified Schools in June for $1 per year, plus a commitment to upgrade the quarters by making tenant improvements, and furnishing tools and equipment for the learning laboratory.
Lineweaver takes top Project Citizen honors
Heather Matchett's fifth-graders at Lineweaver Elementary School last year had the state's top portfolio called "Solar Energy," at the Project Citizen State Showcase in May in Phoenix. Students researched a policy development that would require TUSD to use solar energy as a partial energy source in its elementary schools. Their portfolio was judged "Superior" last summer in New Orleans at the National Conference of State Legislators.
Sandra Suarez-Hairgrove's eighth-grade Teen Court class at Valencia Middle School came away with the state's top Oral Hearings team award. Their public policy, "Education: The Elimination of Graffiti," was about integrating a specific civic education curriculum into TUSD eighth-grade social-studies classes that would address the graffiti problem.
Teresa Ramsey's third-grade Lineweaver students last spring participated in the State Showcase as an exhibition team. However, the third-graders' portfolio on animal safety was so outstanding that the judges asked to have it sent to New Orleans to show how children can have a voice on public policy. The policy in this case was asking that all dogs wear reflective collars. It received a "Special Recognition" award.
Project Citizen is a public policy program that calls for students to work cooperatively to identify a community problem, and then research it to evaluate alternative solutions, develop a solution in the form of a public policy and create a political action plan to enlist government authorities to adopt their proposed policy.
Project Citizen is administered with the help of a national network of state and congressional district coordinators in every state. The National Conference of State Legislatures helps with this program. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Education by an act of Congress. Additional funding at the state level is also provided by state legislatures. The Arizona Foundation for Legal Service in Education sponsored the state event.
Van Buskirk wins Best of Tucson award for preschool
Van Buskirk Elementary School, 725 E. Fair, has been selected for the 2008 Best of Tucson Award in the Preschools category by the U.S. Local Business Association. The USDLBA "Best of Local business" award program recognizes outstanding local businesses in the country. Each year, the association identifies companies that have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category.
Santa Rita High School's automotive program certified by NAATEF
Santa Rita High School's automotive program has been certified by the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation, making it one of the four high school programs in the city with the certification.
In the Tucson Unified School District, Cholla Magnet and Rincon high schools have the designation as well as Flowing Wells High School. In the Phoenix area, two programs are certified.
Bob Saul, the automotive instructor at Santa Rita, at 3951 S. Pantano Road, said last year about 160 students were enrolled in the program. Graduates of the three-year program are prepared for jobs as automotive technicians. In their junior year, students job-shadow in garages or at dealerships, working for free for one or two hours a day, four or five days a week. After this, students graduate to full-time, paid internships the summer before their senior years.
Students' work published in UA project
Students from three Tucson Unified Schools will have their writing and/or art published in a book project organized by the University of Arizona.
Jordan Martinez and Ernie Santamaria of Roskruge Magnet Middle School and Edwin Rivera of Howenstine Magnet High School were selected. Their work will be published in "Desert Living Is Different!: An Environmental Guidebook for Newcomers." Representing seven school districts, 325 students submitted their writing or art for the project under the direction of the Southern Arizona Writing Project, Department of English at the university.
Tucson City Council Member Nina Trasoff will host a reception on Oct. 19 from 3-5 p.m. at her Ward VI office to honor the students whose work appears in the guidebook.
Wilch receives state science award
Margaret Wilch, who teaches Advanced Placement environmental science, biotechnology and honors research methods at Tucson High Magnet School, received the "Bioscience Educator of the Year" award from the Arizona BioIndustry Association at its AZBIO Annual Dinner and Awards, Sept. 18, in Tempe.
The theme of the dinner was "Bioscience in Arizona: Doing Our Part to Transform the World." Wilch was one of three finalists including Andrew Lettes, a bioscience teacher at Pueblo Magnet High School. The third finalist was Teresa Clark, who teaches at Hamilton High School in Chandler.
"TUSD is pleased to have such an endorsement to our effective Biomedical Health Technology Bioscience PCJTED/CTE Satellite Program," wrote David Fuller in an e-mail. Fuller is a career development specialist with Tucson Unified Schools' Career and Technical Education program.
Wilch was nominated through the University of Arizona's Bio5 Institute in recognition of her work with student research in collaboration with the UA's College of Science and Biotechnology Laboratory for Arizona Students and Teachers (BLAST); TUSD's BioTech Leadership (BTL) Innovative Grant project; and the College of Pharmacy's Key for Internship program.
Wilch did her student teaching at Tucson High in 1991 with Mary Petti. She was hired to teach biology and integrated science at the school in 1992 and has been at THMS since. She started teaching the research class around 1995. Wilch has a bachelor's degree in biology from Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, and a Master's of Science degree in general biology from the University of Arizona.
The Arizona BioIndustry Association's Web site says AZBio is a trade association promoting the growth of Arizona bioscience companies through:
- Advocacy
- Connections
- Purchasing Power
- Workforce Development
"AZBio seeks to unify, empower and advance its member organizations that form Arizona's bioscience community. As the unified voice of the bioscience industry in Arizona, AZBio strives to make Arizona a place where bioscience companies can grow and succeed," said the Web site.
Cholla student wins essay contest
Marisol Parra, a Cholla High Magnet School student, has won the American Legion National Essay Contest. Parra won the local Post, State and Western Region contest before winning the national contest. English is Parra's second language, said Cholla Principal Marcia Volpe.
Sixteen schools will share $75,000 grant
Sixteen western Tucson Unified Schools will share a $75,000 Pascua Yaqui Tribe revenue sharing grant administered by the City of Tucson. The schools serve most of the Native American students enrolled in the schools.
The grant will fund new programs for students at Mission View, Vesey, Maldonado, Oyama, Tully, Miller, Banks and Manzo elementary schools, and Maxwell and Valencia middle schools. The grant will continue programs at Johnson and Richey elementary schools, Lawrence Intermediate School, Hohokam Middle School and Cholla Magnet High School.
The grant is intended to help students lean by providing tutoring and supplemental learning activities; help increase attendance through rewards and incentive programs; and increase parent and community involvement by offering workshops, trainings and other activities.