Madison Elementary School District
Simis receives EarthFest grant
Nearly $7,500 in funding to support environmental education efforts in eight Arizona schools was awarded last month through Valley Forward’s EarthFest Education Grant program.
Madison Simis Elementary was among the eight K-12 schools chosen to receive a grant. The $1,500 grant was awarded to teacher Michelle Landreville for a project titled, “DIGGS Gardening Program.” Funding will support the school’s DIGGS program, a volunteer-run gardening project established in 1999. DIGGS has 100-percent participation from all classrooms and will expand with additional irrigated garden sites, add a sensory garden with pathways and benches, replace worn out and broken equipment, replace supplies used for classroom curriculum and thoroughly train volunteers.
All grant projects must be completed by May 1, 2009 and recipients must provide a summary of their work with photos to Valley Forward.
New classes for adults, children
Due to the success of Madison’s Foreign Language Program for adults, the district will offer more classes beginning in March.
Beginner Spanish will be offered in the evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. The spring session meets twice a week for six weeks; summer sessions meet four times a week for three weeks. The program is fee-based and costs $260, which includes materials.
Registration forms can be found at www.madisonAz.org. Call 602-664-7956 for more information.
Madison’s Community Education Department is registering students for four-week summer institutes in Spanish. The program is open to all children in grades preschool through eight.
Classes are grouped by grade level and meet Monday through Thursday. Cost is $195 per four-week session, including the textbook. The first session runs June 1-25; the second session runs July 6-30.
All classes meet at Madison Heights School located at 7150 N. 22nd St. Call 602-664-7956 to enroll. Registration deadline is April 30.
Robotics teams win at state
Students on the Madison Park Robotics Team took home three awards at the State Tournament. The Rocks team took home the bronze medal; The Funky Monkey Robots took the silver; and The Magical Flying Fish won the gold medal as well as winning the Overall Teamwork Award.
Robotics Coach Christopher Sheehan was named Adult Mentor of the Year.
Rose Lane actors give the Bard a twist
Rose Lane’s Shakespeare Club, directed by school librarian Gail Caretto, performed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for a small audience last week.
Students performed the play using a hilarious mix of modern day language and Shakespearian quotes. The Shakespeare Club gives students the opportunity to learn more about Shakespeare and his works.
Osborn Elementary School District
Cheer squad takes top honors–again
The Osborn Middle School Firehawk Cheerleading Team, coached by seventh grade math teacher Sarah Saiz, took top honors—again—at the 2nd Annual Junior High Cheerleading Championship, held Feb. 14 on the OMS campus.
In attendance at the Valley Athletic Conference (VAC) were Madison Meadows, Madison No. 1, Wilson, Avondale South, Avondale West, Avondale East, Palm Lane, Sevilla West, Western Sky, Estrella, Udall, Atkinson, Santa Maria, Castro, and Wigwam Creek.
The Osborn Firehawks won the VAC Championship and will compete in the Arizona Championship on March 6. Team members include: Sarah Anderson, Tori Brown, Tayler Edmond, Joanahi Garcia, Shardette Harmon, Destiny Hutchinson, Kierra Kellybrew, Cecilia Lopez, Yesenia Lopez, Yoselin Lopez, Reyenne Montoya, Gloria Negrete, Christina Tena, Leah Wilhelms, and Victoria Wright.
Longview alum returns for visit
Longview alumnus Andre Ethier (L.A. Dodgers #16) inspired a gym full of admiring Longview Lancers with his message of perseverance and success. Fellow alumna Sue Corbin located Ethier while planning for the upcoming March 21 Osborn District Reunion. Longview secretary Elaine Marxer notified Ethier’s former teachers James Drwall, Genie Smith, Eluterio Almanzar, Kevin Cherilla and Pat Davis, of his visit, and they shared stories about Ethier’s early years and their memories of his parents’ strong support for education.
Ethier began the afternoon reading to kindergarten and first-grade students, then spoke to older students about his dreams as a child and how education and perseverance helped him realize those dreams: going to college, playing baseball for Arizona State University and, finally, the Major Leagues.
As a special thank you, the students presented Ethier with a Longview Lancer # 16 baseball jersey.
OMS flag football team captures title
The OMS flag football team secured the Valley Athletic Conference (VAC) in both 4A and 5A Conference Championship with a 6-0 win over Simpson. The winning touchdown was a pass from Matt Fliegl to Brando Ponce on the last play of regulation as the clock ran out. Coaches Rich Ciaglia and Mariano Guerra led the team to a 11-1 record for the season.
Team members include: Shai-heim Aaron, Efren Alverado, Luis Alverado, Manny Aragonez, Jesus Brown, Francisco Delgado, Pascual Erives, Matt Fliegel, Christian Flores, Roman Medina, Harley Meeks, Steven Munoz, Brando Ponce, Victor Reyes, Ajahn Robinson, Danny Smith, Luis Sosa, Jonathan Trejo and Elvis Valle.
Solis wins Spelling Bee
Clarendon fifth-grader Isaac Solis won the District Spelling Bee and will move on to the next level of competition. Cameron Franco, a seventh grader from OMS, was the runner-up.
Preschool, kinder registration begins
Kindergarten and preschool registration will begin on March 19. Offices at Encanto, Longview, Montecito and Solano Schools will be open from 3 to 6 p.m. on March 19. Limited spaces are available for families living outside of the Osborn School District boundaries, so register early.
Osborn offers Spanish Dual Language Immersion programs for Kindergarten through sixth grade at select schools. Bring immunization records and birth certificate. All children who will be 5 before Sept. 1, 2009 are eligible to register for kindergarten. Children who will be 4 before Sept. 1 may be eligible for preschool.
Visit www.OsbornSchools.org for more information.
Free developmental screenings offered
Parents with concerns about their 2 1⁄2- to 5-year-old child’s development are invited to participate in free screenings in the Osborn School District. Children will be screened in developmental areas, including: cognitive, language, motor, self-help, and social. Screening will take approximately 15-30 minutes.
Call Becky McNany for an appointment or for more information: 602-707-2017. Screenings are March 20 at Solano and April 24 at Montecito.
Phoenix Union High School District
Many students get $1,000 scholarships
Two Central High seniors received $1,000 Friendly House scholarships, which were presented Feb.5 at the annual Recognition of Excellence Awards, identifying high-achieving Hispanic students. Alyssa Esquivel will use hers for pharmacy courses at Phoenix College, while Brian Robles hopes to study medicine at ASU.
Four Camelback students also received $1,000 scholarships. They are Jonathan Altamirano, architecture, Phoenix College; Stephanie Corella, nursing, ASU; Yareli Garcia, computer science, ASU; and Bianca Torres, nursing, ASU.
North senior Grecia Piri received a $1,000 scholarship and will apply it toward an architecture major at ASU.
Central Choir rated ‘superior’
Central High’s “Una Voce” choir competed at the Jazz-Madrigal Festival held at Northern Arizona University on Feb. 13. This is the largest small ensemble festival in the Southwest.
“Una Voce” received an “Excellent” rating for its madrigal performance and a “Superior” rating for its jazz performance.
Decathlon team
heads to state
The Camelback Academic Decathlon team placed eighth in the Region II Competition on Feb. 1 to qualify for the state competition March 6-7.
In the SuperQuiz Relay (topic: Evolutionary Biology), the Spartans placed third out of 29 teams. The last time Camelback placed in the top three for the relay was in 1990.†
Miandra Ellis earned the second highest overall (10 events) score out of 260 students.†She also earned silver medals for her essay and in the language and literature test. Jeffrey Morgan earned a silver medal for his essay. Jordan Nguyen earned a bronze medal on the math test (differential calculus).
Other team members were seniors Cecilia Aguilera, Karina de la Cruz (alternate), Gabriela Galindo, and Donald McConnell; juniors†Ronald Gonzalez, Nelson Guillen (alternate), Carolina Hernandez, Mario Olvera, and Janeth Valdez (alternate); and sophomore Elisema Heras (alternate).
Private and Charter School
St. Thomas children mark special week
Students at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic School celebrated Catholic Schools’ Week from Jan. 25-30. A national celebration observed by millions of students across the country, Catholic Schools Week 2009 featured the theme “Catholic Schools Celebrate Service.” At St. Thomas the Apostle, students marked the occasion by recognizing those who make their school a special place to learn.
From the maintenance staff to cafeteria workers, school office and parish staff, students thanked the staff for their contributions through a variety of creative thank-you notes and artwork. The students left no stone unturned in acknowledging the efforts of the school staff: their bus drivers, teacher’s aides, the parent-teacher organization, school board and playground helpers all received a token of the students’ appreciation. The students also raised money for a medical clinic in downtown Phoenix that serves the homeless.
During the week, the school uniform guidelines were relaxed slightly and students were allowed to add items to their school uniform. Wednesday was “Crazy Hat Day” and Thursday was “Fan Fanatic Day.” The final day of Catholic Schools Week was “Family Day” when parents and siblings join the students for Mass, a morning in the classrooms and lunch in the cafeteria.
Students win at film festival
Three Tesseract School sixth-grade students won awards at the 2009 Arizona Student Film Festival.
In the grades six-through-eight short category, Remi Harazim won second place for his film, “Cathy May and the Invisible Tablet,” and Elizabeth Knapp won third place for her film, “Realization.” In the grades six-through-eight microshort category, Noah Brodie won third place for his film, “The Secret of the Truth.”
The Arizona Student Film Festival contest is open to students enrolled in third grade through college who have produced public service announcements (PSAs), films, videos or documentaries. Tesseract students in fifth through ninth grades submitted films to this year’s contest; 18 were selected to run the night.
Tesseract’s ninth-grade students developed their films in their dramatic film class, one of Tesseract’s high school electives. The story lines for the fifth and sixth-grade students’ films were written in their language arts classes and then adapted for film.
Brophy young men honored for service
Angela DiCicio, education coordinator at the Harry & Sandy Rosenzwieg Boys and Girls Club Branch, visited the Brophy campus on Jan. 29 in order to recognize and thank 11 Brophy sophomores for their service.
The students were honored for their service in the Brophy-run Loyola Project, a free after school outreach program for underserved students. Two days a week these students volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club “Power Hour,” an after school enrichment program.
DiCicio presented a plaque and card signed by more than 30 club members. The club reported in a recent survey that “... 77 percent of the BGCMP’s kids stated that they do not have a computer at home to use and 56 percent of the survey’s respondents indicated that if they did not do their homework at the Boys & Girls Club it didn’t get done at all.
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