Dear Tanque Verde Community,

As an A-Rated, top ten school district in the state of Arizona, our work puts the focus on students first. By creating rewarding pathways to student success, we continue to meet our district goals of excellence in student and staff perfor-mance and achievement.

Many measures reflect student suc-cess – not only academic achievement, but also participation and competitive performance in athletics, fine and per-forming arts and academic competitions. Our public school district develops and supports the “whole child” by providing comprehensive, quality curriculum from Kindergarten through High School. Many examples of these achievements are featured weekly in the District News on our website.

We were pleased to welcome our eighth grade families to the Tanque Verde High School campus for the an-nual Hawk Fly-In and the community for Incoming Hawks Night. We invite you to learn more about our high school program by watching the video vignettes on our website. They include reflections

The 2016 Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair (SARSEF) took place at the Tucson Convention Center from March 2-5. Winners from TVUSD’s elementary and junior high school level science fairs had the oppor-tunity to compete at this regional event. The mission of SARSEF is to “empower Southern Arizona’s K-12 students to par-ticipate in science, technology, engineer-ing and math through inquiry-based learning and research.”

In a continuing tradition of success at SARSEF, Tanque Verde Unified School District students were proud to bring home many top awards, and were select-ed for numerous sponsored award cat-egories. Ms. Kathy Murphy, a 6th Grade teacher and Science Fair Coordinator at Agua Caliente Elementary School (ACES), and a SARSEF Elementary Sci-ence Teacher of the Year winner, was on-hand to cheer on her students. She re-ports that TVUSD once again had a very successful representation of student and classroom project winners at SARSEF at the awards ceremony.

Emily Gray Junior High School (EGJHS) students won over $550.00 in awards and prizes; Tanque Verde Elementary School (TVES) students won over $450.00 in awards and prizes;

and Agua Caliente Elementary School (ACES) students won over $1,300.00 in awards and prizes, according to her cal-culations! Ms. Murphy said she was “for-tunate to be there for both award cer-emonies, and it was fantastic seeing the excitement of our students going on the stage to receive their awards!”

Once again this year, many student and classroom projects won multiple awards, and earned some definite brag-ging rights! In summary, ACES students

were awarded five 1st Place, two 2nd Place, and five 3rd Place Grand Awards, as well as nine Sponsored Awards for the following: Excellence and Achieve-ment-Girls in STEM-Title I Schools, Excellence in Cactus and Succulent Re-search, Humans Helping Dogs Project, Texas Instruments Elementary School Award, TEP Award of Excellence, Ex-cellence in AZ Hydrological Research,

News and ViewsTanque Verde Unif ied S chool Distr ic t

Spring 2016

TVUSD Students Have Formula for Successat SARSEF Regional Science and Engineering Fair Competition

Stadium Field Project Near CompletionHawks will Soar to New Heights

Creating Pathways To Student Success

Open Letter from TVUSD Superintendent Kim Sharp

(See Pathways, page 3)

(See SARSEF, page 2)

(See Stadium, page 7)

The Tanque Verde High School Stadi-um Field Project is nearing completion, with the final steps nearly finished in this two-phase project, which will further advance the district’s ten year plan for the high school.

The first phase of the stadium project was the installation of state-of-the-art LED lighting which has greatly enhanced athletic competitions during the 2015-16 football and soccer seasons. Phase two of the project was the installation of the

stadium bleachers and press box, which included the relocation of the existing bleachers to the visitors’ side, where im-proved seating was also needed. Fund-ing for this project is coming from the utilities cost savings from the solar power and energy efficiency projects, and from the reallocation of funds pre-viously budgeted for the annual rental of portable field lights.

To begin the bleacher installation,

Spring 2016 - Tanque Verde Unified School District • News and Views 1

Ms. Robinson’s 2nd Grade class enjoys the ACES rock wall, funded by community contributions.

Tanque Verde High School Students AchieveRegional and State Level Success

Varsity Cheer Squad competes in Uni-versal Cheer Association West Coast Championship

On February 12, 2016 the TVHS Var-sity cheer squad traveled to Anaheim, California to compete in the Universal Cheer Association West Coast Champi-onship. The team has been working hard all year to learn new stunts and to per-fect their routine. The cheerleaders com-peted on February 13th in the Anaheim Convention Center, the largest venue in which this group has ever performed.

The team brought home the second place trophy in their division and spent the following day celebrating their season at Disneyland.

Arizona Science BowlThe Tanque Verde High School Sci-

ence Bowl team competed in the Ari-zona Science Bowl regional competi-tion on February 20th, at Arizona State University, coming in second in their pool. Twenty schools participated in the contest, with many of the schools being

represented by two or three teams. Over-all, the TVHS Science Bowl Team won two matches, losing only to the Basis Mesa team, and putting TVHS in second place in their pool, with 162 points total. Unfortunately, this did not qualify the TVHS team for the next round.

Mock TrialThis year, Tanque Verde High School

took 3 teams to the Regional Mock Trial

“Excellence is our goal, understanding our foundation.” District Vision

TVUSD will be the premier choice for K-12 education. Our students will achieve academic and personal success in an ever-changing world.District Mission

TVUSD will ensure effective communication, collaboration, school partnerships and state of the art facilities that support our vision for students as well as benefit all constituents. Our balanced budget ensures continuity of programs and empowers growth.

Board President - Peter Livingston plivingston@tanq.org

Board Clerk - Carlos Ruiz cruiz@tanq.org

Member - Steven Auslander sauslander@tanq.org

Member - Susan Fry sfry@tanq.org

Member - Jeff Neff jneff@tanq.org

Superintendent - Kimberly C. Sharp ksharp@tanq.org 749-5751 ext. 4101

AGUA CALIENTE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLPrincipal - Sherri Rosalik srosalik@tanq.org 749-2235

TANQUE VERDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLPrincipal - Susan Centers scenters@tanq.org 749-4244

EMILY GRAY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLPrincipal - Greg Miller gmiller@tanq.org 749-3838

TANQUE VERDE HIGH SCHOOLPrincipal - AJ Malis amalis@tanq.org 760-0801

Assistant Principal - Terry Lantz/ Athletic Director tlantz@tanq.org 760-0801

TANQUE VERDE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION OFFICE2300 N. Tanque Verde Loop,

Tucson, Arizona 85749 (520)749-5751

FAX (520)749-5400

WEBSITE: www.tanqueverdeschools.org

DISTRICT INFORMATION

GOVERNING BOARD

ADMINISTRATION

Sky Island Naturalist, Tucson Water Up-per Elementary Excellent Water Project Recognition, and Excellence in Civil En-gineering. TVES students were awarded five 1st Place, two 2nd Place and one 3rd Place Grand Awards as well as one Youth in Science Award. EGJHS students were awarded two 1st Place, two 2nd Place and three 3rd Place Grand Awards, one Spe-cial Award of Merit for Biomedical Re-search, as well as two sponsored awards, including the TEP Award of Excellence, and the Award for Animal Research.

The complete list of TVUSD’s SARSEF student and classroom award winners, including the student’s names, their project titles, project categories,

Grand and Sponsored Awards may be viewed on the district website.

ACES 4th Grade teacher Ms. Svea Anderson, an Arizona Elementary Sci-ence Teacher of the Year, summarized the experience of one of her colleagues’ classroom science fair projects. Ms. Mol-ly Garcia’s kindergarten class at ACES won 2nd place overall in their category - Cellular, Molecular and Microbiological

Sciences. Ms. Anderson emphasizes that the projects are truly student-driven. She recounts, “Ms. Garcia worked with her students to determine which areas of the school had the most bacteria. They swabbed the areas and then put the sam-ples into petri dishes with agar solution. They then observed the plates to deter-mine which one had the most bacteria bloom and drew out their observations. Ms. Garcia’s board had several judges’ notes on it that they appreciated seeing the student’s work.”

Both Agua Caliente Elementary School and Tanque Verde Elementary School are distinguished past recipi-ents of the SARSEF Elementary School

of the Year, and TVES holds the cur-rent distinction of 2015 Arizona State Science and Engineering Fair (AZSEF) Elementary School of the Year and El-ementary Student Project of the year in the statewide science fair. We hope to see this tradition of excellence in Science and Engineering education and research continue for many years to come in the Tanque Verde Unified School District.

Congratulations to all TVUSD stu-dent award winners and their teach-ers for their excellent work, and their outstanding achievements at the 2016 SARSEF competition!

SARSEF (Continued from page 1)

Spring 2016 - Tanque Verde Unified School District • News and Views 2

(See TVHS, Page 8)

TVES 6th Grade students Dylan Johnson, Michael Masunas, Calvin Jones, and Trevor Koessler display their SARSEF trophies.

Charles Maxwell, EGJHS 7th Grade, 1st Place SARSEF Grand Award - Energy

ACES SARSEF 2016 Individual Award Winners

from our high school stu-dents and staff on their experiences and goals as members of the Tanque Verde High School com-munity. Visit the TVHS website to view: About TVHS - Academics, Ath-letics, Campus Culture and Student Focus.

Recently, our School Principals and District Assessment Coordinator presented information to the District Govern-

ing Board, giving an overview of results from the 2014-15 AZMERIT (Arizona’s Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching) as-sessment. The new test replaced the former AIMS test as a measurement of student mastery of the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards. The AZMERIT was given for the first time last spring to students in grades 3 through 12 in the areas of English language arts and mathematics. District-wide, our percent passing (proficient and highly proficient) in both ELA and Math far surpassed the statewide averages. Our School Principals have been working with their teaching staffs to conduct targeted instruction in areas needing reinforce-ment in preparation for this year’s tests. One area

in which families can provide support is provid-ing practice time at home in the use of technology skills such as the use of a keyboard and mouse.

The Arizona Legislature is currently in session. There has been successful legislation reinstating the JTED funding which was cut during last year’s legislative session. This is important news for the excellent JTED programs which are hosted at our high school. In addition, Prop 123, a K-12 funding measure that would settle a long-running lawsuit, continues to receive much attention. Please take the time to educate yourself and vote on this pro-posal, which goes to a public vote in the May 17th Special Election. In addition to these issues, the requirement for districts to move to current year funding still awaits implementation. If continued as scheduled, it will require conservative budgeting for the upcoming 2016-17 school year for public school districts, which have historically developed budgets based on prior year student counts. These are all significant issues for our district.

We are excited to be highlighting the successes of our students and staff in this issue of News and Views.

Thank you for your continued support of the Tanque Verde Unified School District!

Sincerely,    Kimberly C. Sharp, M. Ed.Superintendent

The Tanque Verde Unified School District Governing Board voted to sign the Arizona Mutual Aid Compact (AZMAC) at their February 11, 2016 Regular Meeting.

In support of the TVUSD Govern-ing Board and District Goal V relating to emergency preparedness, the school dis-trict has been updating the Emergency Response Plan, and key personnel at all schools are completing the school-relat-ed FEMA online courses for certification in emergency management and response training.

District representatives have been participating in the Southern Arizona School Safety & Preparedness Consor-tium. Consortium members include the Pima County Office of Emergency

Management (OEM) and area school districts. Meetings with the consortium have included speakers and table-top training exercises on topics related to emergency preparedness and response planning.

Information was provided to mem-bers of the Consortium by the Pima County OEM regarding a statewide compact designed to make resources more easily shared between agencies in the case of a local or regional emer-gency. The Arizona Mutual Aid Com-pact (AZMAC) may be entered into by any governmental agency with taxing authority, such as cities, counties, fire districts and public school districts. En-tering into the agreement will not cost district taxpayers anything, and it makes

additional resources available to the school district to respond and recover in the case of an emergency.

By signing the compact, the district is entering into an agreement to share and receive emergency resources if needed, such as buses, equipment and person-nel. Any agency has the right of refusal if they are unable to share resources, and the agreement includes a prearranged FEMA-based fee structure in the case that district resources are utilized. The AZMAC takes the place of the individ-ual memorandum of agreement (MOA) required between government agencies. The compact therefore allows faster and more effective mobilization of resources in the case of an emergency, in-

cluding anything from a smaller local-ized event, to a larger regional concern.

The AZMAC is administered by the Arizona Department of Emergency Management. For more information on the compact, please visit the following website: http://www.dem.azdema.gov/logistics/supply/mutaid.html. To view the signatories currently on the compact, please visit: http://www.dem.azdema.gov/logistics/docs/mutualaid/signato-ries.pdf.

Every TVUSD school and district office has an up-to-date Emergency Re-sponse Plan Manual.

TVUSD Governing Board Signs Arizona Mutual Aid Compact

Have You Heard? Arizona Public School Tax Credit Contribution Deadline EXTENDED to April 15th!

The Tanque Verde Unified School District would like to thank the many community members who have made tax credit donations to our schools. We sincerely appreciate your support. Your generous contributions will make re-warding extracurricular experiences and resources available to our students.

Have you heard? Beginning in Janu-ary, 2016, The Arizona Public School Tax Credit contribution deadline has been extended to April 15th. If you have not yet made a contribution for 2015, please consider a donation to support any of our excelling schools’ extracurricular programs. Donations made after April

15th may be applied toward your 2016 tax filing.

We pride ourselves in providing many paths to student success. We offer many exceptional extracurricular pro-grams and activities. By making a con-tribution, you are helping make these valuable opportunities available for our

students to explore and expand their in-terests, knowledge and experiences.

You can be confident knowing your tax credit contribution will make a dif-ference in the lives of our students in the Tanque Verde Unified School District.

Again, we sincerely thank you for your support!

Pathways (Continued from page 1)

Spring 2016 - Tanque Verde Unified School District • News and Views 3

Kimberly C. SharpTVUSD Superintendent

We welcome all students, ages 5-14, to enjoy a summer class with us! This summer’s offerings include: Explore the Ocean and Space, Discover Cool Careers, Cruise the World, Tackle Technology, Bring the Wild West to Life and Work as a Team to uncover Ancient Civilizations.

At the Tanque Verde Communi-ty Programs, we encourage positive, healthy lifestyles and choices with active games, large and small group learning, field trips, and life skills development.

Registration information will be available online by April 15th. Please visit www.tanqueverdeschools.org and click on Extended Care, or pick it up at the site! Register by the May 4th dead-line for the summer program.

2016-17 school year registration closes for currently enrolled families on April 15th. Registration will open up for new families on May 4th. Spaces avail-able will be assigned on a first come first served basis.

Summer 2016 Youth & Teen Com-munity Programs Camps

For summer 2016 we will again be of-

fering many camps in the month of June. Some of these include KidzArt, Jump Rope with the Tucson Twist Its, Happy Trails to You Hiking on Mt. Lemmon, Kung Fu, Volleyball Camp, Musical The-ater, Mad Science, Tennis, Golf, Bricks 4 Kidz Lego class & Young Rembrandts Drawing.

Summer registration this year begins April 9th and the deadline is May 21st. Classes will range in price from $30 to $135 and are either one or two weeks long.

To view classes & to register go to www.tanquevederschools.org & click on Community Programs.

Community Programs Youth Classes & Camps Summer Fun 2016 - Take a Look!

In 2009, a bond was passed by the voters in this district that funded the construction of the new Emily Gray Jr. High campus and facility improvements at the high school and two elementary schools. That bond also included fund-ing for a community programs building where the adults in our community can enjoy creative, interesting pursuits in a celebration of lifelong learning and well-ness.

The partnership between the Tanque Verde School District and the Adult Community Program at the Lew So-rensen Community Center has flour-ished since that time. Initially envisioned as an extension of a previous Pima Coun-ty program at this location, the program has been greatly enhanced since its in-ception. It now offers an exciting array of

courses in a wide variety of disciplines, including: pottery, tile mosaics, fiber arts, drawing, watercolor and oil paint-ing, mixed media collage, printmaking and adult fitness.

New classes began in March, and a summer session is scheduled to begin in May. Make it a habit to keep an eye out for new course listings! This program is geared for adult learners and community members are encouraged to enroll!

Please look at the Sorensen Commu-nity Center Adult Leisure Program offer-ings on the TVUSD website.

Something for Everyone: Adult Leisure Classes Offered at Tanque Verde’s Lew Sorensen Community Center

Spring 2016 - Tanque Verde Unified School District • News and Views 4

Ms. Geneasa Varner finds many ways to innovate in her classroom, incorpo-rating 21st Century Learning skills and technology into lessons with her fourth grade class at Tanque Verde Elementary School.

As part of their science curriculum, Ms. Varner’s students are currently studying about wolves and the Wolf Res-toration Project at Yellowstone National Park. Ms. Varner began by having her students use the interactive computer game WolfQuest - a 3D simulation game that allows the player to be a wolf in the park, learn to survive, hunt, communi-cate with wolves, use smell to find other animals, etc.- to assist in learning more about wolves.

After learning about wolves, students in Ms. Varner’s class conducted research

to learn more about the wolf restoration project in Yellowstone in preparation for their distance learning Skype ses-sion with a Yellowstone National Park Ranger. “Incorporating this type of “re-al-time” learning from a professional in the field is a richly rewarding learning experience for our students,” stated Ms. Kimberly Sharp, district Superintendent, who, along with Principal Susan Cen-ters, was on hand for the lesson.

In addition to learning about the park’s geology, ecosystem, wolf pack be-havior, and the Wolf Restoration Project (WRP), students had the opportunity to ask questions they had prepared. Some of them were “tough” questions, and Ranger Mike Coonan did his best to an-swer them all.

TVES Students Study Wolf Restoration ProjectMr. Jeffrey CraneACES 6th Grade Teacher“Konnichiwa!” smiled

the 6th grader as he stood in front of photos of Mt. Fuji and sushi. “Would you like to try a piece of pocky?”

At the end of January, Agua Caliente Elementary School (ACES) held its 20th World Festival celebra-tion. This colorful, eclectic 6th grade project began in December with days of re-searching a foreign coun-try of interest. Students then spent two weeks in January drafting and revising their comprehensive reports. Collages of photos, maps, and flags were assembled towards the end of January for the World Festival Gallery Show. Art teacher Ms. Janine Grisez had the students paint huge flag silhouettes of their bodies which were used as a backdrop for the stage.

On World Festival Day, younger stu-dents as well as parents and grandparents filed through all three 6th grade class-rooms asking questions and examining the students’ country display boards. Later in the morning, the entire school was invited to enjoy the World Festival

Musical Extravaganza put on under the direction of music teacher Mrs. Amy Brauer. Many students dressed up in au-thentic costumes producing a swirling, global effect on stage. Afterwards, over 90 students and guests enjoyed the an-nual World Festival Buffet Luncheon. Hungry students courageously sampled foods from all over the world which they proclaimed to be “the longest and most delicious lunch of the year.”

The following week, working with ACES parent Ms. Christina Negrete and teacher Ms. Kathy Murphy, the 6th grad-ers hosted foreign students from Palo

ACES Celebrates School World Festival

Students Skype with a Yellowstone National Park Ranger to learn about the Wolf Restoration Project.

Students from Palo Verde High School’s English Language De-velopment Program attended ACES World Culture Celebration.

(See World Festival, page 5)ACES Principal Sherri Rosalik, Science Lab Coordinator Krista Young and students receive grant for digital microscopes from John Lee, President of Rincon Rotary.

Participating restaurants for the 2016 social event of the year include these and more:

The Tanque Verde Foundation (TVF) will be hosting its 29th an-nual spring fundraiser featuring the “Taste of Tanque Verde” pre-sented by Rockridge Construction.

This annual social event is held to raise funds to make grants for technology and classroom in-novation available for the Tanque Verde schools.

The event will be held at the Forty Niner Country Club on Saturday, April 23rd, from 6–11 pm. Always a fantastic event with a spec-tacular variety of food and beverages, The Taste brings together many of Tucson’s great restau-rants to pamper the palate with gourmet treats. Music entertainment will be on hand as the sun sets with the beautiful Catalina Mountains in the background. Enjoy an evening dancing under the stars at the community social event of the year!. Highlighting the event is the Silent Auction featuring weekend getaways, artwork, gift baskets, gift cards and more. All proceeds from the event

Tickets for the “Taste of Tanque Verde” are $40.00 per person or $75.00 per couple and may be ordered online starting March 1, 2016, at www.tanqueverde.org. Forty Niner Member discount available.

Come have fun while giving back to the Tanque Verde Unified School District. For further details on donations or contributions

please contact Melody Leavitt, Event Coordina-tor, 520-270-5357.

The 29th Annual Taste of Tanque Verde!Tanque Verde Educational Enrichment Foundation

Spring 2016 - Tanque Verde Unified School District • News and Views 5

Eclectic CaféRa Sushi BarBeyond BreadSauceGusto’sCanyon’s CrownRincon Mountain GrillRisky BusinessSproutsSugar Song Custom

CakesTexas RoadhouseThe Rice BowlZona 78Crossroads Coffee CompanyFrostLe BuzzBrother John’s BeerBourbon & BBQ

Ms. Burdett’s 1st Grade class enjoys the TVES Rock Wall, funded by community contributions.

Verde High School’s English Lan-guage Development Program. The 15 – 19 year-olds came from

Cameroon, Rwanda, Burundi, Iraq, and China, and have lived in the U.S. for only two months to two years. Being new to the U. S., they loved sharing about their cultures and practicing their English. This diverse group presented slides of their countries and traditional dances. Much to the joy of the ACES 6th graders, one young man even performed a rap song---in Swahili! The 6th graders relished receiving first-hand information from native speakers about countries they had just finished researching. Palo Verde’s visit was a perfect ending to a very international month at ACES.

World Festival (Continued from page 1)

the existing bleachers were relocated, and the concrete slab for the new sta-dium bleachers was poured in two sec-tions. Nicolas Barrios, TVUSD Director of Maintenance, and his skilled crew moved the existing bleachers and man-aged the pouring and curing of the con-crete slab to meet installation specifica-tions. According to TVUSD Business Manager Adam Hamm, who has been monitoring the district project, “The old bleachers were a perfect fit on the east side of the stadium field, and [they] look like they have always been there!” The excitement was building as students saw their desire for a “real stadium” becom-ing a reality.

Once the concrete was ready, profes-sional installers from Norcon Industries began installation of the bleachers and press box. Norcon is a full-service archi-tectural specialty product distribution firm, specializing in educational and in-stitutional projects. The bleachers were manufactured by Sturdisteel, an Amer-ican Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) certified fabricator of structural steel grandstands and bleachers.

All that remains is to trench for the electrical run to the stadium press box, and to complete the installation of a

sound system. The stadium field proj-ect will then be finished and ready for school events for years to come.

Undoubtedly, Tanque Verde High School fans will quickly fill those addi-tional seats. Prior to the addition of the grandstands, friends and family mem-bers frequently brought lawn chairs and created a sideline seating section of their own.

Athletic Director Terry Lantz is pleased to see this final stadium proj-ect come to fruition after many years of planning and waiting for the appropriate timing and available funding. With the additional seating and new sideline fenc-ing, athletes, students, band members and community members will be safer and more comfortable when attending events. The stadium was built to accom-modate seating for approximately 800, and includes an ADA compliant ramp.

Designated seating areas have already been staked out for the Hawks Nest (stu-dent section) and the Pride of Tanque Verde Hawks Marching Band! There will still be plenty of room for families and fans during all events, including the upcoming Class of 2016 Graduation ceremony. A welcome addition to the Tanque Verde school community, this newly completed athletics facility will allow TVHS students, athletes and their loyal fans to soar to new heights.

With a goal of educating the whole child, Emily Gray Junior High School (EGJHS) Principal Greg Miller and his teaching staff emphasize community in-volvement and understanding with their students, in addition to the academic curriculum. In the tenets of the “whole child” educational approach, “each stu-dent is actively engaged in learning and is connected to the school and broader community.” Students at EGJHS volun-teer and contribute to many community service projects. Teachers also provide opportunities for students to interface with members of the Tucson community in correlation to their topics of study.

Emily Gray Junior High School stu-dents recently completed their Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraiser and raised over $2,000. The National Junior Honor Society also held a Teddy Bear Drive to benefit the patients of the Ban-ner Diamond Children’s Hospital at the University of Arizona. NJHS members toured the facility, met with staff, and presented their teddy bears to some very deserving children for Valentine’ Day. This is always a very touching day, and Principal Greg Miller says it is “one of the most rewarding experiences for our teachers and students to make a differ-ence for the children there.” The Na-tional Junior Honor Society also recently completed their annual fundraiser for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. Collecting over 4,000 pounds of food this year, EGJHS has the distinc-tion of raising the largest amount in do-nations from a public school food-drive on behalf of the food bank.

“Lost Boys of Sudan”

On Wednesday, March 9, 2016, Peter and Matthew, two Lost Boys from Sudan, visited Emily Gray Junior High School to share their experiences as refugees with the 8th grade students in Pre-AP Lan-guage Arts. Peter and Matthew, along with their mentor Jill, shared a personal, first-hand account of their experiences in war-torn Sudan. They also discussed what it was like for them to immigrate to the United States and the culture shock they experienced when they first arrived in the country.

The students in Pre-AP Language Arts had recently finished reading the memoir Lost Boy, Lost Girl: Escaping Civil War in Sudan by John Bul Dau and Martha Arual Akech, which chronicles the true story of two Lost Children in their journey from Sudan to U.N. refu-gee camps to the United States. EGJHS teacher Ms. Brittany Baechler, arranged for the opportunity to speak with Peter and Matthew to help the 8th grade stu-dents gain an even greater understand-ing of what they had read and learned in class.

Ms. Baechler summarized the experi-ence, stating, “The students truly valued the opportunity to listen to Peter and Matthew’s experiences, and they were humbled by the advice Peter and Mat-thew offered them: to value their educa-tion, to respect their parents and teach-ers, and to appreciate what they have.”

Veteran Agua Caliente Elementary School (ACES) first grade teacher Mr. Dan Beach has been teaching at ACES for the past 26 years, while also creat-ing beautiful works of art from wood. He made this coyote for the ACES main office because the coyote is the school mascot.

Taught by his father, who loved to build things with his hands, Mr. Beach has done woodcarving most of his life. The kind of woodworking used to create the ACES Coyote is called intarsia. All of the colors in each project are derived from the many different kinds of wood used. The Agua Caliente coyote is creat-ed from oak, cedar, African zebra wood, walnut, and poplar.

Mr. Beach has made about 55 differ-ent intarsia projects, each one of them

unique. His projects have included birds, dogs, whales, horses, children, barns, bridges, lighthouses, cats, cars, eagles, bears, raccoons and saguaros to name a few. Each project takes about 30 hours from start to finish. He looks at color, grain, and other characteristics in the wood before choosing just the right pieces for each project. Mr. Beach says he “loves to use old hardwoods from old tables, cedar chests and other furniture, with some of my projects having used wood over 100 years old from cedar chests.” Most of the wood is bought new from wood specialty stores.

After choosing the wood, many hours of careful work go into each art piece, until finally it is ready to be signed with his personal branding iron, and given many layers of polyurethane to give it

a beautiful, lasting sheen. He is able to make four to five of these a year.

Emily Gray Junior High SchoolFocuses on Community

The Coyote that Mr. Beach Made

Stadium (Continued from page 1)

Spring 2016 - Tanque Verde Unified School District • News and Views 6ACES first grade teacher Mr. Dan Beach

Alicia MarranoTVES K-6 Art TeacherThree iPad Minis have been granted

to the TVES Art Program to be used for artistic purposes. The first was granted by the Rincon Rotary Club (pictured), the second was obtained through the ArtSonia iPledge Program (Ms. Mar-rano pledged to upload 100 works of art to the TVES digital gallery before June), and the third was recently awarded by the TVES Parent Teacher Group (PTG). These iPad Minis are used in the art room for artistic still-shot animation, creating instructional videos, creating video journals of long term projects, as well as for developing and maintaining a digital gallery through ArtSonia (this in-cludes a classroom mode maintained by students). The ultimate goal is to build a set of 8 iPad Minis for Art room use. This will allow for small group use for each of the applications noted.

The TVES Art Show and ‘Lively Auc-tion’ provided students with a further opportunity to celebrate success in ele-mentary art. The event was held at TVES on March 18th. Students chose their favorite artwork for the show and every TVES student was represented in the ex-hibition.

In other exciting art-related news, Brett Lewis, a 5th grade student at Tanque Verde Elementary School (TVES), and Alyssa Klein, a 7th grade student at Em-ily Gray Junior High School (EGJHS) were winners of the 2016 Festival of Books Young Artists and Illustrators Award, which draws hundreds of Pima County entrants each year. Congratula-tions Alyssa and Brett!

The TVES Art Club made a presenta-

tion to the Tanque Verde District Gov-erning Board at the March 10th board meeting. As an expression of their grati-tude for receiving art education, the stu-dents created a still-shot artistic anima-tion. Each of these 6th grade students also prepared a statement for the board as to why they believe a full-year elemen-tary art program is important.

Sixth grade students are currently learning about the printmaking pro-cess. It is very exciting for the students to suddenly be able to duplicate an im-age that they have been working so hard to create! Many of the sixth grade stu-dents chose their best prints as their dis-play pieces for the TVES Art Show. Last year, each student in 6th grade sent one dragon print to the high school for a col-laboration piece, and many interesting compositions came from this project. Some of these prints and examples of collaborative work are pictured.

Artwork from our district’s schools is frequently on display in the Board Room at the District Offices in an effort to show district-wide art collaboration efforts.

Celebrating Success in the Tanque VerdeElementary Art Program

Spring 2016 - Tanque Verde Unified School District • News and Views 7

TVES Art Teacher Alilcia Marrano and students receive grant for iPad Mini from Rincon Rotary member Todd Clodfelter.

TVUSD students Brett Lewis, 6th from left standing. and Alyssa Klein, second from right kneeling, display their artwork from the Tucson Festival of Books.

Student artwork is on display in the TVUSD board room.

competition on February 20th, at the Pima County Superior Court build-ing. According to TVHS Social Studies teacher Mr. Jeremy Samoy, “The TVHS teams competed well and did a great job at the tournament. Two of our teams, the Green and Black teams, won two out of their four trials, and the Silver team won one out of their four trials.” With experi-ence under their belts, the TVHS Mock Trial students are hoping for great results again next year.

DECA at State CompetitionCongratulations to our DECA stu-

dents who participated in the DECA

State Competition February 28 - March 1 at the Phoenix Convention Center. Tanque Verde had four finalists, Court-ney Sapp, Lauren Acosta, Savannah Ash and Steven Williams, and four students who qualified for Nationals to be held in Nashville, Tennessee. Good luck to Sta-cie Webb, Jesse Renteria, Savannah Ash and Lauren Acosta!

Jazz Band Qualifies for State FestivalThe Tanque Verde High School Jazz

Band received a rating of Excellent and qualified for the State Jazz Festival at South Mountain High School, where they will compete on Wednesday, April 27th. At the Regional Festival, one of the judges gave the band a “Superior” which

is the highest possible rating. According to Director Tom Broccolo, “Students repre-sented their school well as they showcased profession-alism throughout the festi-val.”

Banner Year for Winter Sports Teams

This year brought a ban-ner winter season for our sports programs! During the winter sports post-sea-son the Hawks of Tanque Verde High School were truly making some noise! The boys were represented well in post-season action, with the TVHS Hawks Boys Basketball team making it to the first round of sec-tionals. The Lady Hawks Soccer Team moved within one step of the ultimate prize, a state championship. With mul-tiple victories leading up to the ultimate State Championship game, the Tanque Verde Girls Soccer Team played for the Division IV State Title. The Lady Hawks traveled with a fan bus following them to cheer them on at Williams Field High School in Gilbert, AZ where they took on the #4 seed Anthem Prep. The girls

lost in the final round, coming in second in state. An excellent finish! Finally, the Girls Basketball Lady Hawks made it to the first round of the State Tournament.

First year Girls Basketball Head Coach and Leadership Teacher, Mr. Mi-chael Edwards, describes TVHS athletics well, stating, “Our program is young, our school founded in 2005, but our ambi-tion and drive to establish a foundation of success is immeasurable. We hope [our fans] will continue with us as we pursue our goals and create a tradition that our school, team and community can be proud of.” Go Hawks!

District CalendarWashington DC/New York City Trip - EGJHS

• Apr 16 – 23, 2016

TVHS Athletics Golf Tournament• Sunday, Apr 17, 2016 - 49ers Country Club

EGJHS 8th Grade Promotion @ TVHS• Monday, May 23, 6pm – 7pm - Tanque Verde H.S.

TVHS Graduation - 9th Graduation Class • Tuesday, May 24, 7pm – 9pm - Tanque Verde H.S.

TVUSD Last Day of School for Students• Wednesday, May 25, 2016

TVHS Girls Varsity Soccer team were this year’s State Runner-Up in Division IV.

Spring 2016 - Tanque Verde Unified School District • News and Views 8

TVHS(Continued from page 2)

Tanque Verde H.S. at the 2016 Science BowlVarsity Cheer Squad at Disneyland after competing in the West Coast Cheer Championships