The 2024-2025 school year has ended but we haven’t stopped smiling about the many, many accomplishments and recognitions earned by SUSD students and staff since the school year began way back in August!
The 2024-2025 school year has ended but we haven’t stopped smiling about the many, many accomplishments and recognitions earned by SUSD students and staff since the school year began way back in August!
Here are some of the most recent ones we want to be sure you know about:
The Scottsdale Progress assembled a wonderful summary of this year’s graduating class. If you happened to miss it (it appeared in the May 25th edition), click here!
Among the 1,800 members of SUSD’s Class of 2025 are three graduates who will be leaving our community soon to attend U.S. military academies for their post-secondary education. Congratulations to:
- Lexi Gregory from Desert Mountain High School, who is headed to the U.S Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
- Blake Bennett from Chaparral High School, who will become a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and
- Joshua Pettigrew from Saguaro High School, who is off to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.
We’ve also learned that 2024 Desert Mountain grad Brady McDonough will attend the U.S. Naval Academy this fall.
All four students underwent an intense, exhaustive application and interview process to receive their academy appointments from the office of Arizona Congressman David Schweikert. Less than 20% of the estimated 12,000 students who apply each year for these prestigious appointments receive one. In exchange for their college education, they commit to serving in the military for the five years following their graduation.
Scottsdale Unified School District applauds these students for their commitment to their nation and wishes them the very best!
Echo Canyon School received the City of Scottsdale’s Sustainability Award. While the school is known for its gardens, Blue Watermelon’s “Chef in the Garden” program and instilling thoughtful environmental learning into its lesson plans and school culture, this school year Echo took recycling its garden waste a step farther.
Through its new Food Waste Futures Fellowship program, students work to identify and reduce school food waste. At the end of lunch each school day, no food is left on the cafeteria’s ‘share table’ – it has either been eaten or collected for Mill Bins, whose end-product goes right back into Echo Canyon’s gardens, making them sustainable, pesticide-free producers of delicious, healthy fruits and vegetables. So far, Echo Canyon’s Mill Bins have saved nearly 300 pounds of food waste from local landfills!
Speaking of City of Scottsdale awards, we are extremely proud of Stephanie and Joe Muecke, who combine to make for a simply outstanding SUSD power couple! Stephanie heads up the district’s Special Education SCORE program that helps 12th grade students transition into post-high school roles in the community. Joe is the head baseball coach at Saguaro High School, but more notably, is one of the school’s Special Education teachers. This one-two dedication to meeting the needs - in the classroom and in the community - of SUSD students with disabilities and the energy Stephanie and Joe bring to their work led to their recent recognition as the city’s first-ever Community Disability Advocates! Congratulations, Mueckes, and thank you for making Scottsdale a better, kinder place.
It’s not just our high school graduates who make their mark on the SUSD community. High school juniors, like Karina Koppikar, don’t wait in the wings to step up.
Each year, 16 high school students are chosen as Phoenix City Council district winners. Karina, who attends Chaparral High School, represents District 6. Last month, Karina she was also named one of two Outstanding Phoenix Youth Leaders of the Year. The program “recognizes and honors exceptional achievements by young people, enhances the perception of youth, and raises community awareness of their positive contributions.”
So, what has this rising Firebird done so far to deserve such an hour? Take a look for yourself (and pardon the YouTube ad that may come first). You will be amazed at this community-minded, thoughtful 17-year-old!
Congratulations to Saguaro High School, named this year’s Arizona Republic/azcentral Best Public High School in the East Valley in their annual Best of the Desert Awards competition! These awards recognize top organizations and businesses in the Valley of the Sun in more than 180 categories. Nominations were submitted last December. Online voting closed in February. Winners were announced last month. Our Sabercats Elevate Excellence wherever they go!
Although the celebration stretched across the school year in smaller ways, Cherokee Elementary’s BIG 50th anniversary event took place on May 1, and this was no ordinary party. In a production directed by third grade teacher Laura Batko, students, staff – even former staff! – provided glimpses of what it was like to be at Cherokee in each of its five decades. Even the former mother/daughter principal team of Jackie Taylor and Jan Howard, and former principal Katy Cavanaugh, whose daughter Melissa is a current Cherokee educator, were on hand to celebrate. It was also a great send-off for current principal Walt Chantler who will retire at the end of the month. Here’s to 50 more years, Chargers!
The teamwork of Cochise Elementary teachers Allison Bradley and Julianne Maryhew was powerful in this year’s American Heart Association (AHA) Kids Heart Challenge. More than 320 Bobcat students worked together with their teachers to raise more than $20,000 for the cause and bringing Cochise honors for being one of the state’s top three fundraising schools in the AHA’s 2025 campaign!
The excellent penmanship skills of Sequoya Elementary fifth grade student Alana Crotty have brought her national recognition. Alana, shown here with her fifth-grade math teacher, Sheryl Antol, wrote out “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” better than any other fifth grade student in the U.S. West Region in Zaner-Bloser’s 2025 National Handwriting Competition. It’s all about the shape, size, spacing and slant! Congrats, Alana!
To wrap up the month’s celebrations, we want to tell you about two terrific SUSD high school educators who have recently received accolades from professional organizations in their fields:
- Arcadia High School College and Career Center advisor Dr. Jennifer Steen has received a High Five Award from the Rocky Mountain Association for College Admission Counseling for her outstanding work advising Titans students on their post-secondary plans.
- Desert Mountain High School Chemistry teacher Stacey Rosenfeld has been selected for the ASU Impact Corps, a network of mentor teachers across Arizona, for her success in preparing her students for success in college-level Chemistry 101 and 202 courses.
SUSD students would not be where they are – today or in the future, after they leave us – without our amazing cadre of educators who provide, support and inspire the world-class, future-focused learning that it takes to encourage students to achieve great things! Thank you, SUSD educators!!
A trio of SUSD schools will celebrate significant anniversaries this school year.
Since 1959, Pima Elementary has been a staple of its south Scottsdale community, welcoming thousands of families and educating generations of their students. Pima kicks off its calendar of 65th anniversary events on Nov. 7 when it hosts its annual Family Math Night. From 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. that day, Panther and non-Panther families alike are invited for an evening of fun, learning, and family and community engagement. Billed this year as Mad Science Mayhem, you can meet Pima’s outstanding teaching staff, go on campus and classroom tours, engage in family-friendly math games and experience the school’s vibrant learning environment for yourself.
On the northeast side of the district, Desert Mountain High School is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, with a particular focus on Nov. 8. The festivities get underway at 5 p.m. in the main gym, leading up to the Wolves final home football game of the regular season against Notre Dame Prep at 7 p.m. Desert Mountain alums are invited to stroll the hallways once again, catch up with old friends, and enjoy an evening of nostalgia as three decades of excellence are commemorated.
Future Wolves from Desert Mountain’s seven feeder schools – Anasazi Elementary, Cheyenne Traditional, Desert Canyon Elementary, Desert Canyon Middle, Laguna Elementary, Mountainside Middle and Redfield Elementary – can get in on the fun, too. Students who are at the stadium at 5:30 p.m. can go on the field for some pre-game fun, win DM prizes, tour team facilities and greet the Wolves as they run on the field. Entry is free for Desert Mountain Learning Community students who are wearing their SUSD ID badges.
Last but not least, Cherokee Elementary is in the midst of planning its 50th anniversary celebration. More information coming soon!
PYP Proud!
Congratulations to Anasazi Elementary 5th grade teacher Angie Griffith, who has been named Arizona’s International Baccalaureate (IB) Schools’ Primary Years Programme Teacher of the Year!
Mrs. Griffith’s Anasazi colleagues chose her to represent their school and after going through the state nomination process, she officially received this designation and wonderful accolade on Sept. 20.
Mrs. Griffith exemplifies all of the qualities of an IB teacher. She promotes curiosity, fosters engagement, and guides her students towards achieving their goals.
We are extremely proud of her and grateful to call her a Scorpion and our SUSD colleague!
This was the first year Anasazi could nominate one of its teachers for the award, having been authorized as an IB World School in the spring of 2023.
Where in the World Is … ?
Kiva Elementary 5th grader Miles Bair closed out his 2024 summer doing something he loves – geography! Miles journeyed to Vienna, Austria to compete in the 3rd annual International Geography Bee, where he met fellow geography enthusiasts from schools around the world.
Miles was one of only three Arizona students to take part in the Bee, one of only 39 elementary grade students, and one of just 222 students from around the globe! There were individual events, team events and buzzer-beater take-offs based on TV’s ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘Family Feud’ shows.
Miles finished as high as 7th in the individual competitions and 4th in a team competition, but there’s no way to measure that entire eight-day experience!
Many thanks to Kiva Comprehensive Gifted teachers Deanne Baldwin for recognizing Miles’ passion for geography when he was just a 2nd grader and encouraging him to do something with it and to his current teacher, Stacy Liddy, for supporting his ambitions.
Buffaloes Shine!
In June, when school was out for the summer, Navajo Elementary was named the Valley’s Best Public School in the “Community’s Choice” Awards.
The “Best of the Desert” Community’s Choice Awards recognize the best organizations and businesses in the Valley of the Sun in 220 categories, including “Kids & Education.”
The nomination process began way back in December, the online voting took place in February and in June, Navajo was informed at a gala event that it won! We are so proud of our Buffaloes and their STEAM program that is so adept at preparing students for their future studies at Mohave Middle School and Saguaro High School! Saguaro, by the way, was also a finalist in the annual competition.
Monsoon Madness
Many thanks to our fine Building Services Grounds team, led by Greg Skelton, which went the extra mile … and then some … to clean up the Cochise Elementary campus following a furious August monsoon storm. They removed 38 tons’ worth of trees and tree limbs from the school’s grounds!
Soon thereafter, they pitched in to help the baseball fields at Saguaro High School and nearby Chaparral Park recover from a Mother Nature-inspired tempest, enabling the outside portions of the Middle School Fall Sports Festival 36 hours later to go off without a hitch.
You probably don’t know their names, but every day, these colleagues ‒ Joe Arteca, Lance Barney, Andrew Bart, Robert Beck, Lucas Bitzer, Chris Echols, Jeff Fuller, Robert Fuller, Harry Gabrielson, Don Henson, Jim Jiran, Eric Kamps, Francisco Morales, Keaton Nobis, Rick Parsons and Zack Ross ‒ perform the grueling and, at times, backbreaking work that make our grounds safe and playable for SUSD students. We couldn’t do it without you!
Redbird Heroes
The SUSD Governing Board was proud this month to recognize an outstanding pair or Redfield Elementary School 5th grade students. Over the summer, Aiden Darling and Jett Versluis were biking their way home from fishing when they came upon a man in need of medical attention and called 911 for assistance.
The boys were given the Scottsdale Police Department’s Good Citizens Award and now they also have SUSD Challenge Recognition coins by which to remember their summer of 2024!
National Recognition for Longtime Sabercat Educator
We’ve known for a long time … 22 years, in fact … what an outstanding teacher we have in Saguaro High School’s Ashley Crose. During his time teaching social studies to three decades’ worth of Sabercat students, Mr. Crose has brought history to life in his classroom and is always looking for ways to improve his craft for the betterment of his students.
He is the author of SUSD’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies social studies elective course, a National Board-certified teacher and a past Arizona Teacher of the Year semifinalist. He is a United States Holocaust Museum Teacher Fellow and serves on Northern Arizona University’s AZ-K12 Center’s Board of Directors.
To those accolades we can now add the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History’s 2024 Arizona History Teacher of the Year award! The Institute is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to K-12 history education. Its collection is one of the greatest archives of American history documents, providing teachers, students and the general public with direct access to unique, primary source materials. Mr. Crose has used these resources to help build and supplement the Advanced Placement Modern World History and U.S. Government classes he teaches at Saguaro.
Congratulations, Mr. Crose, on this well-deserved recognition!
Echo Canyon Becomes a Blue Zones Certified School
At the August SUSD Governing Board meeting, we were happy to finally be able to celebrate a special designation bestowed on Echo Canyon School at the end of last school year – that of being a Blue Zones Certified School. In fact, Echo Canyon is the first school in all of Arizona to be so named!
When the Scottsdale Blue Zones Project came to town last year, Principal Kat Hughes and her staff immediately noted that the school’s gardens, the way it weaves them into every aspect of their curriculum and Echo Canyon’s longstanding Chef in the Garden program had them well on their way to taking on the challenge of becoming certified.
The Blue Zones Project is part of a worldwide undertaking to bring to our community the optimized living, working and playing environments that contribute to what are called global “longevity hotspots” ‒ places where people routinely live to be more than 100 years old.
Other SUSD schools are on their way to also being certified. Stay tuned!
Thank You, Student Volunteers!
In June, SUSD was proud to co-sponsor, along with Arizona PBS, the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy’s second annual Children’s Learning and Play Festival at WestWorld. Over the course of six hours, hundreds of families from around the Valley descended on the North Hall to engage with local authors and illustrators, enjoy live performances, speak with STEAM educators and be introduced to wildlife, namely our now-famous Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches that reside at Echo Canyon School.
It is a huge undertaking anytime, and especially during the summer. But when we asked for volunteers to help us, our students stepped up.
Jennifer Mireau’s music students from Chaparral High School organized a new exhibit this year, “The Instrument Petting Zoo,” to share their passion for music, helping children try out different instruments from music’s four families – woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion.
Saguaro High School’s Sisters in STEM and friends took care of the scientific side for us. They showed kids how to complete a circuit, helped them match nitrogenous base pairs to form a DNA strand, learn that their hands were warm enough to make ethyl alcohol boil and experience levitating magnets!
Saguaro and Mohave Middle School students oversaw the cockroach wrangling and SUSD coloring book activities. All of these students worked the entire event with no breaks, other than to grab a quick bite of pizza for lunch.
They are just a small sampling of our many SUSD student leaders who are enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge and are a testament to the learning that goes on in our classrooms.
Thank you, students, for sharing your servant heart at this event and representing SUSD’s finest!