Sunnyside Unified School District is proud to the present 'Comunidad', the District's 5th annual community event (Previously Sunnyside Meet Yourself). The event will take place on Wednesday, May 8th at Sunnyside High School from 5:00-7:00 p.m. The event will feature student musical and fine arts performances, food trucks, community partners, and our featured panel discussion, The Future of Public Education. The panel discussion will take place in the LRC from 6:00-7:00 p.m. and will be moderated by Sunnyside Student Council President, Patrick Robles.  Distinguished panelists include: Dr. Curtis Acosta, Asst. Professor, Elementary and Secondary Education, University of Arizona South Steve Holmes, Superintendent, Sunnyside Unified School District Dr. Francesca Lopez, Assoc. Dean and Professor, Educational Policy Studies and Practice, University of Arizona Elisa Vasquez, Project Coordinator EdLeader21 A student panel discussion will take place from 5:15-6:00 p.m. in the LRC.   IF YOU GO: Comunidad: Annual Education Showcase and Speaker Series When: May 8, 2019 Time: 5:00-7:00 p.m. Location: Sunnyside High School FREE ADMISSION; food truck prices vary by vendor

Desert View alumna, Gabriella Soza 2018, is named Athlete of the Week by South Mountain CC. Soza went 4-9 (.444) at the plate with an RBI, 2 walks and 2 runs scored. http://www.southmountaincc.edu/athletics/

The Sunnyside Unified School District held a press conference with community partners, Tucson Electric Power and the American Heart Association to announce a gift of 15 CPR kits donated to District high schools via a generous donation from the Marley Foundation and Tucson Electric Power.  These type of training resources are critical now that Arizona Senate Bill 1137 mandates all high school students are trained in CPR as part of their graduation requirements. Sunnyside and Desert View High School have hosted CPR trainings via the Academy of Medical and Allied Health Careers, a program of Pima County JTED.  Wendy Erica Werden Manager of Community Investment and Philanthropy with Tucson Electric Power talks about the longstanding partnership between TEP and the Sunnyside District. TEP funds a wide-range of initiatives via community grants and other partnerships.   The all-inclusive kits are designed to work with DVD/streaming content to provide another avenue to teach hands-only CPR to students. Through this gift the District will make a tremendous impact in creating the next generation of lifesavers.  Mike Deitch, a Community CPR Manager based out of Los Angeles with the American Heart Association coaches Sunnyside Asst. Superintendent, Dr. Eugenia Favela on the proper way to perform chest compressions. Mike travels across the country to conduct Train the Trainer events for the American Heart Association.  SB 1137 was passed in 2016 with a three-year phase in. The bill states that by the 2019-2020 school year, every student in a public or charter high school in Arizona must learn-hands only CPR at least once in their high school career. CPR/First Aid kits were donated by the Marley Foundation and TEP. Each kit is valued at $650.    Related links: Sunnyside schools now equipped with CPR Kits, April 3, 2019. By: Eric Fink, KVOA.

    Join us for a star-studded evening filled with Folklorico and Mariachi performances from various Sunnyside schools along with special guest performer, Alexis Montoya. Proceeds of the event benefit student academic scholarships. Doors open at 4:00 p.m.; concert begins at 7:00 p.m. Tickets available at Sunnyside High School or online at tickets.casinodelsol.com ($10)

JUSTIN POSEY, NINE-TIME USA BMX AMATEUR NATIONAL CHAMPION, AND EDUCATION AMBASSADOR VISITED WITH Summit View Elementary SUSD STUDENTS TO HELP BRING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING TO SCHOOLS ALONG SIDE Pima County School Superintendent's Office , DUSTIN WILLIAMS. The program is based on a two-part, Next Generation Science Standards curriculum (field + classroom) that helps students get a first-hand understanding of physics, design, math and other concepts. The program is funded by USA BMX, a JAVITS Grant and, Mongoose Bicycles. Read more here: https://bit.ly/2XkbGzI    

Our Vision: Every child... College, Career and Community Ready. Our Mission: Our mission is to develop students with a strong sense of identity, purpose and agency, so that they leave our system as effective learners who act with purpose to achieve the conditions they desire in their own and others’ lives. Since the release of the 1983 report “A Nation at Risk” our public school systems have been challenged with the task of improving public perception regarding how we prepare students for the future. This issue of a quality of education was compounded with the accountability requirements under the No Child Left Behind of 2001, which focused primarily on one assessment.  This narrow focus on one metric as the definitive measure of school quality misrepresents the complexity of educating students and diminishes the great work of educators across this nation who make a difference in the lives of students every day, in every classroom. And though aggregate performance is a key variable for measuring success, it simply fails to tell a bigger picture of what our students have and will be able to do in the future.  For this reason we felt it critical to recast our PROFILE OF A GRADUATE within a broader narrative of student success. This new framework provides an unparalleled level of clarity that aligns our mission, vision, and the work.  This new iteration of our graduate profile picks up where our Strategic Plan left off in 2015 and drives the work forward through five competencies, key to each student’s journey towards graduation: 1). Knowledge for Learning, 2). Knowledge for Impact, 3). Creative Confidence, 4). Critical Consciousness, and 5). Self and Systems Awareness.  In addition to college and career readiness, Community Ready was added to this iteration of the work thanks to feedback we received from community members, as well as industry and higher education professionals who expressed certain intangibles that Sunnyside students brought to their organizations. Attributing to our students traits like, “community-minded”, “a sense of social justice”, “respectfulness” we felt strongly that Community Ready also provided us with a framework to bridge the gap between knowledge and agency. This framework allows our District to capture the summative experiences that mark each child’s learning journey so that personalizing the classroom is less about technology, and more about each student’s ecology.  Thank you for being a part of our journey.      COMPETENCY #1: KNOWLEDGE FOR LEARNING Our students are knowledge creators. We look to them to not only master the content, but also to transfer knowledge across disciplines: From science to the humanities, from mathematics to the social sciences—Sunnyside students are deep thinkers and well-rounded learners with a strong sense of academic identity.  We trust our students as knowledge co-creators who share their expertise with peers and teachers as part of an intentional process of collaboration. Sunnyside students understand that learning is a social and shared responsibility. By listening respectfully, students value learning from one another as they begin to develop transferable skills like responding positively and constructively, which are important skills to employers as they are assembling their teams.   COMPETENCY #2: KNOWLEDGE FOR IMPACT When Hurricane Harvey crippled the Texas coast in 2018, Sunnyside students in our JTED Construction program rolled up their sleeves, gave up their spring break, and traveled across the country to rebuild homes. When faced with the opportunity to speak at the state capitol demanding an increase in teacher pay, one Sunnyside student took to the microphone, took a deep breath and pumped up a crowd of tens of thousands.    Our students are engaged participants in their future, not merely bystanders. Equipped with deep knowledge of history and a sense of what is fair, our students are adept at using social media and student organizations to drive change. Sunnyside students are aware of community issues and possess real-world knowledge gained from internships and other experiences that put global issues into a local context.   COMPETENCY #3: CREATIVE CONFIDENCE All students are creative, and it’s our responsibility to nurture that creativity. Borrowing from the work of Tom and David Kelley (IDEO, Stanford d.School) we define creative confidence as the natural human ability to come up with great ideas and the courage to act on those ideas.  Sunnyside students take part in human-centric experiences that use empathy, systems thinking, and design thinking to unlock their creativity. Through building prototypes, using causal loops, challenging assumptions, and acknowledging that all ideas are worthy, our students learn how to take risks. More importantly, creative confidence relies on human collaboration, which is embodied in the performing arts. Sunnyside's tradition of excellence in the fine arts provides a first point of entry for students into a world of creativity that gives them opportunities to gain confidence and succeed.    COMPETENCY #4: CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS Workplaces, schools and colleges, and other social environments are defined by internal cultures and norms that are not always visible from the outside. Some environments are built to nurture and empower, while other systems have internal cultures that hinder upward mobility. This is why we give students the tools to identify systems that perpetuate inequality so they’re prepared to take action.  In collaboration with League of Women Voters of Greater Tucson and the YWCA Southern Arizona we host workshops that help high school students learn about running for office while deconstructing issues such as racism, discrimination, and LGBTQ rights. Fostering critical consciousness through debate empowers our students to keep up with important issues and to demand a seat at the table.    COMPETENCY #5: SELF AND SOCIAL AWARENESS Students who are self-aware have strong intrapersonal skills such as self-regulation, which develops in the early years and aids in problem solving and supports volitional behavior. Social awareness (or social intelligence) is part of an important skill set that, later in life, is what sets a transformational leader apart from an everyday boss. This profile of a graduate takes into account our students’ social and emotional development and values traits such as assertiveness, conflict resolution, positive self-talk (to name a few)—as important indicators—of self- and social awareness, which is key to our students’ ability to thrive after high school.   NEXT STEPS 1. Create a graphic representation of the Graduate Profile 2. Introduce the Graduate Profile at the 2018 Administrative Summit 3. Develop indicators for each of the Graduate Profile competency areas 4. Establish a continuum or rubrics by grade band for each indicator that will be used to support internal accountability metrics with the desired outcome of establishing our own school label system    

The Sunnyside Unified School District Governing Board recognized Liberty Elementary School student, Adrianno Padilla who recently represented our District at the 2019 Pima County Spelling Bee at CDO High School. Congratulations Adrianno!

Craycroft Elementary School students earn Grand Awards at SARSEF (Southern Arizona Research, Science and Engineering Foundation) competition. 2 student projects win 1st place, third group takes 2nd place. Way to go Eagles! Project: To Stretch or Not to Stretch SARSEF Grand Award: 1st Place Teacher & Category: Jade Rodriguez Chemical Sciences   Project: To Stretch or Not to Stretch SARSEF Grand Award: 1st Place Teacher & Category: Jade Rodriguez Chemical Sciences Project: Flying High in the Sky SARSEF Grand Award: 2nd Place Teacher & Category: Terri Davis Engineering, Robotics and Computer Sciences  

By: Arizona Commission on the Arts   Edgardo Aguilar is AZ’s Poetry Out Loud State Champion Edgardo Aguilar, a senior at Desert View High School in Tucson, will represent Arizona at the 14th Annual Poetry Out Loud national finals competition in Washington, DC, April 30-May 1, 2019. The Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finals were held at Burton Barr Central Library in Phoenix on Saturday, March 16. Ten students, representing schools from Tucson to Ganado, a chapter of the Navajo Nation, recited poems by a diverse array of literary luminaries, including Jimmy Santiago Baca, Maya Angelou, and Natalie Diaz. After two rounds of recitations, four students advanced to the final round. From these four, Edgardo Aguilar was named State Champion while Helena Häber, a senior at Arizona School for the Arts in Phoenix, was named first runner-up. A program of the National Endowment for the Arts and The Poetry Foundation, Poetry Out Loud is a poetry recitation competition delivered in high schools in all 50 states and three territories through partnerships with State Arts Agencies. Arizona’s Poetry Out Loud program is managed by the Arizona Commission on the Arts, an agency of the State of Arizona, with support from regional partners, University of Arizona Poetry Center, Phonetic Spit, and William Cordeiro, PhD, a Flagstaff-based poet and lecturer at Northern Arizona University. 2019 Arizona State Champion Desert View Senior, Edgardo Aguilar   2019 Arizona Poetry Out Loud State Finalists: (students in bold advanced to final round) Edgardo Aguilar, Desert View High School, Tucson Sylvia Dale, Ganado High School, Ganado Sharmila Dey, University High School, Tucson Becca Driggs, Highland High School, Gilbert Zaquia George, City High School, Tucson Helena Häber, Arizona School for the Arts, Phoenix Aslihan Hadinoglu, Coconino High School, Flagstaff Abby Noel, Verrado High School, Buckeye Daniel Noon, Brophy College Preparatory, Phoenix Sophie Weinzinger, Coconino High School, Flagstaff 2019 Arizona Poetry Out Loud Judging Panel An esteemed panel of judges evaluated the recitations, including two Poets Laureate: Rosemarie Dombrowski, Poet Laureate, City of Phoenix Joy Young, performance and teaching spoken word artist Phoenix Laura Tohe, Poet Laureate, Navajo Nation Cynthia Wheeler, Storyteller “Beginner’s luck or perhaps I have found something that calls to me” Aguilar’s achievement is all the more impressive considering this is his first year participating in Poetry Out Loud. Prior to the competition, Aguilar commented on his road to state finals: “Beginner’s luck or perhaps I have found something that calls to me, either way, my first year of Poetry Out Loud has been quite a trip. I am just grateful to have made it this far.” Aguilar was accompanied at the event by his coach and AP English Teacher, Teresa Driver. As State Champion, Aguilar receives $200 and an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, DC, (with an adult chaperone) to compete at the National Finals. Additionally, his school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. As runner-up Häber receives $100 and her school receives $200 for the purchase of poetry books. Reflecting on his experience thus far, Aguilar said, “I only hope what I have learned from this situation brings me closer to becoming a decent human being.” The Competition Continues The Poetry Out Loud national semifinals will be held in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, April 30, at Lisner Auditorium at The George Washington University. Nine finalists will then advance to the national finals, also held at Lisner Auditorium, on Wednesday, May 1. A total of $50,000 in scholarship awards and school stipends are awarded at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals, with a $20,000 college scholarship award for the National Champion.   https://azarts.gov/news/edgardo-aguilar-is-arizonas-poetry-out-loud-state-champion/

Sunnyside District Alumni Association - Dollars for Scholars presents the 13th Annual Scholarship Reception sponsored by Midstate Energy. The event will take place on Wednesday, April 24th at Desert View High School Gymnasium from 5:00-7:30 p.m. The mission of the Sunnyside District Alumni Association Dollars for Scholars Chapter is to promote graduation, lifelong learning and pride in  the Sunnyside District.  

By Raquel Rodriguez, KVOA News 4 Tucson TUCSON – Greg Jones, the Vice President of Smart force Development visited Challenger Middle School on Wednesday to announce his donation of a 3D printer bundle. Jones will be donating the MakerGear M3-SE Classroom Bundle which is valued at $3150. He met with principal Angelica Duddleston, teacher Tim Glass, and students as part of a The Miles For Manufacturing  5K event that supports local STEM classrooms. Smartforce Development at AMT is an advocacy effort that encourages young people to seek high technology careers in advanced manufacturing. “We make every possible effort to support STEM programs in schools. We believe that when students gain access to project-based learning in their classroom at an early age, that has a positive impact on the career pathways they choose…Working with local partners who have introduced us to the educational community in Tucson, we’ve selected Challenger Middle School to receive a 3D printer donation” Jones said. Challenger Middle School is expected to receive the 3D printer in the next couple of weeks.   Watch the KVOA news story here.

Pi Beta Phi® Fraternity for Women at the University of Arizona and the Pi Beta Phi Tucson Alumnae Club have been selected to jointly distribute 20,000 new books to area schools, after-school programs, and community programs serving students from low-income families through the Fraternity’s annual Fraternity Day of Service. Sunnyside is one of several recipients of this generous book donation from the fraternity for women. Los Amigos Tech Academy Principal, Valerie Sandoval, with students Santiago Sanchez and Alyssa Gastelum at the Pi Beta Phi press conference.  "The books will be donated to children through local schools, after-school programs and community programs serving economically disadvantaged families," “Low literacy skills are directly linked to poor health, greater inequality, higher unemployment and less earned income. We believe illiteracy is America’s biggest challenge and that investing in family literacy is critical to the success of our families and nation,” said Lauren Sproull, the organization’s Director of Communications in a recent news release.   Five locations are selected annually for book distribution events based on greatest demonstrated need both in literacy and resources. In Pima County, 59 percent of 4th graders test below proficient in reading (Arizona State Department of Education, 2016) and 83.5 percent of Pima County preschoolers, about 20,400, are not ready for kindergarten (First Things First, 2015). The book distributions are part of Pi Beta Phi's Fraternity Day of Service, a major Pi Beta Phi literacy initiative under the organization's national philanthropic effort, Read > Lead > Achieve®. Fraternity Day of Service is an annual event encouraging Pi Beta Phi members to provide literacy-related service and advocacy efforts to their communities. The book distribution began on March 1st on the anniversary of the birthday of renowned children's book author, Dr. Seuss.