News from the Creek P. O. Box 426 - Cave Creek, AZ 85327 www.ccusd93.org Volume 11-8 March, 2018 Dr. Debbi Burdick, Superintendent Governing Board Meetings Governing Board Members 33016 North 60th Street Cynthia Weiss, President Scottsdale, AZ 6:00 p.m. Kathryn Hill, Vice President March 12, 2018 Janet Busbee, Member James Rich, Member Mark Warren, Member Julia Scotto, Editor Start with us, Grow with us, Graduate with us Cactus Shadows Chinese National Honor Society members treated our preschoolers in the Global Beginnings program to a Chinese Lion and Chinese dragon dance. DON’T FORGET TO VOTE – March 13, 2018 CCUSD is ranked #1 in Maricopa County for Student Achievement A Note from the Superintendent… Dear CCUSD Parents, Community and Staff, It is hard to believe that we are looking at spring right around the corner. March is an important school month as we continue to move through critical curriculum before students are measured on the state AzMERIT or End of Course exams. We also have our final K-12 Parent-Teacher Conferences after the end of th the third quarter on March 16 . Please take this opportunity to communicate with your child’s teacher(s) about any concerns or questions that you have about their work and progress. An important date to remember is Rock the District (RTD), put on by the Cave Creek Unified Education Foundation to support our teachers in their classrooms with grant dollars each year. RTD is on Saturday, March 3rd this year at Stagecoach Village opening at 4 pm and music starting at 5. Come out and support our students and teachers. Tickets are available at www.rockthedistrict.net. Finally, enjoy having your children home for spring break—March 26-30th—and we will welcome them back on April 2nd. I look forward to seeing you in our schools! Sincerely, Debbi Burdick Get Social with CCUSD 1 STUDENT NEWS Let’s Celebrate the Class of 2018… • Emily Watkins – Emily has been accepted to Northern Arizona University and has received the Lumberjack Scholarship. • Hollis Johnson – Hollis has been accepted to Western University - London, Ontario, Canada - Health Sciences. • Mia Gilling - Mia has been accepted to The New School - Parsons School of Design in NYC and was awarded a merit scholarship to study communication design and photography. • Sydney Reithinger – Sydney has been accepted to Arizona State University and has received the New American University Scholar - Provost's Award. • Tyrus Smedes – Tyrus has enlisted with the United States Navy. Cactus Shadows Band and Music students… Congratulations to Cactus Shadows High School students who were chosen to represent CSHS at the AMEA Northwest Regional Band, Choir and Orchestra Festival in Flagstaff this past month: Alex Arias, Anika Arias, Gaby Arias and Samantha Jones were admitted to play in the band, Hayley Smith will sang in the choir, and Harrison Newton played violin in the orchestra. Cactus Shadows Spring Sports… Tennis: The Cactus Shadows Lady Falcon Tennis Team beat Arcadia (the defending State Champions) this past month 7-2; Lady Falcons beat Prescott 9-0 and to the Falcons who beat Prescott 7-2. Baseball: The Cactus Shadows Falcons Varsity Baseball Team beat Salpointe Catholic this past month, 10-6. CCUSD Spiritline… CCUSD Spiritline brought home the hardware from USA Nationals this past month. All Spiritline teams placed IN THE TOP 5 in the NATION. Congratulations to Cactus Shadows Varsity Jazz (5th); Cactus Shadows JV Cheer (4th); Cactus Shadows Varsity Cheer (3rd); Cactus Shadows JV Jazz (2nd); and Sonoran Trails Middle School Cheer brought home the First Place Banner and are NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! ASU Confucius Classroom Award Winners… Sonoran Trails Middle School (STMS) and Cactus Shadows High School (CSHS), would like to congratulate their students for receiving awards from the ASU Confucius Institute Video Competition. Bill Dolezal, principal of STMS said, “We are honored to receive these awards, but the true reward is watching our students gain confidence and proficiency in speaking a second language – a skill that will serve them for a lifetime!” Sophia Barnedo, Matthew Herbert and Emily Young from STMS received 2 “Outstanding” recognition for their video “五十个“是”. This 8th grade video is about an arrogant boy who disrespects his teacher, and gets assigned extra homework. Being rebellious, he decides to ignore it for the rest of the day but is haunted by his bad decisions. Cactus Shadows Students Abigail Nosan, Holly Beck and Sienna Kloss received “Outstanding” recognition for their video “Our Chinese Academics & Extra Curriculum”. Students created avatars to represent themselves and have an “animated” discussion about their likes and dislikes at school. The six students were chosen from over 80 entries in the 7-12 grade competition for being Novice Learners of Mandarin. Dr. Steve Bebee, principal of CSHS said, “Our students continue to amaze me with their abilities and talents when it comes to language acquisition. We congratulate our students and their accomplishments and for winning his award.” The ASU Confucius Institute hosts the Student Video Competition to encourage students to use Chinese to express their Chinese-learning journeys and love for learning Chinese through producing a video in Chinese. Students in grade 7-12 enrolled in a Chinese language class in Arizona schools were encouraged to participate in this contest. ASU’s Video Academy Award Ceremony was held on February 3, 2018. Polly Rosenbaum Essay Contest Winners… CCUSD would like to congratulate Sonoran Trails Middle School 8th grade student, Sophia Barnedo for taking first place in the 2018 Polly Rosenbaum Creative Writing Contest. She won with her original poem entitled “Respect”. Shelley Kniffen, STMS English teacher said, “We're so proud of Sophia for giving voice to an important topic in today's tense political climate.” CCUSD would also like to congratulate Cactus Shadows High School freshmen Brooklyn Presta (2nd place) and Emma Arias (3rd place) in the 9/10 category and juniors, Rena Jakway (2nd place) and Natasha Jarik (3rd place) in the 11/12 category. Christine Marsh, CSHS English teacher and Arizona’s 2016 Teacher of the Year said, “The topic this year, “What is the importance of civility in civic discourse,” was so poignant, and it challenged the students to think about civic discourse in their own lives and in the broader society. Many of the essays from Cactus Shadows students were powerful, but four winning essays were especially insightful and creative. Most adults could learn something from our bright young students.” All students will be recognized at a special event at the Arizona State Capitol on February 14. First place winners will receive a $50 gift certificate and will have the opportunity to read their winning submission out loud at the event. Second place 3 winners will receive a $25 gift certificate; and third place winners will receive a $15 gift certificate. AEF’s website states: The Polly Rosenbaum Writing Contest is named for Polly Rosenbaum, a former House Representative in the Arizona State Legislature and teacher, who passed away in 2003 at the age of 104. This writing contest is a long- standing tradition honoring Mrs. Rosenbaum, who believed Arizona’s young people are the state’s greatest resource. Each year the Arizona Educational Foundation establishes a theme for the writing contest. Thank you Sophia, Brooklyn, Emma, Rena and Natasha for representing CCUSD at this event. Cactus Shadows Alum – What are they doing now? Shout out to Niki Jackson (CSHS '14) who earned a spot on the Colorado Rapids Soccer Team! Niki received several accolades while at GCU - check it out: 2016 | Junior • Named the WAC Offensive Player of Year after a record-breaking season • Scored 16 goals, the third-most in the country • Added two assists for 34 points on the season, tied for fourth in the nation • Recorded two hat tricks during the year, vs. IUPUI on Sept. 15 and Houston Baptist on Oct. 6 • Earned NSCAA First Team All-West Region honors • Named the WAC Offensive Player of the Week three times during the year • Honored as Academic All-WAC 2015 | Sophomore • Appeared in 16 games with 12 starts • Ranked second on the team in goals (8), points (17), shots (48) and shots on goal (19) • Ranked fifth in the WAC for shots per game (3.00) • Earned Oct. 26 - Nov.1 Offensive Player of the Week honors after scoring a pair of goals against Air Force and UMKC 2014 | Freshman • Tallied five goals and four assists in 18 games, 16 of which he started • Earned first goal against Pacific on Sept. 6 • Posted 28 of 57 shots on goal (.491) • Finished with 13 points for the season, second-most on the team Sonoran Trails Middle School – Students of the Month! Congratulations to Sonoran Trails Middle School students of the month for February! 7th grade: Darby Bender; Ellie Blamires; Reagan Fenicle; Amber Fragoso; Sydney Marthaler and Tyler Wojciechowski. 8th grade: Mickah Badenhorst; Brooklyn Betts; Isabelle Bridgeman; Jacob Futrell; Isabella Quinn; and Alexandra Towns. 4 National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) Congratulations to the following Sonoran Trails Middle School students who were inducted into the NJHS this past month. Maxwell Anderson, Hudson Boe, Gabrielle Coleman, Emma Brum, Rylan Duggan, Caroline Koerner, Lani MacMillan, Katy McGillivray, Karli Neff, Caroline Paradies, Sidney Parks, Maddie Peglowski, Nate Pozen, Andrew Roe, Jacob Rollins, Preston Sayegh, Anna Schultz, Ayden Schure and Nicholas Yuhas. Sonoran Trails Middle School – Wrestling Champions… Congratulations to Sonoran Trails Middle School Varsity Wrestlers who won 1st place honors at the Conference Championships. Nine wrestlers took first place and were crowned Conference Champs: Brayden Anderson, Blair Ellison, Jalen Schneider, Caleb Villegas, Tyler Muranaka, Brayden Hasher, Brandon Herzog, Kai Candelaria and Porter Bonife. Second place honors went to Briggs Coop and Noah Herzog and third place finishers include Victor Araujo, Marcus Buchanan and Hudson Boe.