San Miguel High School

Catholic, College & Career Preparatory

News

WELCOME to the San Miguel family:

Mrs. Erin Mendivil will be teaching Integrated Science to freshmen next year. Her unique science degree in agricultural education gives her a solid diverse background from which to draw. In the past, Erin has taught at Empire HS, Apollo MS, and just completed a year at Desert View HS. Her husband is the AD at Empire HS and her son also attends there.

Ms. Melissa Lopez will be working with our upperclassmen on social studies. She’ll introduce our AP US History course as well as regular US History and Gov’t/Econ. Ms. Lopez was influenced by the Catholic education she received at Sts. Peter and Paul as well as Salpointe. She is a proud Lumberjack alum from Northern Arizona University.

Brianna Mustard will be joining the math department. She was one the LV’s who visited last week.

Shanna Corey, another LV who visited last week, will be our new Assistant Campus Minster and assist counseling with preparing our students for college.

SAN MIGUEL STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY SUMMER PROGRAM

JUNE 14, 2010 – TUCSON, ARIZONA – Two incoming San Miguel High School Freshmen, Javier Madrid and Maria Antonieta Morales-Lozano, have been selected by St. Mary’s University of Minnesota to participate in their “Countdown to College Camp” (C2C Camp), July 24th through August 7th, in Winona, Minnesota. The purpose of the camp is to prepare and motivate first generation students to be “college bound.” This four-year program begins the summer before their Freshman year and continues each summer of their high school career.

St. Mary’s is paying for all their expenses, except airfare, which Jim Click, renowned Tucson entrepreneur and philanthropist, has graciously agreed to provide. Once the students complete the program, they will have an opportunity to apply for the St. Mary’s University “First Generation Scholars Program;” a full scholarship to St. Mary’s University including tuition, room, board, books and transportation for four years.
These students were identified as two of San Miguel High School’s “rising stars” of the Class of 2014 and were thus given the opportunity to apply to the program. As part of the application progress, the students were asked to provide a list of their accomplishments, awards and extracurricular activities, as well as why they wanted to participate in the program and their college goals and aspiration. The selection criteria was based on the students’ academic abilities, who they felt would make the most of this opportunity and who they believed would do well at the camp.

Dr. Esparza's Visit to San Miguel

The Common Thread??
An earthquake in Haiti brought classmates of Cathedral High School (El Paso, TX) Luis Esparza ’76 and Samuel Perez ’76 as well as the entire student body of San Miguel High School in Tucson, AZ together in the Lasallian spirit of Faith, Service and Community.

We marvel at times at how God works; sometimes He puts people or situations in our paths that help motivate and inspire us to do the extraordinary. On January 12, 2010, Haiti was shaken by a terrible earthquake. Many lives were lost, many Haitians were in need of dire medical and infrastructure attention, and many people were inspired to help.
San Miguel High School students responded to the pleas for help and went into action by organizing several fundraisers such as bake sales and “Spare your collar for two dollar” (free dress) days. This six year old school, with 315 students who mostly come from families of limited financial means, was able to raise $1642.81 in a week! The money was sent to World Care in support of their humanitarian efforts in Haiti.

That same week, Dr. Esparza, an anesthesiologist in Tucson, AZ, was a guest speaker at San Miguel High School. He had been invited to speak at their awards assembly during Catholic Schools Week and he gave the student body advice and inspiration to continue to do well no matter their circumstances. He told the students that their story was his story: He grew up in a large Hispanic family in El Paso, Texas with the same kind of economic challenges that San Miguel students are all too familiar with, he went to a small Christian Brother (Lasallian) school, studied hard to get the grades that gained him admission to the University of Notre Dame and UCLA for medical school. The students at the assembly were inspired by his story but little did they know that they also inspired Dr. Esparza that day. Several students had come up to him to let him know that they were fundraising for the Haiti earthquake relief efforts. Three days after speaking at SMHS, Dr. Esparza left for Haiti to volunteer his time and medical expertise.
While in Haiti, Dr. Esparza was contacted by several of his fellow Cathedral alums who let him know that his friend and former classmate, Rear Admiral Samuel Perez, USN was also in Haiti helping with the relief efforts. Admiral Samuel Perez’s story is similar to Dr. Esparza’s and those currently enrolled at many of our Lasallian schools. While at Cathedral El Paso, Sam was a serious student who worked hard to achieve his goals. He received a Congressional nomination to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis and made his way up through the ranks. Rear Admiral Perez was sent to Haiti as Commander of the Joint Task Force overseeing repairs to the port facilities in Haiti’s principal seaport.
Reuniting in Haiti and sharing stories of their high school days and how the Brothers helped shape their values and commitment to serve others was emotional for the two of them. They, too, marveled at how God works…how is it that two Hispanic boys from a small Lasallian school in El Paso, TX had gotten to where they are today in their respective careers and were making such an impact on a world stage.

The Haiti experience has “called” Dr. Esparza back to San Miguel during Founder’s Week. On Thursday, May 13, Dr. Esparza will once again share his experiences (and photos) with interested students and hopefully inspire some to heed the call to Faith, Service and Community.

San Miguel's New Principal

Mr. Richard Reyes

San Miguel's New Assistant Principal

Br. Jesus Lara

San Miguel Students Reflect on Immersion Experience

April 28th through May 1st, San Miguel High School students, along with one of their teachers, Alma Mejia-Garcia, visited St. Paul’s School in Covington, Louisiana. The purpose of the trip was for San Miguel and St. Paul’s students to share their experiences participating in San Miguel’s El Otro Lado immersion program in February.

El Otro Lado, which means “the other side,” refers to the wall that separates Mexico and the United States. The program gave students the opportunity to visit the southern border of the United States and learn more about the challenges it presents to the men, women and children of Mexico seeking a better life in the United States. Over the four-day period, students reflected on their journey, what they learned from the experience, the vastness of the desert, the dangers faced by the migrants and their thoughts on how the migrants are tried as criminals in Operation Streamline.

The students were hosted by Covington families.

San Miguel sophomore, Maria Vindiola, said, "Today I arrived in the friendliest city I have ever been to. I was greeted by some of the nicest people I have ever met. I think that God puts people in your life for a reason and I believe that he has placed me here with Nathaniels family to learn from their humility. Such warm kind hearted people could not have been better teachers. When you welcome someone into your home you are welcoming them into your hearts. I think that God lives in the people that do service and I am sure he lives here with this wonderful family."

More photos

SAN MIGUEL HIRES NEW

DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT

APRIL 29, 2010 – TUCSON, ARIZONA – San Miguel High School is pleased to announce the hiring of Nicola Hartmann as their new Director of Institutional Advancement, replacing Sherie Steele, who left San Miguel to take care of an ailing family member.

Nicola has been serving as the Executive Director of the Sunnyside Unified School District Foundation since 2008. Prior to that, she worked in marketing for a number of Tucson businesses including Old Tucson Studios, Pepsi Cola Bottling Company and the University of Arizona. She began her non-profit career in 1999, when she served as Director of Resource Development for Child & Family Resources. In 2004, she began offering consulting services to smaller non-profit organizations including Tucson Interfaith HIV/Aids Network, Tucson Children’s Museum and Friends of Kartchner Caverns. Nicola has volunteered for a number of community organizations including serving as a Founding Board Member of the Ben’s Bells Project. Ms. Hartmann holds a BS degree in Marketing from the University of Arizona and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of International Management. Nicola starts June 7.

“We feel so fortunate to have someone of Nicola’s caliber join our staff, especially someone with such a passion for our mission,” says Leslie Shultz-Crist, President of San Miguel High School.

Congratulations!

Maciel Moreno
Southern Arizona
Girls' Basketball
Second Team

Congratulations!

Arcenio Trujillo
Southern Arizona
Boys' Basketball
Honorable Mention

San Miguel on KVOA-TV

Tucson and Southern Arizona news from KVOA.com

PASCUA YAQUI TRIBE SUPPORTS
SAN MIGUEL CORPORATE INTERNSHIP

FEBRUARY 12, 2010 - TUCSON, ARIZONA – The Pascua Yaqui Tribe has awarded San Miguel High School $25,000 to support the school’s Corporate Internship Program.

San Miguel is a private, non-profit, Catholic high school that provides a quality college preparatory education to students from families of limited financial means. The average income of San Miguel students’ families is $30,000. Located in the heart of Tucson’s economically disadvantaged south side, approximately 85% of its students are Latino and 10% are Native American.
Read full release

Alday Deserving of Award

Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Saturday, February 13, 2010 12:00 am

Applications for the first head coaching job in Pima College baseball history arrived on Larry Toledo's desk with impressive regularity. "A lot," he remembers now. "Dozens, I guess."

Toledo would phone many of the names he recognized. They would all ask the same thing: How much is there in the recruiting budget? Can I get players from California? Texas?

In the early '70s, junior college baseball in Arizona was so good it was ridiculous. Phoenix College, Mesa College and Glendale College all had won NJCAA titles since 1965. Yavapai would win it in 1975, and Central Arizona in 1976.
Your team could be ranked in the Top 20 nationally and not even sniff the ACCAC title.

Toledo, the school's first athletic director, was working with some notable restrictions. The founders of Tucson's new junior college weren't sure they even wanted to include baseball, or any sport, in this academic endeavor. If they were going to take on sports, they would take on local ballplayers.

"We needed a credible person in the community, someone who could speak to the Latino community," Toledo says now. "We needed someone very special."

He phoned the baseball office at Emporia State in Kansas and talked with the graduate assistant coach, 25-year-old Tucson High School grad Rich Alday. To be considered for the job, Alday would first have to complete requirements for a master's degree.

And did he know the school didn't have enough money to build a ballpark for a year or two?
"I was kinda green," Alday says now, chuckling at the memory. "But I sure wanted that job. I was convinced we could win with local kids."

By 1981, Alday's local kids were in the NJCAA World Series. By 1985, they were in the championship game. He would win 496 games, five ACCAC titles, send 106 players to four-year schools, and Gil Heredia, Jack Howell and George Arias to the big leagues.

After 17 seasons of excellence, Alday took a call from the athletic director at New Mexico. Would Alday be interested in coaching the Lobos? They had their own ballpark. They could recruit out-of-staters.
"It was overdue," Toledo remembers. "Rich was ready to coach at the highest levels of college baseball long before that."

Friday night at the Doubletree Hotel, Alday was honored by his former school and by many of his former players. Today, in the school's annual Alumni Game, Pima will retire his jersey, No. 26, placing it on the outfield wall at the Aztecs' ballpark.

They should go all the way and name the ballpark after him.

"All of the guys who played for Rich have a little place with him. That's the way he treated people," says Clark Crist, a Cincinnati Reds scout who was recruited by Alday out of Palo Verde High School and was the starting shortstop for Arizona's 1980 NCAA champion. "I was there in the early years, when we didn't even have our own field. I saw him build from nothing to an elite program. I'm proud to say I played for him."

After retiring at New Mexico two years ago, Alday and his wife, Norma, returned to Tucson. He coached at the middle-school level, or anywhere he could help. This year, he accepted a position as the athletic director/baseball coach at Class 2A San Miguel High School, a preparatory school that is more about getting a start in life than about playing baseball.

It's not that much different from Pima College's approach in 1973.

The Vipers don't have a playing field. Déjà vu. Much like Alday's first two PCC teams, San Miguel will play road games. They'll practice wherever possible. And because of the corporate internships served by all students - weekly on-the-job training and apprenticeships - Alday sometimes isn't sure if he can have more than nine players available.

"We've got a lot of work to do, and I'm sure it'll make me feel a little older," he says. "But I like it. It's a challenge. I've had a few of those."

When the first Pima team prepared for its inaugural season, 1973, Alday took the new uniforms out of a box and began distributing them. Everyone wanted a single digit. Then the teens. Finally, all the jerseys except No. 26 had been taken. So Alday became No. 26 at Pima (and later at New Mexico).

That was his way: The players came first, and that's why so many of his ballplayers came back to honor No. 26 this weekend.

San Miguel High School

Brother Nick Gonzales, Principal. This school was created to fill a vacuum in its south Tucson neighborhood, the poorest in the city. San Miguel High School was designed to integrate academics and career goals. A corporate internship program is the anchor for this vision. All 9-12 students work in an internship each week. Four students share a job and work once a week. Teachers weave the academic and career concepts of persistence with new tasks, teaming and collaboration, productivity and self-direction, complex reasoning (compare, classify, analyze, and construct and support), and precision and accuracy into their lessons so that they can daily reinforce the school’s mission of preparing every student for college and career.

New Morning Drop-Off Plan: Dropping students off in parking lot in the mornings has become increasingly chaotic and dangerous. Our CIP drivers have agreed to help direct the new traffic plan which is enclosed. Your cooperation is appreciated.

The easiest solution is to drop off/pick up your child on Lerdo Street.

Help Paying Utilities: SMHS is working with Faith Based Community Action to help pre-identify families who qualify to get state assistance to pay a late utility bill. Families must be able to prove a recent loss of income and/or a recent unexpected expense. Families must also be citizens. Please contact Mr. Moreno or Ms. Renteria to get more information. A state employee will visit campus once a month to meet with families who qualify.

Book Donations: CAID Industries, one of our business partners will be sponsoring a book sale to help out Habitat for Humanity. We put a donation box for books in our Rowe Library for this purpose.

Baseball and softball tryouts begin this month. Details are available from Mr. Alday and Mrs. Mejia-Garcia.

El Otro Lado: San Miguel is hosting a group of nine students from St. Paul’s School, the Lasallian high school in Covington, LA, throughout the week of February 15th. We’re looking for volunteer parents/students to cook dinners for them in our cafeteria. Plese contact Brother Nick (principal@sanmiguelhigh.org) if you are interested.

Elegant Night will be on Friday March 26 in the Click Center. This fashion show/auction will make donated evening wear/gowns/suits available for our students to bid on to wear to our Spring Formal. We need your help once again,in donating any clothing items, food items for the spaghetti dinner, and your time in assisting with the preparation and serving of the spaghetti dinner.

Next Parent Group meeting will be on Thursday Feb 11th at 6:00 PM. We’ll be organizing Elegant Night.

Fry’s Cards: We have 90 cards registered and have generated $50,000 in sales to date. San Miguel earns 1%, so our first $500 check has arrived! Thank you for your support!

Yearbooks are currently on sale in the front office for $40.00 while
supplies last. For your conveience, yearbooks are also available online
at www.myyear.com.

March 12th will be San Miguel's 2nd Annual Celebrations of the Arts Night.
Mark your calenders and look for more information to come. San Miguel's
First National Arts Honor Society Induction will be that evening as well.

Yoga classes are free to all San Miguel Staff and Students on Mondays in
the dance room from 3:45 - 4:45. Beginners welcome! Classes begin
Feb.1st.

News for Parents - need for host families, spaghetti dinner and Elegant Night

SAN MIGUEL HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES

VOLUNTEER IN THE PHILIPPINES

TUCSON, ARIZONA, FEBRUARY 1 – Three graduates from the San Miguel High School Class of 2009, Jose Herrera, Adonis Trujillo and Luis Vanegas, along with Biology teacher, Br. Dan Fenton, will travel this summer to Bacolod City, on the island of Negros, in the Philippines, to volunteer their services at the Bahay Pag-asa Youth Center. This residential facility, established by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, was designed to provide a safe haven for troubled youth who have found themselves in conflict with the law. The volunteers will teach English, Math and Science to the boys at Bahay Pag-asa, most of who have spent time in jails and police lock-ups where they have suffered significant trauma and abuse.

In order to support this effort, San Miguel students have formed a group called Club Pag-asa, which is holding a Penny Wars competition during Lent to provide educational materials and scholarships for the Bahay Pag-asa residents. During Penny Wars, San Miguel students compete by bringing in their loose change. This year, fans of Club Pag-asa on Facebook will be able to join in the competition.

In addition to teaching at Bahay Pag-asa, the volunteers will set up a weather station at the new Bahay Pag-asa Youth Center in Dasmarinas, on the island of Luzon. For most of their five-week stay, the volunteers will live at the youth center and share meals with the residents, which will provide them with an opportunity to learn more about the Filipino culture and the native language of the residents, Ilonggo.

Perfecto’s Mexican Restaurant, on South 12th Avenue, is donating 10% of the meal price with a Club Pag-asa coupon, available on the Community page of the San Miguel website at www.sanmiguelhigh.org.

Jose Herrera, one of the volunteers, says, “I hope to bring joy, good character and a huge smile to the kids at Bahay Pag-asa."

San Miguel is a private, Catholic high school that provides a quality, college preparatory education to students from families of limited financial means. Students take a full course load, while at the same time working in entry level positions at local businesses, earning approximately 60% of their school tuition. Since its inception in 2004, 100% of the students in San Miguel’s first two senior classes have graduated, 100% have been accepted to college, and they’ve been awarded over $6 million in scholarships and grants.

San Miguel High School…..The School That Works!

Club Pag-asa Perfecto Restaurant Coupon

San Miguel Awards Assembly, January 21, 2009 - more photos

Social Justice Fair at San Miguel on January 29, 2010 - more photos

Lopez

Robert Lopez on the job at the U of A - click on this link to see video

Dr. Luis Esparza Travels to Help in Haiti

Tucson and Southern Arizona news from KVOA.com

Speaker's Assembly on January 28, 2010 - more photos

San Miguel Is Green! - click here to read article

SAN MIGUEL HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL WINS ELIZABETH ANN SETON AWARD

DECEMBER 11, 2009 – TUCSON, ARIZONA – For the past 17 years, Salpointe Catholic High School has presented the Elizabeth Ann Seton Award to an outstanding individual or individuals who have made significant contributions to Catholic education in the Diocese of Tucson. This year, this prestigious award is being presented to San Miguel High School Principal, Br. Nick Gonzalez, FSC, and Santa Cruz Catholic School Principal, Sr. Leonette Kochan, OSF.

According to Salpointe’s selection criteria, nominees should possess deep faith; have courage, initiative and zeal; demonstrate leadership qualities; and exhibit a strong sense of social justice. “No two people better exemplify these core values than Br. Nick and Sr. Leonette,” says San Miguel High School President, Leslie Shultz-Crist.

Past recipients include Sr. Rosa Maria Ruiz, CFMM, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Tucson, renowned Tucson entrepreneur and philanthropist, Mr. Jim Click, Jr., and Ms. Shultz-Crist (mentioned above), when she served as Principal of St. Ambrose School, to name just a few.

The awards will be presented at a breakfast held Monday, January 25th, at 7:30am, at the Salpointe cafeteria.

San Miguel Hires Renowned Tucson Coach to Head Up Athletic Department

SAN MIGUEL HIGH SCHOOL
RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS HONOR

NOVEMBER 18, 2009 - TUCSON, ARIZONA – San Miguel High School has been selected by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) as one of ten 2010 MetLife Foundation Breakthrough Schools. As such, San Miguel will be awarded a $5,000 grant from the MetLife Foundation, and the school’s Principal, Brother Nick Gonzalez, will be invited to attend and participate in the NASSP Convention March 11-14 in Phoenix, Arizona, where the accomplishments of the schools participating in this project will be recognized. The school will also be featured in the NASSP’s monthly magazine, Principal Leadership, and Brother Nick will be invited to attend and participate in other venues throughout the year.

The MetLife-NASSP Breakthrough Schools project, initiated in 2007, is sponsored by the MetLife Foundation. The goal of the project is to identify, recognize, and showcase middle level and high schools that serve large numbers of students living in poverty, and are high achieving or dramatically improving student achievement.

Selection criteria are based on a school’s documented success in implementing strategies aligned with the three core areas of Breaking Ranks II for middle level and high schools that have led to improved student achievement. These core areas include: collaborative leadership; personalization; and curriculum, instruction and assessment.

For more information, please visit the NASSP web site at http://www.principals.org/s_nassp/sec.asp?CID=1899&DID=60998#miguel

San Miguel is a private, Catholic high school that provides a quality, college preparatory education to students from families of limited financial means. Students take a full course load, while at the same time working in entry level positions at local businesses, earning approximately 60% of their school tuition. Since its inception in 2004, 100% of the students in San Miguel’s first two senior classes have graduated, 100% were accepted to college, and they’ve been awarded over $6 million in scholarships and grants.

San Miguel High School…..The School That Works!

Talk of Tucson - listen to a radio broadcast about San Miguel

SAN MIGUEL STUDENTS ARE “COLLEGE PREPARED”
WITH THE HELP OF CITI

DECEMBER 16, 2009 - TUCSON, ARIZONA – In response to San Miguel High School’s request to Citi’s State Director of Community Outreach, Mr. Jason Ott, in support of programs that prepare students for college, Citi has granted San Miguel $10,000. The funds will be used for the school’s “College Prepared is College Bound” program, a program that helps students, from their freshman to their senior years, prepare for college. This includes preparation for college entrance exams, attending field trips and summer programs, researching and visiting schools, applying to schools, applying for financial aid, office supplies and equipment. Additionally, the program includes workshops and seminars for parents who want guidance in how best to support their college-bound student, including financial planning and other factors that have made San Miguel so successful in preparing its students for college.

Thanks to the generosity of Citi, San Miguel can continue to send its students to college knowing they are prepared academically, emotionally and spiritually for the rigors of college. And after completing their college education, they’ll come home with the skills necessary to help their communities break the cycle of poverty, unemployment and crime that has pervaded their neighborhoods.

“We value the important work that San Miguel is doing and are pleased to be able to partner with San Miguel in their efforts,” said Randy McDonald, Chair of Citi’s Arizona State Leadership Council.

Every San Miguel High School senior graduates

For the second year in a row, all seniors at San Miguel High School on Tucson's south side graduate and are college bound.
The non-profit Catholic campus opened in 2004.

It only accepts students from low income families. In addition to their classes, students work to pay for their tuition.

Graduate Candace Campus can hardly contain her giddiness. "I did it! He he he. Ya! He he."

Forever Campus will carry the prestige of graduating in a class where every single one of her classmates graduated too.

Senior Alejandra Flores says she's proud. "Not only did we graduate100% but we got accepted to a lot of colleges."

Flores says the combined scholarship money awarded to this class of only 24 amounts to a staggering figure, "$2.4 million dollars."

Bound for Pima Community College, Adonis Trujillo has earned more than $168,000 in scholarships and grants. "I want to be a civil engineer actually. I'm extremely grateful for my parents having sent me here. Especially the work experience. I already have four jobs under my belt."

Jim Click provides jobs in his dealerships for students at San Miguel High School. "It's like a business model. And this business model works."

Click says he's looking forward to this business model expanding. "100% are going to college and next year they'll be 60 or 70 kids, the following year a 100, then 125 and our goal eventually is to have 500 kids in this school."

School officials say 100% of last year's graduates have just finished their freshmen year in college and are all still enrolled.

San Miguel High seniors leave mark, a piece at a time

ARIANNA HERMOSILLO
Published: 02.17.2009

San Miguel High School's 24 seniors want to leave their mark and start a tradition for classes to come.
The seniors are working on a mosaic to represent Native American cultures and hoping future classes will add to it.

Last year, Native American students said they wanted input on the design of the school's prayer garden.
San Miguel's president, Elizabeth Goettl, formed a committee of Native American students to discuss their ideas.

By mid-March, local artist Allan Mardon was approached to paint a mural on the prayer garden wall.
Mardon, who came here from Canada, is known for his painting "The Battle of Greasy Grass," which depicts Custer's last stand and hangs in the Whitney Gallery of Western Art in Cody, Wyo.
Mardon said he could not complete the mural on time for San Miguel, 6601 S. San Fernando Road, and a mosaic project was suggested to involve students.

Most of the tile was donated and the school purchased the tools to cut it.

Mardon arranged the layout, design and color sketch of the mosaic, but students provided the research and manpower.

Students learned how to cut and lay the tile. They worked in groups on different pieces of the mosaic during art classes. Mardon and art teacher Melissa Schwindenhammer oversaw them.

They also researched important symbols of Native American cultures, including a Pascua Yaqui crescent, a Hopi cloud and an Apache star.

The Tohono O'odham, Taos Pueblo and Ojibwe are also represented.
About 10 percent of students at San Miguel are Native Americans.

Mardon said it was important that the mosaic represent the students and that he "wanted it to be them, mistakes and all."

A stone statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe, an important religious symbol in Mexican culture, already stood in the garden to represent students of Mexican descent.

The students also found a way to incorporate their school colors and a symbol - a phoenix - to represent the senior class.

The project has brought the class together, students said, but they had to learn a new art form.

"Usually you're used to just drawing and stuff like that. It takes you out of your comfort zone," said Jose Herrera, 18.
Mardon said, "I had a time where I had to get these kids to understand they weren't tiling a bathroom."

Mardon is receiving a small compensation, but mostly giving his time and energy, Schwindenhammer said.
Mardon said he is enjoying his time with the students, finding them to be "very receptive, very diligent, very industrious and an absolute treasure."

Although Danny Figueroa, 18 has no Native American ancestry, he said it was important to work hard on the mosaic out of respect for the cultures of others. "Then when we're done, it's going to make us really proud of each other because we worked so hard."

Lauren Jensen, 17, said, "It brought us closer to Native Americans that are here and we understand more about their culture and their traditions."

The mosaic will be unveiled March 19, during the first "Evening of the Arts" at San Miguel.

Recession's grip also tightens on private schools

By Rhonda Bodfield
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
DID YOU KNOW
Salpointe Catholic, Tucson's largest Catholic high school, opened in 1950 with 100 students.
It was a modest campus at the time — nine classrooms, a library and administrative offices. A back room in the cafeteria served as a locker room for students taking physical education.
The bulk of the campus was built between 1954 and 1966, due to the generosity of Salpointe's patron, Helena S. Corcoran, and her husband, John P. Corcoran.
As the mother of 13 children, Corcoran is known to have said: "Every real home should have four rooms; each one contributing to the maintenance of our lives — a dining room, to nourish the body; a music room, to strengthen the soul; a living room, to stimulate the heart; and a library, to cultivate the brain."
Source: Salpointe Catholic High School
Click here for the Private and Charter School Survey
Even as Arizona's public schools brace for significant budget cuts from state lawmakers, private schools are quietly dealing with their own financial woes.
Private schools as a whole generally weather recessions — their national industry group has looked at past economic slumps dating to 1969 and found no drop in enrollment.
But this time around, many are feeling the bite, said Myra McGovern, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Independent Schools. In addition to falling enrollment, many schools saw their endowments drop along with the stock market. She's encouraging her schools to draw up several budget scenarios, anticipating cuts of 5 percent to 20 percent.
"The concern and uncertainly is really quite universal," McGovern said. "Even schools in a strong position don't know what the future holds."
Like their national counterparts, private schools across Tucson are facing numerous issues, from declining enrollment and drops in corporate sponsors to increased requests for financial aid.
To make matters worse, state lawmakers are being pressed by the public-education lobby to suspend or eliminate tax credits now used to help fund public-school extracurricular activities and private-school tuition. Many families rely on the dollar-for-dollar credit to afford tuition.
Administrators aren't the only ones gnawing their fingernails.
Lauren Jensen, a senior at San Miguel High School, 6601 S. San Fernando Road, said she's concerned about her school's ability to retain the corporate sponsors that are key to the business model at the Catholic college-preparatory school.
The school already has been told that next year it will lose at least 5 percent of its corporate sponsors as a direct result of the flagging economy.
Businesses say it's tough for them to afford the full sponsorship of $20,990. In exchange, a team of four students shares one entry position, letting students go to school four days a week and spend the fifth day working in their professional setting.

Losing that help is a particular problem for the school, where 98 percent of students come from low-income families. Of its first graduating class from last year, 100 percent graduated and 100 percent are in college.
Jensen worked last year for the afternoon newspaper, the Tucson Citizen, and this year is working for Universal Avionics Systems Corp. She said some of the work helps supplement what she learns in class, but it also develops a student's responsibility and work ethic.
"It really worries me," Jensen said, adding there is fear among many underclassmen. "Their help is really important to help students afford to come here."
Development director Sherie Steele said the school is responding by trying to make it easier for businesses to help in any way they can and encouraging them to see the long-term investment strategy in turning around the abysmal dropout rate among disadvantaged families.

"It's extremely important to have those corporate relationships. If we have to do twice as many half-time jobs, because that's what businesses can afford, then we will work to make that happen," Steele said.
Sister Rosa Maria Ruiz, superintendent of schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson, said total enrollment in the 21 elementary/middle schools and the six high schools is 7,433 — down from 7,770 at the end of last school year. She can review only back to 1997 but said this is the "first time we're hurting like this."
Ruiz said some of the decrease could be because of tighter border restrictions for students who live in Mexico and found it harder to get to school in Nogales, Ariz., and Yuma, part of the local diocese.
Much of it, though, is because the economic pinch is making it difficult for parents to stay current with tuition, which ranges from $2,500 in the lower grades to about $6,000 in high school.
"Some can afford it with no problem. Others might get a scholarship. It's really the middle-class families who are having a harder time," she said.
Each school is poring through its budgets to find ways to save money without affecting the classroom, she said. "We're working together and praying harder."
McGovern, of the schools association, said schools are responding by lowering tuition, giving more financial aid and increasing enrollment. She warned that schools have to be careful not to reduce quality.
On the other hand, she said, families are usually deeply committed to the choice of a private school and will move mountains to keep their kids there.
"The last thing families are usually willing to cut out of the family budget are things that have to do with the children," she said. "They're much more likely to scale back on things that affect them, whereas in a turbulent world, they see schools as really the last bastion of stability for their children."
Linda O'Keeffe, a spokeswoman for St. Gregory College Preparatory School, an independent school at 3231 N. Craycroft Road, said enrollment has remained steady all year.
"The economy is certainly a concern to both the school and to our parents, but a lot of parents, not only now, but throughout our 30-year history, have made sacrifices," O'Keeffe said.
With an upper-school tuition hovering near $15,600, the school is working to increase the financial aid it offers, she said, adding that more than 25 percent of the students are receiving some financial assistance.
In unstable times, the school has redoubled its focus on academics, O'Keeffe said, rolling out a pilot project that will give all students individualized plans that will identify how they learn, what their special interests might be and how to help them meet their goals. A student gifted in music, for example, might build relationships with composers in the community or take college music courses.
And that's why O'Keeffe predicts private schools will come through the recession just fine.
"These are difficult times for everyone, but I think it's also an opportunity for independent schools to really focus on our strengths. Because of our small class size and strong core curriculum, we are uniquely positioned to offer the kind of enrichment that you can't find at public schools."
On StarNet: View a searchable database where you can sift through the local private and charter schools in Tucson by visiting

Campus combines school and corporate work
All 37 grads from the college-prep S. Side program are now in college

By Loni Nannini
SPECIAL TO THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR
How You Can Help:
Make a bid in the Mi Casa es Su Casa Auction
If you would like an invitation to the auction of stays at vacation homes hosted by Debbie and John Rowe at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 6, contact the San Miguel High School Advancement Office at 294-6403, Ext. 1419.
Festivities include a buffet compliments of Fox Restaurant Concepts and a live auction with guest auctioneer Jim Click, who will match all funds raised at the event. For those unable to attend, bids can be made by phone until noon on Feb. 6 at 294-6403, Ext. 1419.
Not interested in a vacation but still want to support the cause? Donations can be made online at www.sanmiguelhigh.org or by calling 294-6403, Ext. 1419.
You don't need a translation to understand the importance of Mi Casa es Su Casa, an upcoming fundraiser for San Miguel High School.
Whatever your native language, the significance is clear: All proceeds from the auction of stays at vacation homes will be funneled toward retiring construction loan debt for the campus completed last August.
The campus, at 6601 S. San Fernando Road, serves 250 students in grades nine through 12 and is expected to maximize its 400-student potential in the next few years. The first senior class graduated last May with 100 percent of the 37 graduates continuing on to college.
"We are serving largely Native American and Hispanic students. Keeping them in school is a big deal, and having them not only graduate but go on to college is life-changing," said school president Elizabeth Goettl.
San Miguel, established with a freshman class in 2004, is one of 24 schools nationwide in the Cristo Rey Network. Cristo Rey is on a mission to provide Catholic, college-preparatory education to urban youths with limited means.
Network schools integrate a college-preparatory curriculum with practical work experience through corporate internships, allowing students to earn as much as 60 percent of the tuition that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive.
"San Miguel is a not a band-aid program, but a long-term intervention to shift something that is broken in our culture. Hispanic youth drop out of high school at a rate of 50 percent, and 90 percent of Native American youth drop out," Goettl said. "We are open to students of all ethnicities and faith traditions, but we are located on the South Side by design because the need (there) is greatest."
Through San Miguel, students attend classes for extended hours four days weekly and spend one day at internships in professional settings varying from law and health care to media, science and technology.
More than 60 local professional partners include the Arizona Daily Star, Carondelet Health Network, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Grenier Engineering, University of Arizona, Precision Toyota of Tucson, Radiology Ltd., Skin Spectrum, Sun Tran and Ventana Medical Systems.
These partnerships are key, since they provide students a window into a world with which they are often unfamiliar, Goettl said.
Before their internships, students receive three weeks of job training. Year-round training continues in communication, computers, decision-making, professionalism, systemic thinking and other 21st-century skills designed to help the interns succeed.
"The kids can not only envision futures as professionals, but they grow throughout their four years of school. They may be placed in phone reception initially, and then promoted to accounting and data entry the next year. Kids take great pride in that and students who get four years of real-world work responsibilities are really prepared for college," Goettl said.
Across the board, San Miguel is affecting the lives of students who come from families of limited financial resources, according to Sherie Steele, San Miguel High School's director of institutional advancement. The experience can transform the futures of students' families as well, she said.
"We see in the faces of the students on campus and on the faces of parents that we are making a difference and offering them opportunities they probably wouldn't have without San Miguel," Steele said.
Ultimately, Goettl believes the entire community will benefit from San Miguel's educational role.
"Our economy isn't in great shape now, but long term we don't have any promise of a strong economy in Arizona or Tucson if we are not educated. … There are no jobs for high school dropouts. Educating students well so they are contributing to our community is vital," she said.
Steele hopes the community will rally around the fundraiser and help San Miguel meet its fundraising goal of at least $60,000 while taking advantage of the opportunity to bid on stays at nearly 20 luxury vacation properties in destinations varying from Napa Valley and Mexico to Chicago and Lenox, Mass.
The properties include condominiums, homes, hotels and resorts. Steele said since most homes can accommodate several couples, many people partner with friends to bid for a vacation as a group.
"We are sensitive to what is happening in the economy and realize that people need to be planning for a lot of different things, but we hope we are among their plans," she said.

Mystery meat market held accountable

By: Tim McDonnell

Posted: 3/31/09

When you buy a steak at the grocery store, you generally believe that what you're paying for really came from a cow. But for meat consumers in the West African nation of Cameroon, the odds aren't as good.

As sales of the illegally harvested mystery meat known as "bushmeat" rise in that country, genetics researchers at the UA are working on a program that could curb the trade and help provide sustainable solutions to the people who depend on it for their livelihood.

"If I find bushmeat in a market, you don't even know what it is sometimes because it's just a piece of meat, right? With DNA you can actually identify the species," said Hans-Werner Herrmann, principal investigator for the Bushmeat Genotyping Project and assistant staff scientist at Arizona Research Laboratories.

The bushmeat found in big markets, such as in the capital city of Yaoundé, originates in tiny forest villages, Herrmann said.

The Bushmeat Project aims to use cutting-edge genotyping technology to create a bushmeat database so that a piece of meat found in a big market can be traced back to its source population. Then, those populations will be genetically monitored to evaluate whether they are sustainably harvestable or not, Herrmann said.

"Instead of just allowing everything, and then a lot of species go extinct, or let's prohibit everything and people starve and don't see why when certain species are really common," Herrmann said, "we want to look at it in an academic way, or a scientific way, and really understand what's going on, for the benefit of the people and the animals."

Last week, Herrmann was in Cameroon vying for funding for the project. He plans to seek $1.5 million from the United Nations and $300,000 worth of supplies from Cameroon; but this, he says, is only a start.

"Bushmeat is not a Cameroonian problem. It's a problem for all of western and central Africa," Herrman said.

Other groups have compiled bushmeat databases in the past, Herrmann said, but what is unique about this project is the "monitoring step," where the health of a species will be monitored so that informed decisions can be made about hunting regulations.

"That will give us an impression of how big the population is, the trend," Herrmann said. "What is happening in the population - are we losing genetic diversity, or is it like a balance, or gaining?"

Taylor Edwards, an assistant staff scientist at ARL, said there might be some surprises when the genetic data is used to compare bushmeat markets to actual populations, but ascertaining the real situation is what the project is all about.

"It could be that common things are common and rare things are rare, but it could be the other way around," Edwards said. "It's all speculation and anecdotal at this point."

The project will proceed in three stages, Herrmann said. The first stage will be to build a database of bushmeat samples by starting in big markets and collecting samples there and along traffic routes back to the forest villages.

This first stage will require researchers to compare the DNA sequences of their samples at one specific mitochondrial gene, or "locus."

By comparing and contrasting these sequences, they will be able to group samples into not only species, but specific geographic populations. Individuals of the same species will have more genes in common with those from their own populations. This process is known as "barcoding."

In the second stage, the genetic information will be used to draw a map of population locations and trafficking routes.

"Then if you find a piece of meat in a big market, 500 km away or even farther, we can assign that sample to a source population," Herrmann said. "So we can actually say, yeah, that comes from there."

But the third stage of the project is what Herrmann calls "a really new challenge." It will involve taking new bushmeat samples over a period of time to monitor the health of a population. If genetic diversity in the population increases or stays the same, then the population is not adversely affected by harvesting.

However, if genetic diversity decreases, "a red flag comes up, and we would have to say 'Oh,' like they do (in Arizona) with deer, hold off, let's don't give out any hunting permits this year," Herrmann said.

Herrmann is confident the project will lead to more responsible action both by government regulators and individual hunters.

"It's an ongoing effort," Herrmann said. "Once we start this, we're going to monitor and maybe include more populations in other countries, and that really allows us to see what's going on with those wildlife populations. Can we sustainably harvest them? If we can, then we can actually find like a good legal source for income for the local population."

San Miguel Announces New President

Leslie Shultz-Crist is the next President of San Miguel High School. Leslie is an experienced, accomplished administrator who will bring with her a deep passion for Catholic education. As a long-time resident of Tucson, she knows our community well. Leslie will continue the great progress of San Miguel and will lead it forward as the school continues to pursue its mission.

Leslie Schultz-Crist is currently the principal of St. Ambrose Catholic School, and previously was an Adjunct Professor at Pima Community College and at Central Arizona College. She received her bachelor's degree in Child Development and Family Resources at the University of Arizona and her master's degree in Education Administration and Supervision from the University of Phoenix.

Welcome to Mr. Mark Neimeyer, who is joining the CIP staff. He will be the new CIP director and will shadowing outgoing Lisa Winterton for a couple of weeks.

Letter of Introduction

Art Fair a Smashing Success

Art Room Dedication Ceremony

Senior Wall Dedication - click here for photos

Hip Hop photos by Ariel Suarez

CRISTO REY FOUNDER RECEIVES WHITE HOUSE HONOR

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a White House ceremony today, President Bush bestowed The Presidential Citizens Medal upon Rev. John P. Foley, S.J., founder of the Cristo Rey Network. Father Foley was honored for his groundbreaking work in bringing educational opportunity to thousands of young people throughout the United States. San Miguel High School in Tucson, Arizona is one of the twenty-two schools in the National Cristo Rey network of high schools.