Win tuition for performing arts camp

DESERT FOOTHILLS – Half‑price tuition vouchers for $170 each will be awarded to17 Foothills area students to attend the Desert Foothills Community Education Performing Arts Camp at Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center from June 5‑17.

Deadline to apply is June 1. To be eligible, students from grades 1 through 12 must be recommended by a teacher and write a paragraph answering three questions.

For more than 20 years, the camp has featured intensive schooling by world‑class mime artist C. Nicholas Johnson, which culminates with a student performance.

The stage production combines a video (created over a two‑week period) with the live performance. Students receive a performance DVD, a scrapbook, and free tickets for the June 17 show. Call (480) 575‑2070 for information. Application forms are available at the DFCE office at the center, 33606 N. 60th St. in Cave Creek.

Math night adds up funds for family

NEW RIVER – The New River Parent/Community Involvement Committee hosted the school’s first Moonlight Math Night May 18. Students, parents and the community joined school staff for an evening of math games.

The event included a presentation by the district’s math liaison addressing fun ways to teach math at home. It also featured a dinner fundraiser to benefit a New River family facing medical expenses.

Fifth graders camp in Grand Canyon

CCUSD – More than 200 fifth graders, teachers and parents from Desert Sun and Horseshoe Trails elementary schools camped in the Grand Canyon May 22‑24, where they learned about outdoor life, geology and fossils. They kept journals of their activities and completed other assignments that fulfilled state academic standards in writing and social studies.

The three‑day trip is an annual trek for the fifth‑grade class.

District seeks input for elementary literacy material

CCUSD – Parents and community members have the opportunity to provide input on what elementary school reading material should be used beginning in the 2006‑07 school year. Complete sets of the materials will be available for review at each elementary school site from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. until June 2. Comment forms will be available.

The adoption committee is scheduled to take the recommendations to the Governing Board in June. Curriculum materials are reviewed every six years to stay current with Arizona academic standards. For more information, call Kay Schreiber at (480) 575‑2034, or e‑mail kschreiber@ ccusd93.org.

Canyon Springs forms PTSA

NORTH PHOENIX – More than 20 parents interested in helping Canyon Springs, the Deer Valley Unified School District’s newest school set to open in August, attended an informational meeting on May 18. Several parents will join the core team that will form the school’s PTSA.

Amy Cohen will spearhead the planning committee. For more information, e‑mail teamcohen@ qwest.net. 

O’Connor junior named outstanding youth

PHOENIX – The city of Phoenix Youth and Education Commission announced Chanel Perez as one of its outstanding young men and women. The award also recognizes a teacher who affected their lives.

Perez is a junior at Sandra Day O’Connor High School. She identified dance teacher Dawn Bellows as a teacher who made a difference in her life. Perez will receive $250 and will be honored at a luncheon.

Some students could fly for free

VALLEY – Southwest Airlines, in conjunction with The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), kicks off its annual educational travel award program providing free round trip tickets to students with economic need, who travel away from home to pursue a higher education.

Students with a 2.5 or higher GPA at a two‑ or four‑year college or university can win one or two round trip tickets for themselves and/or parents for travel to/from school near any of the 62 destinations Southwest serves. Applications, which include answering two essay questions, must be completed online at www.hacu. net by June 19.