Local Education/Sports News

Fellow Queen Creek Unified School District nominees for Educator of the Year included Lara Cox and Joshua Mattis.

Submissions are open to all Arizona residents 17 years or older now through Dec. 17. The Barro’s Dr Pepper Tuition Giveaway has awarded $105,000 to students in Arizona since 2012.

Events such as this help bridge the gap between the classroom and the outside world. By involving active participation and discussion, groups collaborate and share information to help strengthen partnerships and set the foundation for projects and events like Love Our Schools Day, coming up on Oct. 21.

Queen Creek’s American Leadership Academy's senior quarterback Enoch Watson is a medallion recipient and candidate for Arizona’s top prep football player. Watson has committed to BYU.

Nicholas Fruit, a first-time recipient of the ASAP program, expressed his excitement for this fellowship and its impact on his students’ education. Both Jolie Varholdt and Laura Winder were recipients of the award last school year and are now receiving it a second time this school year. 

Unified Sports is a program created by the Special Olympics in partnership with the Unified Champion Schools initiative. The Unified Sports program is bringing a new dimension to the world of competitive athletics by promoting inclusivity and encouraging camaraderie among young athletes of all abilities.

Applications are open for all Arizona K-12 public and charter school teachers through 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29. Teachers simply fill out the online application at WishesForTeachers.org, detailing the teacher's school or classroom need and how the $2,500 grant would be implemented.

The program provides an opportunity each month for one student from each of the district's eight schools to be recognized for demonstrating one of the various pillars of the Character Counts program. One character trait is selected each month and students are selected by their principal or teacher.

September students and employees of the month are from Desert Mountain Elementary and Frances Brandon Pickett Elementary schools.

For the 12th consecutive year, the school district has been awarded the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Association of School Business Officials International for the fiscal year ending 2022.