#ThisIsWhoWeAre

It is time to start celebrating the incredible Class of 2024! As PXU does annually, we launched a website to showcase some of the amazing seniors who will walk the stage in May. This webpage will continue to update with new students and information as we are informed of scholarships, job opportunities, and other post-high school opportunities that our seniors receive.

Ultimately, all schools will have a student showcased on this page, so stay tuned!

Visit PXU.org/ClassOf2024 or click the button below to view the current Class of 2024 webpage:

Trevor Browne recently hosted a first pitch ceremony to inaugurate their brand new baseball and softball fields. We are so happy for their athletes, who now have beautiful new facilities to play on. Congratulations, TGB!

Congratulations to Cesar Chavez Boys Basketball for receiving the AIA 6A Boys Basketball Sportsmanship Award! We are proud of them for exhibiting the highest level of sportsmanship and working hard while doing it.

ABC 15 recently featured the work that the Arizona Council on Economic Education is doing with a group of girls from Franklin Police and Fire High School.

Click the button below to view the ABC 15 Story:

Phoenix Coding Academy is a national leader once again! They recently launched a partnership, as one of two high schools in the entire country, on a student business/design project called the EPIC (Employer Provided Innovation Challenges). We cannot wait to see how this partnership develops and provides opportunities for PCA students.

Congratulations to them!

Students from Cesar Chavez along with Wilson College Prep and Carl Hayden completed a three-day Youth Agricultural Leadership Program with the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension through UofA. The first day they visited the Cooperative Extension at 43rd Street and Broadway where they learned about the community garden and were able to pick tomatoes that were part of our lunch and learned the importance of bees and met with a beekeeper. The second day was a trip to Saddle Mountain Dairy in Palo Verde in the morning for a behind the scenes look at a working dairy and in the afternoon to Duncan Farms in Goodyear to learn about what goes into farming crops here in Arizona. The third and final day they spent the morning at the Uptown Farmers Market seeing where some of the local produce and products are sold. They completed the third day listening to one of the owners of Quarter Circle U Ranch in Gold Canyon and a closing ceremony where they received certificates of completion.

Congratulations to them!

Alhambra recently hosted an Alumni Baseball Game, keeping their motto of "once a lion, always a lion," alive. What a great opportunity for them to keep their community involvement strong and make a positive impact.

On Monday, March 25th, the BFHS Key Club Officers started their day at Feed My Starving Children, where they packed meals to serve 127 kids for a year. They ended their service and leadership day with a team building activity at the Gameshow Battle Room.

We are proud of them for always making an impact in their community!

We are excited to share the newly minted PXU Student Bill of Rights. Born from the deeply engrained practice of lifting students' voices, our District is once again proud to be a national leader.

The Bill of Rights contains nine key focuses:

• Student Choice
• Protection of Privacy
• Fairness
• Safety and Support
• Use of Voice
• Participation in School Sponsored Activities
• Involvement
• Discipline
• Self-Management

This document was created with the direct involvement of more than 10,000 Phoenix Union students. We are proud to share this document with you and look forward to sharing more details and information about what this document means for our students, staff, families, and the broader community.

The Band and Choir All-State results are in!

All-State Choir:

• Hailey Young, Alto, Betty Fairfax High School
• Alessandro Vera, Bass, Betty Fairfax High School
• Briseis Munoz, Alto, Betty Fairfax High School
• Stevin Balthazor, Tenor, Central High School

All-State Band:

• Adriana Lucena, Flute, Maryvale High School
• Diana Garcia Sanchez, Bass Clarinet, Carl Hayden High School

All-State Jazz Choir:

• Stevin Balthazor, Tenor, Central High School

All-State Show Choir:

• Hailey Young, Alto (1st chair), Betty Fairfax High School

The ABODA Concert/Guitar Festival results are also in!

Bands/Orchestras:

• North Band / North Orchestra - Comments Only / Comment Only
  
• Camelback Symphonic Band - Excellent Rating
  
• Maryvale Orchestra - Excellent with Recognition Rating
  
• Maryvale Symphonic Band - Excellent with Recognition Rating
  
• Trevor G. Browne Symphonic Band - Excellent Rating
• Betty Fairfax Jazz Band - Good
• Betty Fairfax Beginning Band - Good
• Betty Fairfax Symphonic Band - Excellent
• Academies at South Mountain Symphonic Band - Excellent Rating

Guitar:

• Central Guitar - Excellent Rating
  
• Betty Fairfax Guitar - Superior Rating
  
• Alhambra Guitar - Superior Rating
  
• Maryvale Guitar - Superior with Distinction
  

To stay in the loop with all things PXU Visual and Performing Arts, click the button below:

On Saturday March 23, Cesar Chavez HS JROTC Cadets participated in a Ceremony to honor Women Veterans at the Madison Center for the Arts. Honorees include those currently serving, to those who served during WW2 in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) / Women's Army Corps (WAC). There were also a few Rosie the Riveters being honored. The Cadets assisted the Honorees as needed and presented them with a yellow rose and JROTC coin during the ceremony.

One of the Rosie the Riveters, Erlinda Avila, received her training to learn how to rivet in the shop at Phoenix Union High School. She then spent 2 years riveting planes for WW2 in Goodyear, AZ.

PXU is proud to launch a new Dual Language Program at Carl Hayden beginning in the 2024-2025 Academic Year! The dual language program will provide an immersive experience for students in both English and Spanish. Students will receive direct instruction for half of their core classes in each language. The initiative aims to provide students with an enriching educational experience that not only fosters bilingualism but also equips them with the skills necessary for success in college, career, and life.

Learn more by visiting PXU.org/HaydenDLP or clicking the button below.

Are you looking for sports photos taken by the district? Visit PXUSports.org to view the library of sports photos taken by PXU. This library is updated as sporting events and seasons occur.

PXU Family, if you notice something regarding safety that you want to report confidentially, dial 602-764-SAFE (7233) to report it.

As you know, at the beginning of the year PXU launched our Strive for Less than Five campaign encouraging our students to have less than five absences each semester. We also launched the Strive For Five campaign at Phoenix Digital Academy, to promote online class engagement five hours, five days a week each quarter. Since the launch of both campaigns, we have seen amazing things happening at each campus. Both students and parents/guardians have received a variety of information about our attendance expectations and new initiatives. Keep up the good work!

You can find many attendance tips, tools, and resources on the Attendance Works website: https://www.attendanceworks.org/.

Do you or a PXU Employee you know need any support? PXU has Health and Wellness Clinicians on staff to support our staff with difficult times. If you or a colleague are in need of emotional or mental health support, please click the link below to be directed to a form for support. A Staff Health and Wellness Specialist will respond to you within 24 hours (Monday thru Friday).

Click here to be redirected to the Employee Support Form

ElevateEdAZ is an initiative of the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation focused on aligning classes and curriculum with workforce needs, creating opportunities for students to apply academics through work-based learning, and increasing student exposure to career pathways. ElevateEdAZ is designed as a model for Arizona schools to better integrate high wage, high demand, high skill career pathways into the K-12 education system. With College and Career Coaches already embedded at the Academies at South Mountain, Metro Tech High School, and Phoenix Coding Academy, ElevateEdAZ looks forward to providing many impactful experiences to students and educators this coming school year.

We encourage you to share with your networks and encourage students to seek out the resources that ElevateEdAZ provides!

We love hearing from you! If you have good news to share with the District, email Vanessa Herb at vherb@phoenixunion.org with your good news. Follow us on social media as well to stay updated on all the great things we have happening across the District!

Email: vherb@phoenixunion.org
Website: pxu.org
Location: 4502 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ, USA
Phone: 602-764-1528
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phoenixunion
Twitter: @phoenixunion