February has been an exciting and enriching month for our students at HHS! Each Friday, our Lunch & Learn series provided engaging opportunities to explore Black history and culture in meaningful ways. From discussions on cultural traditions and dining etiquette to exploring college options, students gained valuable insights while connecting with one another.

The month culminated in a special luncheon featuring Southern-inspired flavors, bringing the community together to celebrate heritage and history. A standout moment was attending the February 14th CUSD Board Meeting, where HHS students joined our sister schools in highlighting the significance of Black History Month across the district. We are especially proud of HHS Senior Alex Brown, who served as the Master of Ceremonies for the event, guiding the presentations from each CUSD high school with confidence and professionalism.

A heartfelt thank you to Mrs. Erika Brantley, English teacher, for her dedication in organizing these impactful events for our students. Your efforts made this month both educational and memorable!

Two groups of our students recently participated in the international fair held at ASU and both groups came back with awards. Students in AP French achieved first place and Honors French III students received third place in their category for their performance of a memorized play.

This was our first time competing at ASU and it is an accomplishment that reflects their hard work in memorizing their lines, dedication and talent. We also had a lot of fun! Thank you Mr. Romero for giving us the opportunity to attend and compete 🙂

1st Place: “La Belle et la Bête” de Marie Jeanne Leprince de Beaumont (The Beauty and the Beast”)

Savannah Carr, Arijit Chakrabarty, Ishani Chakrabarty, Elise Nguyen, Zara Jafar, Juliana Vargas, Layla James

3rd Place: “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge” (Little Red Riding Hood) Roman Perry, Ikeoluwa Esan, Hannah Lou, Bonnie Dwyer, Maya Prakash

Online Tax Credit Donation:

Community members/non-parents can also make online tax credit donations to a specific Hamilton student, eligible activity, or to the HHS general & athletic funds via InTouch link below. Find Hamilton High School under "School" and then We The People under "Item". A donation can be made to the group or to an individual student.

Tax Credit Donations

Huskies entered play in the 2025 Kiwanis Invitational in Glendale, AZ. ...And it was a great weekend of fun, bonding, camaraderie, food....and WINNING as your Hamilton Huskies left as tournament CHAMPIONS!!

Hamilton DECA had a very successful time at the state at the Arizona Grand Resort! We had a 200% increase over last year in qualifiers for the International Competition (ICDC) in Orlando, FL! The competition was stiff with over 2,200 students at the competition.

Here are some highlights:

• We were given the Bronze chapter award for our efforts this year which include attempting to build a school store, having over 100 registered members, attending and placing at competitions, and community service work.
• Sanaya Gupta finished her term as a DECA state officer. She was awarded a prestigious college scholarship.
• The following students were awarded testing medals for scoring in the top 10%: Colin Duan (2 test medals), Riya Khopkar, Tecate Phair, Aryan Patel, & Andiara Henriquez Sanchez.
• The following students placed for ICDC in their respective categories:
• Accounting Applications: Vyshal Sreenivas & Tecate Phair
• Community Awareness Project: Vrinda Bansal
• Financial Consulting: Colin Duan
• Integrated Marketing Project: Aryan Patel
• Principals of Finance: Roman Grosse

Hamilton Academic Decathlon team competed at the State Competition. We got 2nd place as a team and will represent Arizona to compete at the AcDec Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa in May, 2025.

We outscored all other top teams in the subjectives (essay, speech, and interview). Kudos to Steve Kanner and Shannon Liebrock for giving kids a mock interview, and Alison Demore for proctoring the essay and art online tests. A HUGE “Thank-you” to Jessica Shelden for signing up to be a speech judge on Saturday, saving us from a judge shortage at the state competition!

THREE kids from Hamilton team made it to the Top Ten Scorers from all GPA categories: Claire Zhan, Katie Chan, and Elaine Huang. The score differences between the top six scorers are anywhere from less than 4 points to no more than 60 points—we definitely went through some heart-pounding moments at the competition!

Here is the list of individual awards:

Honors

Claire Zhan: GOLD Music, GOLD Science, Silver Art, Silver Econ, Silver Speech, Gold Interview, Gold Social Science, BRONZE OVERALL

Katie Chan: Silver Music, Silver Art, Gold Math, Silver Econ

Elaine Huang: Silver Music, Bronze Art

Scholastic

Bruce Shen: Gold Math

Varsity

Thi Nguyen: Bronze Art, Bronze Speech, BRONZE OVERALL

Srijay Kalavena: Bronze Science

Abigail Kim: Gold Essay

We are very grateful for the support Hamilton staff has provided for these amazing students and the Academic Decathlon program. Go, Huskies!

The Art Club students did an amazing job at the Innovation Fair. Their booth, Color Theory Meets the Carp Kite, was one of the winners. They cut, sewed, and talked about color theory as participants decorated 500 small carp kites and made 27 larger ones for themselves.

One of a school social workers’ favorite part of their job is working with students to help them succeed in school and at home! Sometimes this means through classroom lessons, small groups or individual check-ins. We all need help reaching our goals sometimes and when we remember that we have others there to guide and support us, our goals can feel much more attainable! Thank you, Mrs. Azurdia and Ms. Bravo for helping us reach our goals everyday!

The Chandler Education Foundation (CEF) offers more than 200 scholarship awards for CUSD graduating seniors and the March 24 application deadline is quickly approaching.

To apply, students need to:

1. Register and login to the CEF Scholarships Portal. Note: students must use their personal email address NOT their school address.

2. Submit the Universal Application including any essays, references, and document uploads.

3. Review their dashboard to see what opportunities they are eligible for based on their responses in the Universal Application.

4. Complete any additional information for the eligible opportunities and submit for each award.

Students are strongly recommended to start early to ensure sufficient time to prepare essays or obtain necessary references. If students do not submit for a particular opportunity, their application will not be reviewed for that award.

Awardees will be notified around mid-April with scholarship receptions held at each of the high schools between April 28 and May 5.

More information can be found on the CEF website. For any questions, please contact the foundation at 480-224-3030 or via email info@chandlereducationfoundation.org.

CLASS OF 2025 FAMILIES: Do you want to share your graduate's story with us? Celebrate their accomplishments with us for our Graduate Spotlight campaign, featuring photos of our graduates on social media. Please fill out this form by Monday, April 28. Spotlights will post weekly, starting in May.

The Chandler Education Foundation (CEF) offers more than 200 scholarship awards for CUSD graduating seniors and the March 24 application deadline is quickly approaching.

To apply, students need to:

1. Register and login to the CEF Scholarships Portal. Note: students must use their personal email address NOT their school address.
2. Submit the Universal Application including any essays, references, and document uploads.
3. Review their dashboard to see what opportunities they are eligible for based on their responses in the Universal Application.
4. Complete any additional information for the eligible opportunities and submit for each award.

Awardees will be notified around mid-April with scholarship receptions held at each of the high schools between April 28 and May 5.

More information can be found on the CEF website. For any questions, please contact the foundation at 480-224-3030 or via email info@chandlereducationfoundation.org.