Success Stories 2024
The Tempe Union High Schools Education Foundation sponsored and donated to the following:
More Success Stories
Grants the Foundation Awarded in 2023-2024
Promote effective and innovative teaching and challenge teachers to improve student performance:
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Meta Quest 2 Virtual Reality Headset, Prisms, Math World, Ocean Rift, Mission ISS, Titans of Space Plus, National Geographic Explore $1,500 McClintock HS
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Curriculum Resources for US History and Geography $300 McClintock HS
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Construction Shed Electrical Wiring hardware for shop/shed for Construction class - $1,500 Marcos de Niza HS
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Instrument tuners, storage basket, music pencils $1,428 McClintock HS
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Montessori country maps and puzzles for students to better understand geography and modern countries $1,000 McClintock HS
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Expand the Makerspace in the Library; 25 spools of printable media, clampable power strips $1,460 Marcos de Niza
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Link Crew Program support $1,500 McClintock HS
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Artist to work with students and explore the Science of Biomimicry and art of macrophotography $1,500 McClintock HS
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Integrate Collaborative Problem Solving Approach (CPS) at Tempe HS; 3-day online training $1,190 Tempe HS
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Implement Virtual Reality Technology in the science classroom using ClassVR $10,000 Tempe HS
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Women's Mentor Day support $1,500 Mt. Pointe HS
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Adaptive seating for special education students; bean bag chairs wobble stool, ball chair, large floor pillows $1,500 McClintock HS
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Speaker from Neighborhood Comedy Theatre to teach an improv workshop to the Drama Department $1,050 Marcos de Niza
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Outreach events for Tempe Online students each month $1,100 Tempe Online HS
2023 Grant Recipients Recognized
Grant recipients being recognized at the November 1, 2023 TUHSD Governing Board Meeting.
Construction Project at Marcos de Niza High School
In the Career and Technical Education Construction Technologies Program at Marcos de Niza High School, students explore skills, materials, methods, and processes that provide them with career awareness. The students obtain basic working knowledge of construction trade skills through hands-on experience in a lab setting, with emphasis on the safe use of hand tools, portable power tools, and stationary power equipment. This year the students are building a full-size shed that will be 8' wide and 16' deep. The structure will include Framing, siding, plumbing, electrical, drywall, roofing and painting. The end goal of the program is to help the students find a skill that they will be looking at pursuing as a career. The electrical system within a house can be daunting to the average person. After teaching my unit on home electrical systems, my students are amazed how simple the three-wire system is in residential construction.
Desert Vista Sustainability Garden
Having an accessible school garden offers many learning opportunities for science students, members of all campus clubs, and to the average student. Student leaders of Sustainability Club, along with fellow students with prior gardening experience, offer a peer-to-peer style of learning. Gardening instills skills such as problem solving, self sufficiency, and perseverance into community members.
McClintock Biomimicry / Macro Photography
Visual Arts Educator Christina Wilson and her students collaborated with guest artist and writer/educator Adelheide Fischer to explore the Science of Biomimicry and the art of macro photography.
2024 TUHSD Welcome Back To School Rally
The Foundation provided refreshments and distributed notepads.
Tempe HS $10,000 Grant Awarded
Tim Honan, Physics and Chemistry Teacher at Tempe High School received a $10,000 grant to integrate Virtual Reality Technology into the Physics, Chemistry, and Anatomy classrooms at Tempe High School.
In physics students used the headsets to explore the difference between waves of sound and light, and then looked into the production of electricity by exploring several types of power plants from nuclear, fossil fuel, hydroelectric, tidal, and solar.
In chemistry the headsets were used in their AR (augmented reality) form to look at and manipulate the historical models of the atom, from the Dalton model, to Thomson, Rutherford, Bohr, and Quantum Model. This is done through the use of the QR Reader Cubes that allow students to physically hold and rotate these models.
In Anatomy students have used the headsets to explore the anatomical structure of the brain, kidneys, and to show pathways such as insulin production and regulation. They have also seen the gestational cycle in a fully interactive environment from implantation to developed child.