Mesa Beat

This news came into the Tribune:

McDonald’s Owner/Operators of Arizona and the Arizona Parent Teacher Association (PTA) announced today that Mesa’s Crismon Elementary is a Readers Are Leaders Award winner, receiving a $1,000 grant for its school library.
Crismon PTA is one of 10 Arizona PTAs receiving $1,000 grants for its literacy programs from McDonald’s Readers Are Leaders Award program. The grant program provides funding for the books and reading materials for school libraries to enhance book collections and offer titles that kids will want to drop everything and read.
Applications were judged on creativity, ability to make good use of books, and solid strategy for long-term reading promotion activities.
Crismon PTA President Susan Hernandez stated that the school promotes reading and literacy primarily through its Accelerated Reading Program. The success of the program has encouraged the children to do research and learn more about various subjects.
Crismon Elementary plans to use the grant money to build its Accelerated Reading Program and purchase a variety of resource books that will inspire their students quest for knowledge.
McDonald’s and Arizona PTA began the grant program in 2007 and have since awarded $35,000 to Arizona PTA school libraries.

This news came into the Tribune:
Rebecca Evans, Dobson High senior, won the grand prize at the 20th annual Arizona Japanese Speech Contest, at the University of Advancing Technology. She won a round-trip plane ticket to Japan. Connor Sungino, Dobson junior, took second place in Category A (first-year level).

In the annual competition, high school and college Japanese language students write, memorize and present their own speeches to judges and an audience.

Next year’s contest will be at Dobson, the first time in the history of the contest that it will be conducted at a high school.

The Shores family donated a gong to Banner Children's Hospital for cancer patients to ring as they complete their treatment at the Mesa hospital.

Spencer Shores, a pediatric cancer patient at Banner Children’s Hospital, wanted to do something special for the hospital when he came to the end of his treatment program, something he could share with other kids like him. So, Spencer and his family on Friday, February 27, donated a ceremonial gong that a child can ring when they’ve come to the end of their chemo/radiation journey. It will be a new tradition at the hospital.

Lydia Hernandez and Izzie Magana built a motorized toy car in A World in Motion, with help from retired General Motors engineers and funding from SAE International.

This news came into the Tribune this week:

Taylor Junior High is partnering with General Motors and SAE International in an exciting hands-on program called A World in Motion.

The students in Taylor’s Advancement Via Individual Determination program are following lessons developed by engineers. Seventh-graders are making toy gliders. Eighth- and ninth-graders are creating motorized toy cars.

In the toy car program, for example, the students are involved in writing proposals, drawing sketches, and working with models to develop a plan to meet a specific set of design requirements. Force and friction, simple machines, levers and gears, torque and design are the core scientific concepts covered in this challenge.

The glider builders are exploring the relationship between force and motion and the effects of weight and lift. Students are learning the relationships between data analysis and variable manipulations, and the importance of understanding consumer demands.

The objective of the eight-week program is to “be an engineer.” Students receive a request from a company to build the toys, then they must learn about the mechanics of the project, build a prototype, test and record their data, build a final model and present their project to the company and community representatives.

Six retired GM engineers have been working with the students to guide them and help them build and test the toys. The final presentation is set for 8 to 10:30 a.m. March 4 in the Taylor gym. The GM volunteers will be there as well as parents and other invited guests.

AWIM is designed to motivate the next generation to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. SAE International provided the curriculum and materials, free of charge, to Karon Rascon, Taylor’s AVID program coordinator.

Mike Roelofs, physical education teacher and Track and Field Club sponsor, cheers on fourth-graders Stella Vargas and Katelyn Zito.

Students at Patterson Elementary are participating in a new track and field club. Children from third through sixth grade get together after school twice a week for sprints, long jumps and even long distance runs.

“I love it. It’s fun, and it’s good exercise,” said fourth-grader Katelyn Zito. Her friend Stella Vargas agrees, adding, “It’s okay that it’s hard, because you get better at running, and you learn how to pace yourself.”

The club usually draws more than 90 kids. With such a good turnout, Mike Roelofs, physical education teacher and club sponsor has help from parent volunteers and Skyline High School track and field athletes.

Roelofs notes, “In recent years, the phrase ‘obesity epidemic’ emphasizes the need for programs like the Patterson Track Club. It gives kids an alternative to less healthy lifestyle choices.”

Fifth-grader Dylan Krug puts this best when he says, “You get a lot of exercise out of it. You’re not just sitting at home playing video games.”

Members of the girls’ Skyline High School basketball teams in Mesa are stepping up their game Friday night – for a cause.
Jan. 23 is being dubbed a “Pink Out” to help raise funds and awareness for cancer research, said Rachel Young, a senior at the school and the event’s main organizer.
Young’s dad died seven years ago from lung cancer. When the original organizers of the event backed out, Young was tapped.
“They knew my story and how I have been involved in the cancer community and asked me if my mom and I would be a part of this event,” Young said. “We said ‘we’d be honored to have an impact on this.’”
The Skyline teams will be in pink and the members of the Scottsdale Horizon teams will be in white.
The event includes a silent auction with items such as a basketball signed by Amare Stoudemire, a jersey signed by Kelly Miller of the Phoenix Mercury, and an Olympic watch, Young said.
“Our coolest item is a basketball signed by the 2008 women’s gold-medalist basketball team,” she said.
Tickets to the event are $4, but it is free for cancer survivors, who are being invited and will be recognized at halftime of the varsity game.
The junior varsity game begins at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity game to follow at 7 p.m.
“I really hope it can become an annual event and I really hope we can have a good light on Skyline,” she said. “I hope the community can help raise money for all the cancer awareness. I’m hoping Skyline will have good feedback from the community and I’m hoping people can find a passion. If people come to Pink Out … and one person left thinking, ‘I want to get involved with that,’ I would be ecstatic.”
What: Skyline High School girls basketball games’ Pink Out
When: 5:45 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23 junior varsity; 7 p.m. varsity
Where: Skyline High School, 845 S. Crismon Road, Mesa
Cost: $4 for tickets, free for cancer survivors