PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. – For the second consecutive year, Central Arizona College will host the Arizona Summit on Volunteerism and Service Learning.

Open to the public, the summit will be held on Nov. 4-5 at the college’s Signal Peak Campus located between the cities of Casa Grande and Coolidge.

PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. - Registration for vendors and exhibitors is now taking place for the 36th Annual Pinal-Gila Senior Craft & Wellness Fair scheduled for Saturday, March 26, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at Central Arizona College’s Signal Peak Campus.

Vendors and exhibitors will be provided with an 8-foot by 3-foot table. All displays must fit into this single space but vendors may rent two spaces side-by-side if a larger area is needed.

Registration now is underway for the International Residential Code course slated to begin this fall at Central Arizona College’s Coolidge Center.

PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. – In preparation for the spring semester slated to begin in January, Central Arizona College students now may register online, over the phone, or in person for one of seven three-hour orientations available on three campuses and at two centers across Pinal County.

“Orientation to College is a good foundation for those attending college for the first time,” Jenni Gonzales, CAC’s director of student retention, explained. “It also serves as a great refresher for those who have already enrolled in classes. Many students, new and returning, are not aware of all of the resources available to them. Orientation points those students in the right direction.”

Preregistration for Central Arizona College’s English Language Acquisition for Adults (ELAA or ESL) classes will start on Friday, Feb. 24.

Students should preregister at any one of CAC’s 10 locations in Pinal County and must show proof of legal presence in the United States. These classes will be held for an eight-week period and are currently provided at no cost for Arizona residents.

PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. - Preregistration for Central Arizona College’s English Language Acquisition for Adults (ELAA or ESL) classes will take place in early January.

The first session begins Jan. 17 with preregistration starting Jan. 4. The second session will begin on March 19 with preregistration starting Feb. 24.  All new ESL students must attend an assessment session the week before classes start.

Students at San Tan Foothills High School, one of the two high schools in the Coolidge Unified School District, will have the opportunity next year to participate in Project Lead the Way (PLTW).  PLTW students have been proven to achieve significantly higher scores when it comes to reading, math and science.  

The Arizona Department of Education recently published data on the state’s graduation and drop-out rates for the 2010-2011 school year.  San Tan Foothills High School, a Coolidge Unified School District high school, showed better rates in both areas as compared to the overall numbers for Arizona.

This challenge provided a great opportunity for our students to gain real world experience in the engineering design process.  We were able to work with engineering design software used in the industry today and connected with several community members and mentors.

There were 8 teams competing here at STFHS.  The STFHS winning team is “Blackout”, consisting of:

Karla Elias - Project Manager/Lead Designer Emmy Toomey - Documentation Specialist Robert Kinnebrew - Lead Simulation Engineer Arron Gorny - Lead Engineer Mariana Munoz - Lead Mathematician Jordan Lopez - Lead Scientist

Bright and motivated students make up the San Tan Foothills Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) program.

These motivated future leaders recently completed their FBLA regional competitions at the ASU Polytechnic campus.  The competition included 14 other schools with over 300 students.  San Tan Foothills competed with 25 well prepared students.  That preparation propelled them into victory lane throughout the competition.

San Tan Foothills High School will be hosting Freshman Preview Night on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the school’s gymnasium.

San Tan Foothills High School is a four year comprehensive high school which offers a diverse curriculum.  University and college preparatory courses are available as well as honors courses.  The school also offers a track for career and technical bound students.  During the Freshman Preview Night, the school’s extracurricular activities and clubs will be showcased and any questions will be answered.

The San Tan Foothills High School chapter for Future Educators of America (FEA) recently attended the FEA State Competitions at Grand Canyon University.  Fernanda Munoz won a silver medal in the Interview, Application, and Resume competition.  Celenn Ramsey won a bronze medal in the Essay competition. 

The San Tan Foothills chapter for Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) recently participated in their second annual March for Babies event.  Twenty-five students shared their Saturday in Casa Grande at Peart Park for the event, and raised funds for the March of Dimes prior to the walk. San Tan Foothills High School also provided a booth at their homecoming carnival for donations, requested contributions on line, begged for spare change, sold t-shirts, as well as invited Mrs. Arizona to visit the campus and speak to students.

For the past two years, it has become a tradition that San Tan foothills football team help with the Dr, Seuss reading  event at San Tan Heights.

Head football coach Rodger Schenks and members of the football team  read several Dr. Seuss books to San Tan Height elementary school.

Schenks said this is just one of the ways his team tries to act as mentors to younger students.

Central Arizona College's San Tan Center is fast-becoming a Mecca for the burgeoning community of the San Tan Valley.

Located at the headwaters of the Copper Basin neighborhood along Hunt Highway, the facility has given students from around the area a place to continue their education.

But Copper Basin is surrounded by cotton fields and open land, so getting to CAC's San Tan Center requires a vehicle or a determined walk.

Each morning several 4th and 5th grade students arrive early at Jack W. Harmon and they stay a little late in order to promote and help maintain safety at the school.  These dedicated students are known as the Harmon Safety Squad.  The organizer of the group is 4th grade teacher Felecia Dallago who is the chairperson of the school’s Safety Committee.  The group is in its second year of service and has grown to about 60 students.

On August 6, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu presented Florence K-8 with a check for $1,500.00 from Rico Funds to support Florence K-8 Athletics. This money will be used to provide scholarships for students who cannot afford the fee to participate. This will help keep our students off the streets and will help them stay drug and alcohol free.

Partnership signed between CAC and U of A

Students attending Central Arizona College (CAC) will seamlessly transfer to the University of Arizona to complete their bachelor’s degrees in a variety of disciplines thanks to the Arizona Transfer Admissions Pathways (AZ-TAPs) partnership agreed upon by the two institutions.

Legacy Traditional School District, the largest K-8 charter school district in Arizona, has been awarded, a district-wide accreditation. Legacy Traditional joins just 13 other school systems in the state to be fully accredited and became the second K-8 school in San Tan Valley to receive this honor. The decision came following an extensive review process conducted by a five-member external review team from AdvancEd, the world’s largest educational community. During the weeklong review process, the team observed the learning environments at the district’s campuses and collected thousands of documentary records. In addition, the team conducted 169 interviews with founders, board members, administrators, teachers, support staff, students and parents.

This summer, Combs High School history teacher Deborah Painter-Plimley will travel to Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, PA to attend a one-week competitive application seminar entitled “The Civil War in Global Context.”

Directed by Allen C. Guelzo, Henry R. Luce Professor of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College, this seminar will set the Civil War in its global context, examining its impact on our nation's military, diplomatic and financial relations with Europe.