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CANYON CORRIDOR CONNECTION
Educat ion
Welcome to the 2013-2014
school year! On behalf of the
faculty and staff of Alhambra
High school, we thank you for
choosing our school as the
learning environment for your
son or daughter. We are honored
to work with them and help them achieve their
academic dreams.
I am proud to share that last year our students
demonstrated excellent academic growth in our state
AIMS reading, writing and math tests. This important
improvement is a tribute to the terrific work from
both our students and teachers and we are very
proud of them. We have also increased our honors
and advanced placement courses because we have
many more students who are requesting and are
being recommended for these advanced classes.
In addition, over 900 students participated in our
recent summer school program. This was the most
successful summer school program our school
has ever experienced. Students who participated
in this learning experience were able to make up
credits or get ahead in their studies. Our focus was
on reinforcing our learners in the areas of reading,
English, science and math.
Finally, Alhambra is a college-going high school.
This means that upon graduation, our students will
be prepared academically to successfully transition
to college or university. We have raised the
expectations for both our teachers and our students
with this new goal. In addition, we have adopted
and have begun to implement the Arizona Common
Core Curriculum in our math and English courses.
Our improved AIMS test scores and increased
enrollment in our honors classes indicate that we
are making important progress in ensuring that our
students are amply prepared to graduate on time
and successfully transition to college or university.
We appreciate your continued support and look
forward to another successful school year.
Claudio Coria, Principal
Alhambra High School
3839 W. Camelback Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85019
[email protected]A
BOUT 900 summer school students
from Alhambra High School recently
visited Grand Canyon University to
hear from representatives of the university and
a speaker who challenged them to confront
their own prejudices and work for justice in
the world.
After touring campus in the early morning,
the students and 140 Alhambra teachers and
parents convened inside GCU Arena, where
they were welcomed by Dr. Stan Meyer, GCU’s
chief operating officer.
“Congratulations to you for committing
to this program this summer,” Meyer said.
“Perhaps this will be a summer of discovery
and of setting goals and aspirations.”
The students, seated in the Arena’s north
end, also heard from their principal, Claudio
Coria, who talked about changes that have
been made at Alhambra to extend the school
day and the academic year in the interest of
academic progress. He noted that more than
two dozen students from the school will enroll
at GCU in the fall.
“In the past, the expectation for four years
of high school was graduation,” Coria said.
“We have a new standard now. Our new goal
is that you will be prepared to continue on to a
college or university.
“Our job (at Alhambra) is to make sure
you are ready with the hard skills. Some will
say, ‘College isn’t for everyone.’ And it is your
decision to make as students and families. But
it provides opportunities, and that’s what I
wish for all of you.”
Joe Veres, GCU’s new director of K-12
Outreach and Arlin Guadian, an alumna
who now works in a staff position at GCU
and is the current Miss Arizona United
States, also spoke briefly before the
students were addressed by Calvin Terrell
of Unitown, an organization that coaches
students on how to be more inclusive and
accepting of diversity.
Terrell, 42, identified five types of people
— cowards, thugs, soldiers, rebels and
warriors — and encouraged the students to
aspire to be warriors.
“That’s who I’m striving to be,” Terrell
said. “Warriors have a sober mind, heart and
spirit. There’s one guarantee in life, and that’s
death. When I face my death, I’d like to be
remembered as a warrior, someone who was
kind and not cruel. If today was your last day,
how would you be remembered?”
Through a series of simple word and visual
games, Terrell exposed the insidious nature
of prejudice and how it is learned across all
cultural and social groups.
“You have inherited a world that’s in
pain,” he told the students. “Do better than
we did. Work for justice … If you’re not
confronting the poison of prejudice daily,
then it’s killing you.”
■
GCU Welcomes Over 900 Alhambra
Students During Campus Visit
Exciting News
from Alhambra
High School
Claudio Coria,
Principal
Claudio Coira, the principal at Alhambra High School, addresses students in GCU Arena.