Chandler Unified School District

CUSD 2023 graduates will be celebrated at the following events.

May 18:

• Hill Learning Academy - Senior Night: Hill – ICAN: 5:30p.m.; Hill – Main: 7 p.m. at Chandler Center for the Arts
• Chandler Early College: 6 p.m. at Chandler Gilbert Community College Student Center

May 23:

• Chandler Online Academy: 6 p.m. at Chandler Center for the Arts
  

May 24:

• Hamilton High: 2:30 p.m. at ASU Desert Financial Arena
• Perry High: 7:30 p.m. at ASU Desert Financial Arena

May 25:

• Casteel High: 7 p.m. at Casteel High - Joel Wirth Stadium

• Arizona College Prep-High School: 7:30 p.m. at ACP - Fred DePrez Stadium

• Basha High: 7:30 p.m. at ASU Desert Financial Arena

• Chandler High: 8 p.m. at CHS - Austin Field

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Congratulations to Cameron Bautista from Basha High School and Carol Chen from Hamilton High School, your 2023 Flinn Scholars representing Chandler Unified School District (CUSD).

These CUSD students are two of 20 Arizona high-school seniors awarded the 2023 Flinn Scholarship, a merit-based award that will provide each of them a full ride to one of Arizona’s public universities. Carol will be attending the University of Arizona and Cameron will be attending Arizona State University with the goal of obtaining a degree in Political Science and Mathematics.

Chandler Unified was well represented throughout the entire Flinn Scholarship process. Twelve CUSD students were named Flinn semifinalists earlier this year.

About the Flinn Scholarship: The comprehensive scholarship package, which is valued at more than $130,000, includes the cost of tuition, fees, housing, meals and at least two study-abroad experiences. More than 1,000 applications were received by the program in October for the 20 awards, an award rate of 1.9%. To qualify, Flinn Scholars must excel in the classroom and typically rank in the top 5% of their graduating class, while also demonstrating leadership in a variety of extracurricular activities both at school and in their communities.

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CUSD is now home to a championship Esports program! Hamilton High School Esports won two out of the three games in the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Esports state championship. Students won in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament and the League of Legends tournament. The Hamilton High Esports program is sponsored by HHS English Language Arts teacher Michael Oei. Congratulations, students and coach!

Check out the AIA's livestream on YouTube.

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Congratulations to Chandler Unified’s Chief Technology Officer, Colleen Flannery! She was nominated and became a finalist in the Enterprise Category of the 2023 ORBIE awards. This award recognizes the best of the best at the executive and chief level of information and technology. Under Colleen’s leadership, technology and systems within Chandler Unified have been transformed to better serve our students and staff! Thank you, Colleen, for all you have done and continue to do to keep CUSD future focused. #WeAreChandlerUnified

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Shandel Roberts is a Gifted Social Studies Teacher for 7th/8th grade in the STEAM Academy at Willis Junior High School in Chandler Unified School District (CUSD). She is also one of just two Arizona educators named as a Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year nominee by the non-profit National History Day (NHD). The Award, also known as the National History Day Teacher of the Year Award, recognizes teachers who demonstrate a commitment to engaging students in historical learning through the innovative use of primary sources, implementation of active learning strategies to foster historical thinking skills, and participation in the National History Day Contest.

Read more in the Newsroom here.

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Arizona College Prep Middle School students Tony Liu, Katie Chang, Kevin Zhang made it to the finals of the Arizona Speech and Debate Middle School State Championship. Tony finished fourth and Katie won the competition. They were competing against a total of 56 students in Congressional Debate. Congratulations!

Additionally, five Arizona College Prep Middle School VEX teams recently competed in the World competition. Team 7830C went into the elimination round in their division and team 7830N was awarded the Innovate award.

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On Thursday, April 27, CUSD's Unified Sports program held a basketball game, Basha High School vs. Casteel High School, during conference period. About 32 classes filled the gymnasium to cheer on both teams. Casteel won 36-27. Unified Sports which pairs students with special needs with general education students is a great reminder that sports are for everyone!

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Arizona Science Teachers Association recently spotlighted Jentry Yard from Casteel High School on their Facebook page. See the spotlight below.

"Jentry is such an amazing educator! She gives her all to her students, completes innovative and fun labs with her students, and is constantly challenging her students to do their best. She is also one of the hardest working teachers around... you will find her not only focused on her classes and students but leading the science department at Casteel High School. She is always available for any student or teacher that needs help, advice or assistance. Jentry teaches the highest level of biology in the school and her students are near the top of every exam and project she has them take. The students all know who Jentry is and know that her classes are some of the best to take in the school."

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Around the district, schools and sites are celebrating employees' years of service. In this photo, there is combined more than 100 years of service, Superintendent Narducci had the chance to stop by Jacobson Elementary to celebrate with these teachers. Congratulations to all CUSD employees celebrating milestone anniversaries.

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In the Chandler Unified School District, students are going through a new pilot project, aimed to educate teens on how to help their peers during a mental health crisis. ABC15 has the story:

Chandler Unified Schools test out ‘teen mental health first aid’ program (abc15.com)

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Basha High School seniors take part in a Basha Gives Back Project. For the project, seniors research a topic of their choice and plan ways to address it in an act of community service.

This year, 12 projects were selected as finalists by teachers. They raised money and awareness on a variety of topics from Alzheimer's, heart disease, and diverse representation to veterans, voting access, and nature conservation.

Chandler Horizon Rotary named three project winners & awarded scholarships. Helping others makes our students stronger citizens! #WeAreChandlerUnified

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A team of Tarwater Elementary fifth graders – Whitley Wadsworth and twins Anna Falcon and Amaia Falcon – captured the Chandler Unified School District Battle of the Books competition at the Chandler Downtown Library Wednesday morning. They advanced to the regional Battle of the Books competition to be held at 6 p.m. on May 3 also at the Chandler Downtown Library. Also advancing the regional competition is a team from CTA Liberty (Paul Schwarz, Lucy Schwarz (also twins) and Ailey Mejia) which finished second, and BASIS Chandler, which finished in third place. Amy Shoot coached Tarwater and Kristin Tollefson led Liberty.

More than 550 students from 34 schools throughout the district competed this year. They were tested on 15 assigned books totaling 2,479 pages.

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The City of Chandler recently honored Environmental Art Contest winners. Hundreds of Chandler school children from private, charter and public schools submitted artwork focused on recycling, water conservation and storm water pollution prevention. Fifteen students from eight Chandler Unified School District schools were named winners of this year’s contest. Their winning artwork will help promote the City of Chandler’s conservation messages though a calendar, poster, city newsletters, social media and more.

Congratulations to all the CUSD students!

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ACP Middle School students earned accolades in the "BE KIND Make a Difference Essay Contest." Sixth grader Aarna Patel took second place and sixth grader JT Cerami earned honorable mention. They were honored at a breakfast on Friday. Congratulations! #WeAreChandlerUnified

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Chandler Traditional Academy - Independence Campus raised $24,000 in the Kids Heart Challenge, and the school was awarded the "Heart of Gold Top School Award!" Huge shout out to families who donated and PE Teacher Hunter Wilkes for organizing and raising excitement for this important fundraiser!

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Math, STEM, writing, art, and Spanish classes can all be part of an enriching summer for your K-7th grader. View the course catalogue and register for a Summer Academy Elementary enrichment course today!

Questions? Contact Richelle Meyers.

Boy, are we excited about this lineup! Check out some of the fun things we’ll be doing this summer! View the full Kids Express Summer Break Camp calendar including weekly themes, field trip dates, and more by visiting our Intersession Camps page and scrolling to the bottom.

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Overview of several options for kindergarten available to CUSD students and families.

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• May 1: Registration for the Chandler Public Library Summer Reading Challenge Opens
  
  
• May 16: Child Crisis Arizona and Chandler Unified Parent Workshop at Frye Elementary: "Child Development," 5-7 p.m. Pre-register here. Call 480-834-9424 or email classregisration@childcrisisaz.org for more information.
  
  
• May 24-25: Junior High/High School early release
  
  
• May 26: Teacher in-service workday

The CUSD calendar can be found on the website here.

The CUSD Governing Board meeting dates can be found on the website here.

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Learn more about how to register here.

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Do you want to see your school, program or students featured?

There are a TON of great things going on in our schools -- honors, awards, community service projects, special programs we offer and accomplishments. Click below to spread the word, and to see the things we're doing. Check out our BRAGS | BRAG about our schools

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Chandler Unified School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex or gender, sexual orientation, disability, or age in its programs and activities. The Title IX coordinators are Dr. Craig Gilbert, and Dr. Jeff Filloon, and the Section 504 coordinator is Dr. Kym Marshall. Address: 1525 W. Frye Road, Chandler, AZ 85224

Email: ChandlerCommunicationOffice@cusd80.com
Website: https://www.cusd80.com/chandlerschools
Location: 1525 West Frye Road, Chandler, AZ, USA
Phone: 480-812-7000
Facebook: facebook.com/ChandlerUnified
Twitter: @ChandlerUnified