“Excellence Through Performance”

Dear Desert Vista Family, Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year! I hope that your summer was all that you planned for and more. It has been an absolutely amazing start of the school year! I would like to thank you for partnering with us in preparing and sending such remarkable young adults to school every day! I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of our new students and families and a BIG thank you for a great turn out on Thunder Day! We look forward to your involvement at DV. You will find some very important upcoming events highlighted below. Here’s to a successful school year. Go THUNDER!!

Safety First Our students and staff have embraced 'Safety First' by understanding the importance of wearing ID badges for the safety of everyone on our campus. We planned a few practices and activities in regards to 'Safety First', to ensure we are prepared for a variety of circumstances that communities may un-expectantly encounter. On Tuesday, we practiced our fire alarm procedure and next Tuesday, August 15th, we will practice our lock down procedure. We continue to implement the requirement of wearing ID badges at all times while on campus. We provided students with many friendly and various reminders for the first week of school and will now proceed with warnings and consequences for those not in compliance beginning Monday, August 14th. I am pleased to share that many of our students are doing an excellent job in remembering to wear their ID badge.

Student Policy Book On Thursday, August 10th, we reviewed our Student Policy Handbook with all students, which is now accessible online. Your child will be bringing home pages 28 - 30 for you to review, sign and return to his/her third period teacher as soon as possible. Please note: Page 28 is required and pages 29-30 are optional, so please read through the pages carefully. I ask that you take time to review the school policies with your child. Our desire is to have none of our students experience the consequences in the handbook. Unfortunately, there are times when incidents occur and many are surprised at the consequences. In order to keep a safe and orderly campus of 3100 students, it is paramount that our students adhere to all of the district and school expectations. We ask that you please return the signed form(s) no later than Wednesday, August 16th. Please click here for the 2017-2018 Selected Student Policies & Regulations Handbook.

Curriculum Night/Senior Parent Night/NCAA Information Night Monday, August 21st (see attached flyer)

Senior Night: 5:30pm-6:30pm in the Dr. Joe McDonald Auditorium

NCAA Informational meeting for freshmen, sophomore and juniors who are potential college athletes: 5:30pm-6:30pm in the Cafeteria

Open House: 7:00pm in the Storm Center (large gymnasium). After a brief program, you will follow your son/daughter’s class schedule.

We look forward to spending the evening with you!

**BELL SCHEDULE for Monday, August 21st**

EARLY RELEASE

Period Start End Length

0 7:21 8:15 0:54

1 8:20 9:07 0:47

2 9:12 9:59 0:47

3* 10:04 10:56 0:52

4 11:01 11:48 0:47

Lunch A 10:56 11:36 0:40

5 11:41 12:28 0:47

Lunch B 11:48 12:28 0:40

6 12:33 1:20 0:47

7 1:25 2:12 0:47

Please click here to visit our summer newsletter for more detailed information.

Beach Bash III Please join us on Wednesday, August 16th, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm for our Chase White Hearts of Thunder “WE CARE” Beach Bash III, held at our JV Baseball Field (south of the Thunder Stadium).

Please visit our website for all the details and how you can help support this great event!

The highlight of the evening will be the Chase White FUN RUN and after, host DJ Class will get us dancing and give out loads of prizes! You can check out our fun games like Jamaican Pool Pull, Neck Ball Pass, Beach Ball Volleyball, Cheers famous Dunk Tank, The Wacky Water Challenge and much more! Tickets are only $10. The first 500 to come through the gate will be given a CWHOT BB3 T-shirt and Water Blaster, and everyone will receive a flower lei, hot dog, chips, water bottle, photo booth picture and 1 prize drawing ticket. Our Grand Prize is a pair of Wireless Beats Headphones, but we are also having a Gift Card Giveaway and lots of other fun prizes! We need your help! All volunteers will receive 5 extra Prize Drawing Tickets. Tweeting or posting a message about CWHOTBB3 will earn you another Prize Drawing Ticket! Please sign up here to help at the event or to help with items needed, click here. Thanks for your support!!! THE CWHOT BB3 Committee

School ID’s for School Bus Riders: Please make sure that your child has his or her student

ID when getting on the bus as it is a requirement for them to show the driver their ID when riding the bus. We ask that your child be cooperate and assist the driver so that the process can go as smoothly as possible for all involved. Beginning on August 28th, students will be required to show an ID or they will be denied transportation. Newly enrolled students will be allowed to show a printed schedule with a signature of an appropriate staff member until an ID has been issued. We appreciate your continued efforts and support to ensure students are transported safely to and from school.

Off Campus Parking – Vista Canyon Park and Lakewood The City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation has requested DVHS students not park in the small lot at Vista Canyon Park (aka DV Park) at 16020 South 30th Street during school hours due to concerns by residents there are no available parking spaces. Students who park in the Lakewood neighborhood east of Desert Vista on 33rd Street north of Liberty Lane (near the community pool) are requested to leave enough space for the trash and recycle garbage cans to be put out on Tuesdays, per the HOA Property Manager. Also, you need to be considerate of the home owners and not block their driveways, parking a fair distance away from homes. We ask students to be respectful at all times by word and action. We thank you in advance for assisting us in continuing to be respectful of our DVHS neighbors, their property and public access to the park. Please continue to follow all traffic laws, driving responsibly, and not leaving any trash behind to help keep our community clean and safe.

Student Drop Off and Pick Up Student drop off/pick up is coordinated at the student parking lot located off of Frye Road. We ask that you please allow plenty of time for this process as well as being extremely careful and cautious during drop off and pick up. We encourage early arrival so our students can frequent the library, get assistance from their teachers and/or attend our peer-to-peer tutoring program.

Skateboards and Bicycle Racks We have skateboard and bicycle racks for students to secure their bikes or skateboards. We ask that you have your child utilize this area and not lock their bike to fences and/or carry their skateboard around during school hours. We are not able to allow this for safety reasons. Please assist us by providing your child with a lock. We appreciate your assistance as we support their mode of transportation, but need to adhere to the lock up and safety procedures.

No Hoverboards on Campus

The use of hoverboards - two-wheeled, self-balancing electric scooters – has recently risen in popularity. Unfortunately, there are hazards associated with these devices, including fires,

property damage, and injuries to riders and pedestrians. With student and staff safety in mind, hoverboards may not be used, stored or charged on our campus.

Desert Vista Book Fair Desert Vista is partnering with Phoenix Book Company and sponsoring its very own book fair starting on Monday, August 21st through Friday, August 25th, in the PD room located in the library. This is a great opportunity for students to buy books for leisure reading or required reading in their classes. The book fair will also be available for parents and guardians to browse during curriculum night. Look for teacher wishlists and help build the classroom libraries of DV teachers. Cash or debit/card is accepted.

Desert Vista Cafeteria Information We are excited to share the following in regards to our cafeteria service to our families. 1. There is a point of sale system for Food Service. It is user friendly and very innovative. Even if we should lose network connection, we can continue to serve. 2. Families can go online and complete a free/reduced application which will be submitted directly into our system import. 3. We have an online payment site that will allow parents to set up an account and manage their student/s accounts. It will show current balances, transaction viewing and payments can be made into accounts for less of a service charge. 4. All the nutrition data for our menu items are on our website. Click here for the link to Food & Nutrition on the district website.

Student Recognition: Speech & Debate Desert Vista traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to attend the National Speech and Debate Association’s National Championship Tournament, which is the largest academic competition in the world. The Thunder competed against over 3,250 students representing over 1000 schools from all 50 states. Just reaching the National Championship Tournament is impressive as over 15,000 students from over 3,500 schools attempt to qualify for the honor of representing their school against the top speakers in the country. For the fourth time in five years, Desert Vista finished as one of the top ten teams in the United States, winning a School of Outstanding Distinction Award!! Desert Vista is one of only five schools in the United States to win the School of Outstanding Distinction Award four times. Desert Vista Individual Results Alex Wakefield, Congressional Debate – 6th place in the United States Taylor Gilliam, Program Oral Interpretation – 9th place in the United States

Bronwyn Doebbeling and Elise Lange, Duo Interpretation – Top 30 in the United States Lucas Selby and Raquel Willert, Duo Interpretation - Top 60 in the United States Erica Lane, Congressional Debate - Top 60 in the United States Sarah Jalaghi, Original Oratory - Top 60 in the United States Ethan Fiber and Margaret Braun, Public Forum Debate - Top 60 in the United States Johanna Crowl and Aashney Shah, Public Forum Debate - Top 60 in the United States Dylan Ketcham, Dramatic Interpretation - Top 70 in the United States Kayley Maro, Original Oratory - Top 150 in the United States Hanna Dawson, Humorous Interpretation - Top 150 in the United States Charley Hoang and Isaac Quah, Policy Debate - Top 150 in the United States

Extra-Curricular Highlights: 2016-17 12th Annual National Youth Arts Awards Awards: Lead Actress in a Musical: Jasmine Bassham as Wednesday in The Addams Family Supporting Actor in a Musical: Jack Walton as Fester in The Addams Family Nominations: Choreography: Hannah Fischbeck for The Addams Family Hair/Makeup Design: Eliana Burns & Gabriella Rubio for The Addams Family Congratulations everyone!!

Sports Highlights: 2016-2017 6A Overall Excellence Award Desert Vista received the Harold L. Slemmer Overall Excellence Award for the 6A Conference for the 2016-17 school year! The Mr. David Hines, AIA Executive Director, will present our award at an upcoming assembly or home game this fall. We will keep you posted!

DV Baseball – Team Academic Excellence Award The American Baseball Coaches Association is proud to honor over 200 college and high school programs with this year's ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award. Teams from every level of college and high school baseball were honored with the award, which recognizes teams coached by ABCA members that posted a GPA over 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for the 2016-17 academic year. Desert Vista Baseball is one of those teams!!

"We are so excited for the opportunity to honor so many of our member coaches and their players with the Team Academic Excellence Award," said ABCA Executive Director Craig Keilitz. "With all that is expected of our student-athletes, achieving a team GPA of 3.0 or above is truly an accomplishment. It is a testament to the leadership and commitment of our member coaches to developing their players into individuals who will be successful on and off the field." Coaches were able to nominate their teams for the ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award following the conclusion of their spring semesters prior to the nomination deadline of July 7. To be honored, teams had to meet the following criteria: Must be a high school or college team. Head coach must be a current ABCA member. Team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale during the 2016-17

academic year. GPA may not be rounded up. Congratulations team!!

Hockey Two of our DV hockey teams completed the AHSHA Spring League games in May 2017. We had 38 players participate on two teams. Our #2 team lost to Desert Mountain to finish 3rd in the league, and our #1 team won the Spring League Championship over Desert Mountain.

Congratulations to the DV Hockey Club for a great season!!

Hispanic Heritage Foundation The Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) is now accepting applications for the 2017 Youth Awards. The 19th Annual Youth Awards program will award students who are in the graduating Class of 2018 with educational grants to pursue their higher education or to fund their community-based project. Recipients will be selected for their accomplishments in the classroom, community, and for their excellence in various educational categories.

Once selected, students will be celebrated at 10 regional ceremonies across the country. These regions include Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco/Bay Area, and Washington, DC.

The application deadline is Monday, October 2, 2017. Students can apply at www.hispanicheritage.org.

Please feel to contact info@hispanicheritage.org or 202-861-9797 with any questions.

College and University Information: Historically Black College and University Parent Night Wednesday, September 27, 2017 6:30-8:30 PM Tempe High School Auditorium

BOOKSTORE HOURS 7:45am: Opens for the Day 1:30pm – 2:00pm: Closed 3:30pm: Closes for the Day

Upcoming Pesticide Application – August 23, 2017 Please click here to visit our summer newsletter for more detailed information.

GO THUNDER!! Respectfully, Christine Barela, Ed.D. Principal

DVHS Mission: Desert Vista inspires a community of learning by demonstrating excellence in academics, arts and extra-curricular activities. DVHS Vision: We strive for excellence by engaging our community, promoting accountability, fostering responsibility, and encouraging life-long learning.