Highlights of the First Quarter

Students on stage

Queen Creek Unified School District had an amazing first quarter due to our exceptional teachers, staff, students, parents, PTOs, volunteers, community members, and partners. Here are some highlights from each of our schools.

Desert Mountain Elementary School

  • Counselor Corie Incorvaia has earned her masters in educational leadership with a principal certification.
  • PTO hosted its first annual “Tears and Cheers” event for kindergarten parents on the first day of school.

Faith Mather Sossaman Elementary

  • Lara Cox received a nomination for the Arizona Education Foundation’s Teacher of the Year award.
  • Mrs. Leyva attended and participated in the Building Thinking Classrooms initiative and will serve as the demo teacher, providing math professional development for teachers this year.

Frances Brandon-Pickett Elementary

  • Reading specialist Janet Butler and her instructional aides hosted a successful Reading Olympics Night for our families.
  • Art masterpiece coordinator Kaeli-Ann Nicoll helped our students “make their mark” by creating a community art project, The Dot, that is in our library.

Gateway Polytechnic Academy

  • Kellie Gordon received a nomination for the Queen Creek Chamber of Commerce 2024 Educator of the Year award.
  • We held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the addition of a new academic building, providing twelve additional classrooms to the campus.

Jack Barnes Elementary

  • Students and staff of the month were recognized at September's board meeting.
  • The PTO exceeded their fundraising goal of $25,000!

Katherine Mecham Barney Elementary

  • Teachers Tiffany Chamberlain and Shanon Lines received a $5,000 grant from SRP for the SMART lab to purchase a classroom set of ozobots and accessories.
  • The school hosted a breakfast to honor our local first responders.

Queen Creek Elementary

  • QCE partnered with the Queen Creek library and Costco for an annual reading night.

Schnepf Elementary

  • Two teachers, Kimberly Cowden (6th grade) and Cindy Thompson (retired, 6th grade) received nominations from the Town of Queen Creek for Teacher of the Year.
  • We held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the addition of a new academic building, providing fourteen additional classrooms to the campus.

Silver Valley Elementary

  • Jill Devorkin won the Four Peaks For Teachers grant.
  • Student leader Brielle Stone was one of five winners in OdySea Aquarium’s annual conservation art challenge.

Newell Barney College Prep

  • Newell Barney has completed the first quarter of its inaugural year.
  • The Leader in Me program launched this year to teach all students how to become leaders. Newell Barney is the only junior high in the district that has this program.

Queen Creek Junior High School

  • We have 58 students in our National Junior Honor Society.
  • We surpassed our goal of $15,000 during the color and bubble run put on by the PTSO.

Crismon High School

  • Our school held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the addition of a new academic wing, providing additional classrooms to the campus. An additional academic building broke ground that will open in July 2025. Thank you to the SFD for funding this and future projects.
  • The college and career center partnered with multiple colleges to present a college & career fair on September 16 that was open to all high school community members.

Eastmark High School

  • Bryson Neilsons broke the Arizona state record for fastest three-mile time by six seconds.
  • We held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the addition of a new academic building, providing 23 additional classrooms to the campus. An additional academic building broke ground that will open in July 2025. Thank you to the SFD for funding this and future projects.

Queen Creek High School

  • Keegan Roque received the President's Gold Volunteer Service Award for volunteer service.
  • Seniors Michael H. and Etienne G. represented QCHS and the Town of Queen Creek at the League of Arizona Cities and Towns youth day.

Queen Creek Unified School District

  • We welcomed 15,300 students on the first day of school.
  • Over 100 new teachers joined our district this school year.
  • We held the annual Leading out Loud (LOL) conference in September.
  • QCUSD was named Crown of the Creek by Be Local as the school of choice for Queen Creek.
















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