New Vistas Center for Education: RELAY FOR LIFE

Monday, May 23, 2011

RELAY FOR LIFE

Last weekend thirty-eight participants from New Vistas School gathered at Basha High School's track field, pitched their tents on the infield, and began an all-night relay race to raise dollars for the American Cancer Society. Their early goal was to raise a modest $1000. By the day of the event, the team raised nearly six times that amount earning them a gold medal for Chandler team participants.

Team captains, both teachers at New Vistas, Dawnmarie Shipley and Stacey Trepanier, led their team to victory inspired by one of their own student's courageous testimony about her mother's bout with cancer this year. Sixth grader, Hayley Benson, who now hopes to one day to become an oncologist, says that "If we find a cure for cancer it means celebrating more birthdays." "Such a happy event for such a serious cause." says Trepanier, herself a cancer survivor who makes her participation an annual event. "I was so proud to have been their teacher-sponsor team captain. The respect, energy, responsibility, creativity, good sportsmanship, and support could not have been choreographed better."

The Relay opened with the Survivors Lap where survivors led the way around the track while being honored and applauded by all participants. Being a part of the Survivors Lap allowed survivors to celebrate what they overcame while inspiring and motivating those in attendance to fight on for a cure.

One of the most moving parts of the Relay for Life was the Luminaria Ceremony. Timed with the setting sun, luminaire lit; each bag bearing the name of someone who battled cancer. Some present celebrated cancer survivors they know, while others honor loved ones who lost their battle with the disease. All represented someone special affected by cancer and the family and friends who continue to fight back in their honor.

Team New Vistas chose a "'60's" theme with the children wearing tie-dyed shirts bearing the words: "Love, Peace, and A Cure." They gathered at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon and completed their laps at 6 a.m. Sunday morning. At 4 a.m., sixth grader Aryasp Nejat said "It was hard to stay awake but we put our heads together and created themes for a lot of the laps...like the crazy hats lap, the bubble wrap lap, duct tape lap, teddy bear lap, snuggy lap. It was really fun."

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WELCOME

Welcome to New Vistas Center for Education! We are so glad you are here! My name is Carol Elias, and together with Dr. Eleanor Jordan thank you for visiting our blog.

One of the things that brings us great pleasure is our reconnection with former students who let us know how their preschool and elementary experiences have shaped their future and contributed to their great success as they continued into junior high, high school, college and eventually, their careers. Our shared history and consistency, as well as many other educational strengths, makes New Vistas unique in the world of primary and intermediate education.

Each year, we rededicate ourselves to what we consider the noblest of tasks, nurturing the minds and hearts of the next generation. In light of the complex problems that face us worldwide, education is more important than ever before.

We are proud that while our curriculum is based in deep, rigorous and purposeful educational tradition, we also foster and develop in our students the ability to blend divergent and convergent thinking ... the basic shared skill of creative people. Creativity isn't freedom from facts, but rather the ability to blend this high level of knowledge with the ability to generate and evaluate ideas.

On a daily basis, whether you visit one of our wonderful preschool classes with students as young as two learning how to read and write, or our sixth grade class, with students engaging in classical literature and learning geometry, you will find a consistent theme at New Vistas. We are seeking academic excellence by challenging all students to strive to reach their maximum level of academic ability and to make use of the unique gifts given to each child.

As directors, we are proud of our staff, our students and our remarkable families!

EXPERIENCE IS GOLDEN!

We thought you would be interested in knowing about the aggregate of experience we have on our New Vistas teaching staff.

It is amazing to think that our 39 teachers have been teaching for 771 years, and 435 of them have been right here! Our talented and wonderful office and support staff provide additional invaluable experience.

We have an extremely low staff turnover, which speaks not only to the academic expertise of our teachers, but to the fact that we are a 'family of educaors', whose goal is to join with your family to create an ongoing program of excellence for your child.