Education
Learn about the women leading education in the Prescott area.
Catch a Ride on Yav Connect!
Yav Connect, operated by the Central Yavapai Metropolitan Organization (CYMPO), supports your daily commute. This microtransit service, now expanding from Prescott Valley into the heart of Prescott, will make getting around easier and more convenient for residents. By choosing Yav Connect, you’re not just getting a ride—you’re contributing to a cleaner, more sustainable environment and a more connected community.
Difficulties Become Possibilities
any daily miracles occur through Horses with Heart in Chino Valley. A new Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) program promises to create even more.
Accredited through the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International, Horses with Heart has provided therapeutic riding to people with disabilities, veterans, first responders, and seniors since 1993.
EAL is an experiential learning method (based on experiences and observation) that promotes personal growth and improved life skills through partnership with horses. Skills developed include trust, confidence, communication, social skills, boundary setting, respect, critical thinking, teamwork, problem-solving, decision-making, and leadership. Credentialed facilitators guide safe interactions with our horses.
The Glue that Holds Everything Together
For Prescott Unified School District (PUSD), the collaborative efforts of its Administrative Assistants foster a unique bond to ensure the success of students, staff, parents and community.
Nothing short of variety, these women are the face of the schools and do it all, allowing them to show leadership and multitasking at its best. With duties such as scheduling staff and athletics needs, overseeing registration, managing the front office and all staff, tracking student progress for graduation, setting up online classes, sending out progress reports, maintaining monthly tuition, submitting weekly money deposits and time clocks for their employees, communicating with families, and “other duties as assigned,” it’s evident that no day is exactly like the previous one.
‘Something for Every Learner’
Tiffany Boehle said the best part of her job is “the chance to be creative and facilitate projects that benefit PUSD students and families while solving problems along the way.”
As the Prescott Unified School District’s (PUSD) Director of Career and Technical Education (CTE), Tiffany manages a department of twelve CTE programs on the Prescott High School (PHS) campus.
“I enjoy helping students find career paths that benefit them and the community, and there are so many CTE opportunities that are available to students for free,” she said. “CTE offers students a low-risk opportunity to learn skills, develop professionalism and earn industry certificates that lead to steady employment and fill critical and high-demand professional needs of our community.”
Embracing Innovation
Kelsey Secor is no newcomer to Prescott Unified School District (PUSD). Initially hired in July 2008 as an educator, since 2022, she has embraced her newest evolving role as Director of Instructional Support. This role’s initiative is to support district leaders in keeping up with education trends and the latest research while providing meaningful and relevant professional development opportunities.
She said, “I’ve been a student, teacher, instructional coach, assistant principal, principal, director, and parent — all within PUSD.” District life is not more all-encompassing than that, and Kelsey gives 100 percent in every role.
An Invaluable Learning Experience
As the world’s leading higher education institution for aviation and aerospace, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University ensures its students acquire expert knowledge through faculty guidance, hands-on experience, and research.
Embry-Riddle Summer Programs will offer these opportunities and more to pre-college teenagers considering a future in science, technology, flight, and beyond this summer.
“We are excited to welcome students to our Prescott Campus again,” said Summer Programs Manager Jenn Downing. “Whatever your interest, you will find the perfect mix of academics and camp fun waiting for you.”
It’s All in the Data
Prescott Unified School District’s (PUSD) Testing Coordinator Rene Steingraber’s goal is to meet the district’s ever-changing proficiency testing and assessment needs. With that in mind, she assists educators, board members, and the public in understanding the data state testing provides through its assessment of students in grades three through 11.
“In the past, states did not have all of the proficiency testing expectations required by law today,” Rene said. “Over time, districts began seeing a need to better monitor the learning of all students.”
Opportunities Abound
During a Prescott Woman Magazine interview, Jamie Bjune said she looked forward to implementing a new grant program for indoor hydroponic gardens at Granite Mountain Middle School later that day. The Federal Programs Director for Prescott Unified School District (PUSD), Jamie and her team in the grants department said the hydroponic gardens grant serves as just one small example of the many grant opportunities available for PUSD students.
Find Your Spark
Carissa Maxwell is on a mission. Through her new young women’s program, Find Your Spark, the owner of Glow Realty aspires to empower girls and young women to explore who they are becoming and what they’re interested in by providing a platform to ignite curiosity.
The goal: for these young people, ages thirteen to twenty-five, to advocate for themselves and create intentional lives.
Setting Students Up for High School Success
Michelle Hoop is the sole Counselor for Academic Achievement and Support serving all 553 students in grades seven and eight at Prescott Unified School District’s (PUSD) Mile High School. She said recently that she combats any challenges by making a priority of “seeing the students with the highest needs.”
PHS Grad Georgia Harrington Heads to Juilliard in the Fall
With an alum list boasting celebrities like Viola Davis, Val Kilmer and Jessica Chastain, it is with true Prescott Pride that one of our own shares her journey from dream to acceptance at one of the most prestigious performing arts schools in the world: The Juilliard School. Georgia Harrington, a 2023 Prescott High School graduate, was accepted into Juilliard and will be majoring in acting there starting this fall.
Innovation Within Tradition
The Margot Fonteyn Academy of Ballet and Fine Arts (MFAB) reopens its world headquarters this August in Prescott, having relocated from New York and survived COVID. Sometimes it’s not just a dancer, but an entire Academy, that picks itself up off the mat.