Education
Learn about the women leading education in the Prescott area.
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.
Celebrating Success for Each Child
At Cedar Tree Montessori, learning is individualized, and the focus is on success.
Owned and operated by Debbie and Aly McMillan, the school, which just completed its 16th year, offers toddler programs for children 18 months to three years old, and a Montessori preschool program for children who are two-and-a-half to five years old.
Kickstart a Great Career
Yavapai College’s new four-year Bachelor of Science Business degree features three concentrations from which students can choose: Accounting, Entrepreneurship, and Organizational Management and Leadership.
Striving for Equity, Creating Opportunities
Young women who lay the right groundwork have more opportunities to follow the path that works for them. Helping people lay that groundwork—through education and empowering community partnerships and programs—is the goal of the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
Her Perfect Fit
Sheryl Blosel has found her perfect fit. With a vast background in Information Technology (IT) and Database Management, her position as the Prescott Unified School District’s (PUSD) PowerSchool Administrator is just right.
PowerSchool, the student information system, is a database connected to the Arizona Department of Education via AzEDS, an Ed-fi model for Arizona that automates student data reporting—the vehicle by which the state calculates PUSD’s student funding. Most schools use some type of student information system, and Sheryl said she makes it “a personal mission to do quality internal audits for each school within the district to make sure schools are compliant with state/federal rules and regulations.”
‘Early College Mom’
Director of Prescott Unified School District’s (PUSD) Early College Program, Molly Orr, has roots through her family’s three-generation heritage and contributions to the Prescott area education system. With a grandmother who was an educator in Arizona and California and a father who taught math at Prescott High School (PHS) from the 60s to the 90s, Molly said, “We don’t have buildings named after us, but my family has had a positive influence on this community since Arizona was just a territory!”
Nurturing the Seeds in Discovery Gardens
From student to educator, Discovery Gardens Special Education Preschool Director Stacy Williams has lived in Prescott since 1986, having attended Lincoln Elementary, Granite Mountain Middle School, and Prescott High School.
After her high school graduation, Stacy spent two years at Yavapai College where she had the opportunity to be a part of the team that brought the first Northern Arizona University (NAU) satellite campus to Yavapai County, catering to those students who wanted to become educators within the Prescott area without having to travel to Flagstaff for classes.
Maintaining the Foundation for Online Learning
For Christina Tymchak, Director of Online Learning at Prescott Unified School District (PUSD), her new role may not have evolved without the challenges faced in 2020. PUSD now offers online learning as an option and, while it may not be for everyone, Christina said she is pleased that it is offered to students who feel they would benefit.
“I Just Knew Lincoln Was Where I Wanted to Be”
From Parent to Principal, Elementary School Principal Karen Hughes Has Always Been Impressed with PUSD By Tara Fort From the very first day Karen Hughes walked one of her children to Lincoln Elementary School in Fall of 1999, she was hooked on what that special...