TROJAN UPDATE - Tucson Unified School District

From Mary Morse, Our Learning SupportCoordinatorIt is always a pleasure to report the wonderful things happening at Catalina. During secondsemester, we continue to see current programs promote progress. Additionally, severalfantastic new initiatives have captured the attention of our school community, andthrough these efforts, we expect to see continuing improvements in an array of areas.As always, Freshman House teams continue to work diligently and provide the essentialsupport to promote success for all of Catalina’s 9 th graders. Student conferences to developplans for improvement have been an important component to aid students toward theirgraduation goal. Although the freshman house structure is a more formal program, pleaseremember that regardless of your student’s grade level, Catalina staff is always able to providefeedback on your student or meet with you regarding concerns for your child.At the beginning of February, a new committee of volunteers wascreated to provide an additional opportunity for student voicesto be heard and action plans to be made based on common concerns.The committee, Trojan Advisory Group, is comprised ofnearly 50 freshmen, sophomores and juniors. In only two meetings,students have collaborated to focus on three areas for schoolimprovement: Lunch Activities, Campus Clean-Up and CommunityVolunteering. Steps for implementation in each area arealready being developed.Mary Morse,Learning SupportCoordinatorAt the end of March, Ben’s Bells will be presenting at Catalina tokick off the Be Kind, Step-Up program, which is being overseenby site representatives from the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Committee. Catalinastudents will help to create a kindness mural on campus and kindness bracelets to demonstratetheir commitment to a compassionate and unified school community. Kindnessweek, April 23-27, will bring many activities and recognitions for students to further promoteand sustain a caring campus culture.The goals of Catalina’s Learning Support Coordinator are to assist students in removingbarriers to their learning, promote a celebrated school culture and ensure open lines ofcommunication between the school and home. Please feel free to contact Mary Morse ifyou have concerns for your student related to any of these areas.TROJAN UPDATE March, 2012 Page 22