School notes

Mayor visits La Paloma

Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup visited third-graders at La Paloma Academy May 19 as the culmination of a program on government.

Teacher Bobbi Patterson taught her students about the three branches of government and civic responsibility by transforming her classroom into a small-scale functioning town. Students conducted mock elections and were elected or hired to official city positions or jobs such as council members and police officers.

After studying government through the school year, students wrote the mayor with questions including asking him his opinion on the war in Iraq and how many limousines he owns. They also invited him to visit their school.

In anticipation of Walkup's visit, the students made an Arizona state flag, and when the mayor arrived, they had an Arizona trivia contest, a question-and-answer session and the mayor's favorite dessert, chocolate ice cream, according to La Paloma officials.

Sahuarita

2 middle school students compete in History Day

Two Sahuarita Middle School students will travel to the University of Maryland this month to compete in the National History Day competition.

Sixth-graders Grace Kemper and Richard Cesare won first and second place, respectively, in the junior division at the state competition and will compete in the finals, which take place June 11-15.

Kemper won in the Best Entry on Women's History category for her presentation, "Elizabeth Blackwell: Taking a Stand for Equal Education for Women."

Cesare took second place in the Best Use of Oral History category for his presentation, "Paul Rusesabagina Takes a Stand for Humanity: Truth or Fiction?"

"The mission of National History Day is to provide students with opportunities to learn historical content and develop research, thinking and communication skills through the study of history and to provide educators with resources and training to enhance classroom teaching," according to the Web site (www.nhd.org).

Winners of regional and state competitions for grades six through 12 move on to the national event. For the competition, students can produce creative and scholarly exhibits, film documentaries, write historical papers or give performances, according to the Web site.

Other Sahuarita Middle School sixth-graders who finished well at the state competition were Johnna Michel, who finished second, and Kylee Spicer, who finished third, for individual performance in the junior division; and Elizabeth Parker, who won the Best Entry on Mexican-American History category for her presentation, "Dolores Huerta: Taking a Stand for Mexican Laborers."

Vail

School board to meet

The Vail School District Governing Board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Vail Education Center, 13801 E. Benson Highway. The board regularly meets on the first and third Tuesdays of each month.

Go to www.vail.k12.az.us for governing board agendas. For more information, call 762-2003.

Tubac

Children's art program

Tubac Center of the Arts is registering 6- to 15-year-olds for its summer art program.

Sessions will run from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, June 20 to July 13, at the center, 9 Plaza Road in Tubac, 15 minutes south of Sahuarita.

Classes cover painting, drama, fabric arts, mosaics, puppets, drama, enameling and mask making. The cost of the program is $180, which includes materials.

The arts center has been offering the program for 22 years, director Josie DeFalla said. Each summer it is open to 150 students. More than 3,000 children and teenagers have gone through the program. Center of the Arts supporters believe in the importance of arts education, "particularly in times of diminishing public school attention to the arts," DeFalla said.

For more information or to register, go to www.tubacarts.org or call 398-2371.