School Events - Tucson International Academy

Video Interviews: How to Prepare for College While in High School

Four TIA student’s share in this video how the “Own Your Success” event taught them to deal with life’s challenges and how to prepare for college while in high school. This learning event was held at TIA and taught by Master Elite Results coach Brodie Whitney.

Second Video- 2 Part Series

This is the second video in a three part series. In the video you will hear from TIA students Angelica (10th), Jhoanna (9th), Doroteo (9th), Edgardo (9th) as they share the words of wisdom they learned at the "Own Your Success" event. Three questions were asked of each student: What was your overall experience from the Coach Brodie event? What was the most valuable thing you learned from the event? What are your plans after high school?

Student Quote

Angelica shares, “Success has different meaning for different people...If you fail, it doesn’t mean you can’t succeed anymore...If you fail, it’s something to motivate you to keep going...My plans after high school is to go to college and get a doctors degree." Click here to watch the video Enroll now!

Video by Braelyn Smith~TheJ3Effect Story by Kim Murphey~TheJ3Effect

How to prepare for college while in high school

Video Interview: Importance of Student Activities

TIA Broadway Campus Presents: Student Experiences from "Own Your Success," an event with Master Elite Results coach, Brodie Whitney that shows how the importance of student activities can help one prepare for college and life.

Questions Asked of Each Student

Three questions were asked of each student: What was your overall experience from the Coach Brodie event? What was the most valuable thing you learned from the event? What are your plans after high school? In this video is you will hear the answer from Gilberto (12th), Jose (11th), Valerie (11th), and Mikaela (9th), all students at TIA Broadway campus, share the impact of coach Brodie Whitney's workshop with students and the importance of student activities at TIA for them.

Student Quote

One quote from a student; " Anyone can dream but not everyone will chase their dream. So we just have to be the ones who dream and chase our dreams...It's our power to chase what we want to be in the future." Click here or on the picture to watch the video now Video by Braelyn Smith~TheJ3Effect Story by Kim Murphey~TheJ3Effect Enroll Now!

importance of student activities at TIA event

TIA Makes Costume Parade Educational

One of my most memorable costumes growing up, was when my very Italian father helped make a costume for me as an organ grinder, reminiscent of the ones he had seen on the streets in Italy! My father’s handiwork transformed his little redheaded 8-year-old daughter into an old country organ grinder, complete with mustache and dancing stuffed monkey! Not only was that costume memorable because it was crazily unique, but also because I learned a lot about my father’s Italian heritage as we prepared every last detail. It is with this kind of expanded vision that Tucson International Academy has designed their costume parade. The annual parade, held at the end of October or in early November, is so much more than just playing dress up.

Costume Parade

In order for all students of all ages to be able to participate, TIA has set some parameters on the types of costumes allowed. These guidelines prevent any costuming that would be too scary for the younger students. The parameters also prevent costumes that would not be age appropriate by being too provocative or too dark in nature. But it’s more than that that! TIA has promoted the parade as a wonderfully fun educational experience as well.

Costume Categories

The students are encouraged to choose a costume that falls into one of three categories. One category is “Professionals”. These costumes can can depict any sort of job such as doctors, teachers, policemen, and so on. It’s kind of a twist on the “what I want to be when I grow up” idea.

Costume Theme

The second theme is costumes from literature. The students can choose any character from books they have read. If they choose to dress up as a princess, they need to be able to explain which princess they are and from what story. Princess Violetta from the book The Princess Knight would look very different than Princess Elizabeth from the book The Paper Bag Princess! The third category the students can choose their costume idea from is cultural. My organ grinder costume very well could have fallen under this category! The children can learn so much about their own heritage or other cultures as they prepare their costume for this category. One could see a French chef, a Mexican mariachi, or an Apache Indian marching in the parade side by side. Leave it to TIA to take something as simple as dressing up to a whole new level that is not only fun, but truly an enriching and educational venture for their students! To see more fun pictures from the Costume parade on our Facebook page, click on this link Tucson International Academy: More Than Just School Enroll Online Story by Betty Kruzska~TheJ3Effect

Advice To High School Students – Are You Ready for an Amazing, Life Changing Day?

Have you ever met people whose life goals after high school included working a minimum wage job, continue living with their parents, and taking the bus everywhere because they can’t afford a car? Probably not, yet there are many that will end up in that exact scenario. Most of us have dreams of a better life than that--one that includes a decent salary, our own place to live, and getting a job we love. But how do we achieve those dreams? More specifically, how can we turn those dreams into achievable expectations? Attending college is one of the most solid steps to achieving your dreams. But what if you’re having trouble envisioning college in your future? TIA is excited to be able to offer an incredible day of dream building, motivation, advice to high school students, and hope to all TIA students through the Own Your Success event scheduled for October 20th.

Own Your Success-Advice to High School Students

The Own Your Success event will introduce high school students and parents to internationally known Master Elite Results Coach, Brodie Whitney. Coach Brodie, from Robbins Research International, is a powerful motivator. He has met with the staff at Tucson International Academy on two occasions to get a snapshot of the particular needs and strengths of our high school students. This enables Coach Brodie to specifically aim his coaching and motivation to the unique attributes of TIA students. Coach Brodie declares, “Your identity is stronger than your wants. How you define yourself today determines the results you will live with tomorrow. By choosing courage over apathy today, you lead yourself and others to a new tomorrow.”

How Can You Attend This Event?

To earn the opportunity to attend this exciting event, students get to choose one of three endeavours based on their individual skills. For those strong in math, one of the choices is a set of math problems, some easy and others quite challenging. Students who excel in writing can choose to write a story about themselves which will include 3 different endings- one depicting success, another depicting partial success, and the third ending depicting failure. The third option is for students who excel at visualization to draw an image of a circle which illustrates the concepts like “I Am” and “I Am Not” , “I Can and I Cannot”. Each student will choose one of these three endeavours and submit it prior to the event. For more information on how and what to submit, students can talk to Mr. Montemayer. Again, Own Your Success will be an all day event from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm on October 20th, 2014 . All TIA high school students are eligible to attend and will be bussed to the event being held at 1300 N. Greasewood Road. That same evening from 6 pm until 8 pm, there’s a special parent event, where students bring their parents for dinner and a powerful session with Coach Brodie. Lives at TIA will be changed on this day. Do not miss out! TIA: Not just a school, but a doorway to the world! Enroll today! Written by Betty Kruszka~TheJ3Effect

Prepare for College with Coach Brodie Whitney

Students, Parents and Teachers in another HOT Competition!

When Americans celebrate their independence, they often love to watch fireworks explode in the night sky. For Mexican Independence Day however, the biggest explosions may be in people’s mouths as they test and taste some of the super-hot entries in TIA’s annual Chili and Salsa Contest! The contest, a long standing and loved tradition at Tucson International Academy, brings out some explosively hot competition by TIA students, parents and teachers!

Students, Parents and Teachers Compete

Ever since TIA’s first year, the school has celebrated Mexico’s Independence from Spain in mid-September with food, fun, music, and student performances . The staff at TIA, in their on-going effort to bring the world to their students, embraced this opportunity to bring Mexican culture and history alive on their campuses. Everyone chipped in to the make the celebration memorable, and soon an unspoken competition for who could make the best salsa and who could make the best chili had emerged. That was the start of what is now the official Chili and Salsa Competition held each year. And even though the only prize is bragging rights for 1st, 2nd or 3rd place, the competitors are very serious about their craft!

Salsa Competition

The salsas entered have been everything from sweet and tangy to dangerously hot and spicy. Someone even tried to enter a “store bought” salsa one year, but it didn’t even place in the top three! The ingredients for these homemade masterpieces range from the traditional tomato and onions to the more surprising ingredients of mango or pineapple. This year there will be an additional category of competition just for the teachers. They will be concocting their own salsa recipes to be judged by the volunteer judges.

Chili Competition

The chili competition appears to have a front runner again this year. The Gilliam family has won first place for the last several years, even with different groups of volunteer judges each year. If 2014 is to be the year the Gilliam chili dynasty falls, folks better get in the kitchen and start working on their own secret recipes. Each TIA campus will host its own Chili and Salsa Competition during the Mexican Independence Day festivities. Tucson International Academy Bringing the world to students and students to the world since 2001. Enroll online! Written by Betty Kruszka~TheJ3Effect

Field Day: Having Fun Raising Money for a Cause

Field Day started several years ago at TIA Charter School as an all-school activity. Back then they had a Hawaiian Day where kids would dress up “Hawaiian” and play around with different water games. Not everybody wanted to get wet and not everybody wanted to participate in those games, so TIA started having Field Day and Hawaiian Day. Eventually they realized that the kids had more fun and participated more in Field Day so Hawaiian Day was discontinued. The First Half of Field Day Has Become a Walkathon! Raising Money for a Cause Now, the first half of Field Day is a walk-a-thon fundraiser which raises money for Kids Feeding Kids. This helps provide meals for the children in Reynosa Tamaulipas, Mexico, during the summer and over the weekends when they don't go to school. The first year TIA was able to raise about $100 by having students donate money throughout the year. The second year the donations went up to $200. When they started the walk-a-thon last year, they raised $600. This year they raised close to $1000. The kids ask parents and businesses to pledge money to the students for the number of laps they will walk. An average student (even the kindergarteners) walks about 2 to 3 miles and they're happy to do it. Some of the older kids walk up to 10 miles. The kids like the second half of Field Day more than the walk-a-thon, but the fundraising part of Field Day helps the school family see that the day isn’t just about TIA students having fun. The parents see the kids doing something to help other children and taking part in campaign that is bigger than the school. Last year about 200 kids participated and this year there were about 400 students walking laps. The Second Half of Field Day - Fun and Games After the fundraiser is done, the games start. All four campuses participate and students play different games depending on their grade level. The little ones will play kick ball or play on the playground. The older ones will play soccer or football. The wonderful thing about Field Day is that the students don’t want teams from the several campuses to compete against each other; they mix up the schools to form their teams. The kids bond and have a lot of fun together. Field Day is the last day of the week of Color Wars at TIA. Be a Part of the TIA Fun Tucson International Academy is an independently-run charter school. It is a team-based learning community that prepares students for a global society. Events such as Field Day help build team spirit and cooperation between the different campuses and students at TIA and help the students think beyond their city to help others in need. Let us bring the world to your child and your child to the world. Click here! Written by Kim Murphey ~ TheJ3Effect

Color Wars – How to Build Team Spirit

Color Wars originally started at the TIA East Campus several years ago with great success. This year TIA Broadway and TIA West campuses joined together with the East campus for the Color Wars. How to Build Team Spirit: The Draft...just like the Pros! Six seniors and six juniors worked together with Mr. Montemayor to draft all the students into teams. They tried to make sure that the teams were as even as possible. Instead of just picking names at random or by order of the grades to create the groups, they used the attendance list with all the student’s names on it and started working their way through the lists, grade by grade, picking students for each team, all the way from the seniors down to the kindergartners. Each team captain says, "I want so and so." The Older Kids Know the Younger Kids...Amazing! A lot of the seniors and juniors were surprised to find out that they actually knew many of the younger students. For example, one senior would say, "Who is Johnny?" And the other senior would say, "Johnny is the one that did this and this on that day” or “Johnny is the one that dresses this way” or the one that “has the hair that looks like this." Among them all, they pretty much knew everyone. Because the older students really interact with the little ones during the school year at different events (which is something special one doesn’t see in most schools), they really get to know the younger kids. After they picked their teams, each captain picked a teacher and team color. They had a lot of fun doing the draft this year. Cheers, Ping-Pong, Popping Balloons and Paper Airplanes Each year during one week in May, the teams of students meet with their captain and teacher each day at a specific time to do a specific challenge. On Monday teams create cheers. The one with the best and loudest cheer gets points. Tuesday is Field Day, so the competition for the Color Wars is based on attendance. The teams get one point for every student that attends. Wednesday is a day of races with a ping-pong ball and spoon race, and another race having to do with popping balloons. Thursday is a paper airplane contest to see which airplane flies the longest and also to see which one can fly the farthest. Friday from 12:00 to 3:00 is the grand finale. There are different games for each grade level so everybody can participate. Events include hula-hoop and jump rope contests in addition to relay races, basketball shoot-outs, and many other games. This is a great week of fun for everyone! Join the Fun at TIA!!! One Fine Charter School in Tucson Tucson International Academy is an independently-run charter school in Tucson, AZ. It is a team-based learning community that prepares students for a global society. Events such as Color Wars help build team spirit and cooperation between the different campuses and students at TIA. Let us bring the world to your child and your child to the world. Enroll Now!

Cinco de Mayo Celebration in Tucson at TIA

Cinco de Mayo celebration in Tucson at TIA were held on four different days. Every student in attendance had a part in the program. Each campus celebration was unique—the Midvale, Broadway and West campuses opted to host the events in the evening, while the East campus hosted their event after school. In keeping with Cinco de Mayo tradition, good Mexican food is a crucial component in all of our festivities. Not only did the holiday celebration make for lots of fun, it is a great opportunity to reinforce cultural appreciation for our students. More about TIA TIA is a Charter School that is an independently-run public school. It is a team-based learning community that prepares students for a global society and offers in-depth foreign language programs such as Spanish and Chinese. Learning other languages and about other cultures inspires understanding and community involvement. Events such as Cinco de Mayo celebrations are another way to bring history and fun together for our students here at TIA. History of Cinco de Mayo Cinco de Mayo, or the 5th of May, commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over French forces in the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. Many people think Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexico’s independence, which was actually declared some 50 years before the Battle of Puebla. Mexico’s Independence Day is celebrated on September 16th. While the Cinco de Mayo holiday is not celebrated widely in Mexico, it has become very popular in America in area’s with big Mexican-American populations. Many cities have parades, festivals, mariachi band performances, parties, and of course, lots of traditional Mexican food and drinks. Let us bring the world to your child and your child to the world. Click here! Story by Kim Murphey~TheJ3Effect

TIA 2014 Career and College Fair

This year’s Career and College Fair was a huge success, with over 250 students in attendance. The keynote speech was given by Martha McSally, a retired Air Force colonel and the first woman to fly a combat mission (she is now running for the US Congress). Then the students had the opportunity to choose among the booths of 27 different local businesses and organizations, and listen to their 20 minute demonstrations on what such a career would be like. After lunch, the final part of the day was to visit the college booths; close to a dozen colleges participated. Their representatives talked to the students about their college options in light of the students’ interests and future career plans.

History of TIA Career Days

Mr. Montemayor and Mr. Von Croft started the TIA Career Days six years ago with 20 students in Mr. Montemayor’s class. Each student who was interested would be paired up with a local business person to shadow on the job for 2-3 hours. The next year Mr. Montmayer offered the shadowing option to two of his classes. It was so successful that they decided to offer the program district-wide. The overwhelming number of students interested in the program made it impossible to provide shadowing opportunities for them all, so four years ago the Career & College Fair was born. Now local businesses, organizations, and colleges come to the students in one place.

Local Businesses That Participated

Some of the local businesses and organizations that participated this year were; Costco, Target, Tucson Airport Authority, F.B.I., Sandoval Creative, R.O.T.C., Tucson Sheriff & Police Departments, and Arizona Public Media.

Schools That Participated

Among the schools that participated this year were University of Arizona, Tucson College of Beauty, ITT Technical Institute, Grand Canyon University, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, Tucson College, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, The Drawing Studio, Inc., and The Art Institute. For more pictures, click here to go TIA’s Facebook page. Enroll Your Child Now Article written by Kim Murphey~TheJ3Effect

Martha McSally & Dr J Career & College Days

TIA Shines at Language Fair

Our Pint-Sized Ambassadors Perform at the Language Fair 2013

Good things really do come in small packages! For all those in our TIA family who attended the 2013 Southern Arizona Language Fair a few weeks ago, that truth came alive as they watched six of our precious Midvale girls dancing and singing in the performance category of the competition. Our six young ladies, dressed in their beautifully hand-sewn Chinese costumes, sparkled like little gemstones as they danced across the stage. Even though TIA was one of the smallest of the 25-30 schools participating in the event, we were strongly represented by our pint-sized ambassadors and won second place out of over two hundred other participants!

Language Fair is an Annual Event

This Language Fair is an annual event held at the Confucious Institute of the University of Arizona (CIUA). Participants representing schools from all over southern Arizona can compete in any of four categories: Poetry, Drama, Instrumental and Performance. One school alone brought 200 students! Yet our six little girls shone as they sang a classical Mandarin Chinese song while performing a dance choreographed by their TIA Chinese instructor, Mrs. Sun. Their beautiful gem-tone costumes were hand-sewn by the grandmother of one of the girls.

TIA Families Show Support

Many TIA Midvale families attended the five-and-a-half hour program, even some who did not have a child participating. As is common in our TIA family, they came to show their support and school spirit. Also in attendance were Mrs. Sun, and Midvale Principal, Mrs. Valerie Enriquez. Mrs. Enriquez was the only principal of all of the 25-30 participating schools to be present at the language fair with her students. The girls got to meet State Superintendent John Huppenthal as he presented them with their beautiful trophy.

Congratulations to our award winning TIA ambassadors from Midvale

to the 2013 Southern Arizona Language Fair! Alana F. 2nd Grade Anna F. 3rd Grade Michelle F. 3 Grade Emmasofia V. 3 Grade Eliana N. 4th Grade Scarlett F. 5th Grade

Does TIA sound like the perfect school for your child? Enroll Now!