We are so proud of our graduating scholars.
You will be missed but we look forward to your bright futures!
Congratulations Class of 2014!
To see more photos from graduation, go to http://bit.ly/ImagoDeiClass2014
Every year, our scholars investigate the world of science and technology by creating special experiments to explore the natural properties of the world around us, chemical reactions and the effects of force and gravity on solid objects. This year, we’re especially grateful to PICOR for awarding us a Ken Nickel STEM grant for a project involving student-built catapults!
We want to thank Pappas Kids Schoolhouse Foundation once again for generously giving every single family at Imago Dei a Thanksgiving turkey and all the trimmings this year! Dayna and Ted from Pappas made the drive down from Florence to help us celebrate, and Mike Solis and his great crew from Food City delivered the Thanksgiving bounty. All of our scholars and their families had a truly festive Thanksgiving this year!
Mike Solis and the Food City delivery team.
Pappas Executive Director Dayna Sandoval holds up a thank you poster from Imago Dei’s scholars.
Left to right: Pappas Executive Director Dayna Sandoval and Board Member Ted Carpenter; IDMS scholars Jonathan, Marky and Josh; and Head of School Rev. Anne.
Sonu Wasu and a crew from KOLD-TV News came down to interview our staff and scholars and tell everyone about Pappas Foundation’s amazing gift!
Before receiving their Thanksgiving meal fixings, our scholars and their family members took a moment to contemplate the meaning of Thanksgiving.
For the last few years, GEICO has partnered with Arizona Leadership Foundation to provide corporate tax credit scholarships to children of low-income families in Tucson. These scholarships allow children whose families have limited resources to attend the best private schools in Arizona and have every opportunity to succeed. Arizona Leadership Foundation has generously awarded scholarships to many of the scholars at Imago Dei.
Today, at a celebratory event at GEICO’s Tucson Regional Headquarters, GEICO announced that it will give $8 million in tax credit gifts this year through Arizona Leadership Foundation, $4 million of which will be reserved for students in Pima County. Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and Arizona Leadership Foundation President Aaron Muth spoke at the celebration, along with young scholars who had received GEICO corporate scholarships. Imago Dei was honored to be included in this event, and two of our Arizona Leadership Scholars, Marky and Mireya, represented the school with grace and charm!
Marky and Mireya, with Arizona Leadership’s Ariana Muth and GEICO’s gecko. Ariana holds a stone & glass art tile made by Imago Dei students and presented to her as a thank you gift.
GEICO has been in Tucson for ten years now, and their commitment to the success and well-being of the local community is amazing. Through charitable donations, corporate tax credit gifts and employee volunteerism, GEICO makes a huge difference to non-profit agencies all over Tucson and Southern Arizona.
GEICO Regional Vice-President Martha Furnas (far right), with The Rev. Anne Sawyer (far left), Mireya and Marky, and the GEICO gecko.
Thank you to GEICO and Arizona Leadership Foundation!!
Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild (holding the check, at far right), celebrates GEICO’s announcement with teachers and scholars from around Tucson.
Coach Britt teaches the fundamentals on the first day of Imago Dei’s Tennis Program.
United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Coach Britt Feldhausen is passionate about playing and teaching tennis. He has been playing tennis for more than 50 years and achieved the highest tested rating the USPTA offers, Professional 1. Britt is the former Director of Tennis at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort and founder of Britt’s Tennis Academy in Tucson, and thanks to Britt and the United States Tennis Association, Imago Dei now has a tennis program, and all of Imago Dei’s students have brand new rackets! Britt will be teaching our boys and girls the fundamentals of the game, along with amazing volunteers Susie Scott and The Rev. Tim Scott (retired rector of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church). Our whole community would like to thank Britt and Susie and Rev. Tim! Finally, a big thanks to Tucson High Magnet School for sharing their tennis courts with us.
Thanks to Susie and The Rev. Tim Scott for supporting Imago Dei!
Eyes on the ball!
First thing first: get to know your racket!
We’ve kicked off our annual campaign to raise scholarships for Imago Dei students! Our goal this fall is to raise 5 full scholarships ($75,000) to provide deserving students everything they need to achieve their full potential. The campaign started just this week and we have already received more than $6,000 from our generous community to help our children learn, thrive and succeed!
Your investment in Imago Dei’s children lasts a lifetime! The support you provide our students today changes the course of their lives, as they navigate from the world they find themselves in toward the world they dream for themselves. You can help, and your contribution matters, no matter how much you can afford to give!
Mark 12:42-44: But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Your generosity creates a community of caring, curiosity, creativity and kindness. The teachers, staff and children of Imago Dei thank you for your generous support!
Click on this link to donate today!
This month, we give special thanks to Beach Fleischman CPAs, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church & St. Francis in the Valley Episcopal Church, who have given our students backpacks filled with school supplies to kick off the year! Thank you for your generosity and your thoughtful efforts to help our students succeed!
Imago Dei is a private school because the incredible amounts of time and energy that our teachers give to our students simply would not be possible in the structure of a public or charter school.
In this era of standardized tests and the increasingly narrow metrics that are used to evaluate educational success, dedicated, qualified, caring teachers are absolutely critical to providing quality education. We believe that teachers and students must be accountable to objective standards, but the value of a qualified, passionate, enthusiastic teacher in a young child’s life is immeasureable.
The reason our model so effectively transforms the lives of students is that our teachers care about our children as people and communicate their concern for them every day. They provide innovative, differentiated, project-based lessons, which require high energy from the teachers and give children many different ways to learn. They set high standards of scholarship and behavior and hold our children to them. They engage students in ways that address their interests as people and show them the value and joy of learning. Finally, our teachers pay attention to our children and their families, listening and discovering what each child needs to succeed and offering it to them with kindness, compassion and understanding. The energy and dedication it takes to do all of these things successfully is staggering, but our teachers give it every day.
Our model requires that teachers spend nine hours a day each in close relationships with a very small number of children, who are struggling to achieve and to overcome difficult challenges; and the bonds our teachers and students form are the basis of our students’ success.
By communicating to each and every child how important they are as people, our teachers give our students hope and opportunities to succeed. Children succeed at Imago Dei because they know that they matter, and they learn that they have talents and abilities that other people admire and treasure, that they can let themselves dream because they have mentors and teachers here who will help them achieve their dreams. Our teachers’ devotion, caring and expertise are our program; our curriculum and our model are the vehicles through which our teachers express their devotion.
Being pro-education means being pro-teacher.
Arizona’s Episcopal Bishop Kirk Smith is a great supporter of our Episcopal schools and is on the Board of Overseers of Imago Dei. This fall, he is appearing in a Public Service Announcement to encourage all Arizonans to give their tax credit dollars to Episcopal schools. This state tax program allows Arizonans to give all the money they owe in state taxes to schools of their choice. That’s right! If you owe Arizona state taxes, you can give the entire amount you owe to Imago Dei, and the government will count it as paying your taxes!
Imago Dei Middle School 