Marcos de Niza High School

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Marcos de Niza High School
Location
6000 S. Lakeshore Drive
Tempe, AZ
USA
Information
School district Tempe Union High School District
Principal Frank Mirizio
Staff approx. 150
Enrollment

approx. 2010
Type Public
Grades 9-12
Athletics conference AIA 5A-II

Pima Region[1]
Mascot Padre
Color(s) Brown and Gold
Established 1971
Information (480) 838-3200
Homepage Official Website

Contents

[edit] School History

When the Tempe Union High School District made plans to build a third high school in what was then the southern tip of the city's urban development, the name "Marcos de Niza High School" was proposed and unanimously accepted. Historians and longtime city residents knew the saga behind the search for the Seven Cities of Cibola and the role played by Fray Marcos de Niza.

In the early 1500's many Europeans believed the wealth found in Mexico and Peru was also abundant in the vast north country of the newly discovered land. There was a great deal of squabbling between New Spain and Old Spain as to who should have the privilege of leading an entrada or expedition. Few had the resources or experience. Finally, Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of Mexico, hit upon the idea of employing a priest for the job, thus giving the expedition the color of a missionary exploration. He selected a Franciscan friar named Marcos de Niza who was from an Italian town called Nice (thus the name de Niza). The friar had a reputation as a man of many talents, supposedly among them proficiency in cartography and cosmography. Mendoza also purchased a slave, Estaban, to serve as a guide. In 1539, along with several Indians serving as porters, servants and interpreters, de Niza left to fulfill his four instructions:

  • 1. Take possessions of everything seen or heard.
  • 2. Spot a good location for a military outpost.
  • 3. Be on the lookout for signs of material wealth
  • 4. Whatever seen or not seen, bring back an intriguing report.

Like all good explorers, de Niza kept a detailed journal (a copy of which is available in the MdN LRTC). If his narrative is to be believed, he and his men may have crossed the present site of the high school which now bears his name. One can find at the mouth of the Pima Canyon, overlooking the present community of Guadalupe, the name "Frey Marcos de Niza" inscribed on a sheltered rock along with a Spanish legend and the date "1539." However, history has not been kind to the friar. His narrative contains exaggerations, inaccuracies, elaborate assertions and brazen omissions, indicating he may not have made it this far.

Despite the uncertainty of the Friar's ultimate destination, the Tempe Union High School District chose the name for its new school which would reflect the history, mystery, and flavor of the southwest. The first group of students researched the padre's history and used it to select their mascot and school colors of Padre Brown and Gold.

[edit] The Padre Mascot

The original MdN Padre mascot was designed by a student, Albert Turrubiartes, in 1971. A lovable little mascot resembling the cartoon character "Ziggy," [1]he sometimes appeared in the pages of the school newspaper or yearbook with a tonsure or dressed for special occasions. This character remained until 1981 when it evolved through the Death Padre, the Super Padre, the Shepherd Padre, and finally the image [2]that is used by the school and sports teams today.

Shortly after Marcos de Niza High School opened in the fall of 1971, students voted brown and gold as the school's colors in keeping with the brown tones of the robe worn by the Franciscan padre, Marcos de Niza, and the gold he was sent to find. His mission, in 1539, was to find the fabled city of Cibola, whose streets were supposedly lined with gold.


[edit] School Profile

Marcos de Niza High School excels in diversity. The 30-year-old campus boasts the largest multicultural student population of any of the seven schools comprising the Tempe Union High School District. Moreover, as the sole school serving the students of the town of Guadalupe, a unique Yaqui and Hispanic community, it is unmatched in the district in cultural status and richness. It has the largest Indian Education Department and one of the two largest ESL Programs. It also hosts the largest Special Education Department in the District. The ethnic breakdown of our student population is 4% Asian, 10% African American, 10% American Indian, 27% Hispanic, and 49% Caucasian. Its students endow the Marcos de Niza campus with a longstanding tradition of respect and achievement. On the average, 80% of graduates go on to higher education, including state and out of state universities, and two year colleges. In addition, many students continue technical training.

During the 2004-05 school year, 512 out-of-boundary students attend Marcos under the Open Enrollment Law. Marcos de Niza is accredited through North Central Association – CASI (Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement). We just completed a five- year cycleof the Performance-Based Accreditation model and received accedidation again. The Target Area Goal areas include Reading, Mathematics, and Responsibility. MdN's AZ Learns label is Highly Performing. The dropout rate is 2.1% and graduation rate 89.3%.

The school serves over 2000 students in Grades 9-12 in Tempe, AZ. There are 179 instructional days during the school year; the average length of the school day is currently 360 minutes excluding lunch. All full-time teachers have at least 200 minutes of scheduled planning/conference time per week. Staff at Marcos includes 4 administrators, 112 teachers, 40 other professional staff, and 17 teacher aides. Three staff members hold doctoral degrees and 84 staff have Master's degrees, of which 63 have ten or more years of experience. Pupil to Professional Staff ratio is 17 to 1.

DURING THE 2004 - 05 SCHOOL YEAR MdN received several outstanding awards

  • The first annual Arizona Department of Education's Spotlight on Success Award given by Superintendent Tom Horne. The award recognizes growth in reading and math achievement over the last three years. MdN was the only 9-12 school to receive this recognition.
  • Winner of the "After the Bell" award by AIA in recognition of the efforts of the Rachel's Challenge Club to make a difference behind the scenes.
  • National recognition for success with Native American students, sending more on to college than any other public school in the nation.
  • Selected as National Best Buddies Club Charter of the year
  • One of three finalists for the 2004 - 2005 Tony Komadina Outstanding Girls' Athletic Program Award.
  • Academic Decathlon qualified for the state competition where they won the "Rookie Team of the Year" award.

The organization and philosophy of Marcos de Niza includes block scheduling, team teaching, and departmentalized classrooms. Instructional Programs include honors classes, advanced placement, special education, ESL, Peak Performance Center, dual enrollment with community colleges, interdisciplinary programs, JROTC, and gifted education. Programs offered at Marcos that coordinate and work interactively to help Native American students include Title I, ESL, JTPA, Summer Bridge Program, Centro de Amistad Mira Mira Project, Project Infinity, Town of Guadalupe/TUHSD Partnership, a Coordinator of Intercultural Fairs, and the Title IX Program.

Marcos has active and successful drama, music, art and journalism programs. There are several highly successful cooperative work programs: ICE (Industrial Education), DECA (Marketing), and HERO (Consumer Science). Saturday School lets students enroll in English and Math classes in a block schedule, and Evening School provides an opportunity to earn credits in the evening. The Work Bridge Program provides special education students an opportunity to develop on-the-job skills. Our Career Center and full-time Career Tech helps students benefit from Career Day and Job-shadowing experiences. Among our 41 athletic teams are two recent state champions as well as several regional winners. In addition, our students participate in a large number of clubs and extracurricular activities. The MdN Site Council consists of school administrators, non-certified employees, teachers, parents, community members, and students. The Site Council’s areas of involvement include the school improvement plan, staff evaluation/instructional strategies, school renovations, curriculum development, school safety issues, and parent/educator relations.

The school has Math and Reading/Writing Literacy Councils whose members serve as instructional leaders within their own departments. Marcos de Niza High School believes that all students should receive a foundation in a range of disciplines that results in a core of common knowledge. This is best expressed in our mission statement and philosophy.

More information is available on-line through the School Report Card @ the Arizona State Department of Education[3].

[edit] Athletics

  • 1973-Football Regional Champions
  • 1974-Football Regional Champions
  • 1978-Baseball Regional Champions
  • 1980-Girls Basketball State Champions, Football Regional Champions, Baseball Regional Champions
  • 1981-Girls Basketball State Runner-up
  • 1982-Boys Soccer Regional Champions
  • 1983-Football Regional Champions
  • 1984-Boys Soccer State Championships
  • 1986-Girls Basketball State Champions, Boys Soccer Regional Champions
  • 1988-Girls Basketball State Runner-up
  • 1989-Girls Basketball State Champions, Girls Tennis Regional Champions, Special Olympics Basketball Team State Champions
  • 1990-Girls Archery State Champions, Girls Basketball State Champions, Boys Soccer State Champions, Boys Swim Regional Champions
  • 1991-Girls Archery State Champions, Boys Soccer State Champions, Girls Basketball State Runner-up, Softball Regional Champions
  • 1992-Boys Soccer State Champions, Girls Volleyball Regional Champions, Girls Basketball State Runner-up, Softball State Runner-up, Baseball Regional Champions
  • 1993-Girls Volleyball State Champions
  • 1994-Girl Volleyball State Runner-up, Boys Tennis Regional Champions, Girls Basketball Regional Champions, Boys Soccer Regional Champions
  • 1995-Boys Tennis Regional Champions, Girls Basketball Regional Champions
  • 1996-Wrestling State Runner-up, Girls Volleyball Regional Champions
  • 1997-Wrestling State Champions, Boys Volleyball State Runner-up, Girls Volleyball Regional Champions, Football Regional Champions, Boys Basketball Regional Champions
  • 1998-Wrestling Regional Champions, Baseball State Runner-up, Spirit Line State Champions
  • 1999-Spirit Line State Runner-up, Girls Volleyball Regional Champions
  • 2000-Girls Volleyball Central Regional Champions
  • 2002-Wrestling 5A State Champions, Boys Basketball 5A State Champions, Spirit Line 2nd place AIA Competition
  • 2003-Wrestling 5A State Champions, Football Central Region Champions, Softball State Runner-up, Spirit Line 2nd place AIA Competition
  • 2004-Wrestling 5A State Champions
  • 2006-Wrestling 5AII State Runner-up
  • 2007-Baseball 5AII State Champions
  • 2007-Girls Golf 5AII State Runner-up (Team)
  • 2007-Girls Golf 5AII State Runner-up (Individual-Shelby Martinek)
  • 2008-Boys Basketball 5AII State Runner-up
  • 2008-Boys Volleyball 5AII State Runner-up

[edit] Famous Alumni

[edit] External links