Welding students hit the ground running...

Several EVIT welding students recently were placed in jobs. Congrats to the following students:

Kaden Bottoms - Alumi-Cover
Austin Gneck - Phoenix Turbine
Matt Kelley - Square-G
Adam Nelson - Ampi
Tyler O'Neill - O-Mechanical
Scott Hudson - Di-Matrix
Paul Ruiz - Di-Matrix
William Crane - Di-Matrix
Demetri Davis - Phoenix Turbine
Tray Riddle - Phoenix Turbine
Sean Kalwa - Amber Steel
Jonathan Castro - Amber Steel

Good luck in your new positions!

The school year is complete

Hundreds of EVIT students descended upon the Mesa Arts Center on Tuesday; by the time they left, they had officially "completed" their EVIT education.

The students were decked out in a rainbow of different colored graduation gowns, many wearing the gowns from their home high school graduations - a tribute to a diverse student body that comes from all across the East Valley.


The annual completion ceremonies were held at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Keynote speaker and popular local radio personality Dave Pratt told students to work hard, but also to enjoy life.

"Find something you love to do, and find a way to make money at it," Pratt told the completers. "Graduating isn't enough anymore ... You have to work harder than the next person."

But he also cautioned that life is also about giving to your family and friends, and having a little fun.

"In the end, no one will remember you by the money you make or the car you drive," he said. "You will be remembered by what you give the ones you love."


EVIT students of the year Kayla Abramson and Thania Loya also spoke to the crowd, both thanking their teachers and crediting EVIT with shaping who they are today.

"The class of 2010 has brought great honor to EVIT," Thania said at the end of her speech. "We learned it; we lived it; we are EVIT."

To see more 2010 Completion Ceremony pictures, click here.

Top 10 moments from the 2009-10 school year

Can you believe it's the last day of school already?? Well, I can't. Today got me thinking back over the school year, which was full of hard work, success and celebration by everyone on EVIT's campus. Let's take time to remember a few of the best moments:

• Culinary students opened The Fifth Season Restaurant to the public in October.
• Luis "Gonzo" Gonzalez visited the EVIT campus and spoke to perfect attendance students.
  
• The cosmetology department put on a beautiful Masquerade Ball and Hair Show Competition in December.
• EVIT HOSA students presented Autism Speaks with a check for $6,000 after months of fundraising efforts.
• EVIT hosted five students from Guaymas, Mexico for two weeks in March.
• Students dominated at several state competitions in the spring, including C-CAP, HOSA, FCCLA and SkillsUSA.
  
• The fashion students put on their annual Spring Fashion Show in April.
• Campus Director James Fisher and Team Leader Chris Williams made good on a promise to shave their heads after EVIT staff and students met their United Way fundraising goal.
  
• U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell and Mesa Mayor Scott Smith visited EVIT to kick off the Sterile Processing and Distribution (SPD) program and EVIT's partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
  
• A perfect attendance student won a truck for her hard work.

What a great year! I bet next year will be even better. Enjoy your summer!

And the winner is...

Congrats to Cosmetology student Ashley Hammon, the perfect attendance truck give-away winner!

Ashley had perfect attendance for two straight years at EVIT, so she was very well-deserving of the prize. Her mom attended the festivities on Monday to root her on as she tried her key in the truck.


Four EVIT finalists each were given a key to the truck -- but only Ashley's started it. The other three students (Jacob Snider, Christopher Roberts and Brenda Garay) all received gift cards to Best Buy.

The truck was donated by EVIT governing board member Robert Covington, who came to campus on Monday to congratulate all the perfect attendance students.

Great job to all of the perfect attendance students. We're proud of your hard work!

And the perfect attendance finalists are...

EVIT administrators held two perfect attendance assemblies today to congratulate students who have come to school every single day this year and to draw names out of a basket to see who will have a shot at winning this truck:


The AM students who were picked were Christopher Roberts from Allied Health, and Ashley Hammon from cosmetology:


The PM students were Brenda Garay from MC 10 and Jacob Snider from PMT:


On Monday afternoon, each student will receive a key to try to start the truck. The student whose key starts the truck wins and can drive it home that day! The other three will receive Best Buy gift cards.

Good luck!

EVIT is the "Heart of Mesa"

EVIT staff and students were honored at the Mesa United Way's Annual Recognition and Awards Luncheon on Wednesday for raising nearly $16,000 this year!

EVIT received the prestigious "Heart of Mesa" Award, which reflects its achievement in three areas: a participation rate of at least 60 percent of the staff, a per capita gift of $100 per person or higher, and an average gift of $150 per person or higher.

Superintendent Dr. Sally Downey, who is also the campaign's co-chair, announced the award and invited staff and students attending the lunch to come on stage for recognition:


Staff and students raised the money over the course of the school year through a variety of fundraisers, including payroll deductions, staff cookbook sales, the Mr. and Ms. EVIT contest, student fashion show ticket sales, and participation in the Live United Walk United event. Two administrators even followed through on a promise to shave their heads if we met our goal!

Great job, everyone!

A deserving award

Congratulations to second-year radio student Dominic De La Cerda, the recent winner of a $1,000 William Stanton Scholarship!

Dominic plans to use the scholarship when he starts school at Pima Community College in Tucson. Dominic is blind, so he would like to take courses in independent living, as well as pursue his education in radio broadcasting to eventually become an on-air personality.

Dominic recently won the EVIT "Personality of the Year" Award for his work on his radio show "Rock the Universe," which feature a mix of country, classic rock and metal music.

Great work, Dominic!

Experiencing yoga in a new way

The massage therapy class welcomed a guest speaker who introduced them to a new way to experience relaxation on Tuesday.

Cindy Rogers is a visually impaired yoga instructor. After speaking to the class for about an hour about her life, she had the students put on blindfolds and led them through some yoga exercises.


The blindfolds allowed the students to focus and rely on their other senses throughout the activity.

Cosmo students do it up, semi-formal style

EVIT cosmetology students donated their time and skills on Friday to style the hair of about 20 Bogle Junior High School girls who were getting ready for their eighth grade semi-formal.

As you can imagine, lots of curling was going on:


Here they are, all looking beautiful (I only wish we could have seen them in their dresses, too!):

HOSA students receive $1,500 grant

The EVIT Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) group is getting some extra help paying for its upcoming trip to the national convention in Orlando in June. Irma Copeland, from the Greater Valley Area Health Education Center, presented the group with a check for $1,500 at this week's board meeting.


Thanks, GVAHEC! That money will go a long way in getting our students to the competition!

Students honored in annual awards ceremony

EVIT held its annual Awards Ceremony on Thursday, honoring more than 100 morning students and 150 afternoon students.

Some students were honored by their teachers for being exemplary students:


Others were recognized for recent competition wins or were chosen for school-wide awards:

To see more pictures from the event, view our photo album.

"Crime scene" in Biotechnology

I headed over to the biotechnology class earlier this week, and when I arrived, this is what greeted me:


Inside, there was a pretty gruesome murder scene, complete with bloody shoe prints:


The biotechnology class was hosting students from the MC10 class, teaching them about forensics and how to gather clues at a crime scene.


They talked about DNA and fingerprinting, and showed off some cool technology that can help create a sketch of a suspect:

It all very "CSI EVIT"!

Another EVIT rotary student of the month!

Pharmacy Tech student Briana Reiniger was honored at Monday's governing board meeting as the Mesa East Rotary Student of the Month! Here is Briana, with her teacher, Gale Landau:


Briana told the governing board members that she chose to enroll in the pharmacy tech program because she really wants to help the community. And Ms. Landau described her as the type of student that makes her want to teach each day.

"She not only excels academically, but she also has so much integrity," Ms. Landau told the governing board.

Congrats, Briana!

An open house ... of the "mini" variety

The interior design and construction students put the final touches on their mini-house projects this week, in preparation for the public open house happening from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday).


The "Block of Dreams" Open House will be held for one night only, so make sure you stop by to see these amazing houses. The students have been working on them all school year, and they are impressive, to say the least.

Rep. Mitchell and Mayor Smith kick off program

EVIT welcomed U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell and Mesa Mayor Scott Smith on campus today to kick off the school's new Sterile Processing and Distribution (SPD) course.

SPD is a new program, starting in August, for high school seniors and graduates under the age of 22. Students will learn all about how to properly sterilize hospital equipment to prevent the spread of infectious bacteria and diseases within a hospital. Once students have completed the 10-month program, they'll have an opportunity to complete a 140-hour internship with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Once the internship is done, the students will be qualified to apply to work in the SPD field in any VA facility across the country!

The VA has been a great partner in bringing this program to EVIT. They put more than $1 million worth of renovations and equipment into the Health Sciences Center and they'll use the facilities to hold training courses for some of their own employees. It's a great example of a partnership that benefits a current industry need and the development of skills for our future workforce!

Rep. Mitchell came out in support of the program, as did Mayor Smith.


After a few brief speeches, all of our guests took a tour of the new facilities and saw a demonstration by some of EVIT's surgical technology students in the operating room lab.

Aviation students get advice from industry leader

The EVIT aviation students visited Cutter Aviation at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Thursday to tour the facilities and talk with Mr. Bill Cutter.


Mr. Cutter gave the students some great advice about job hunting: he said they needed to walk into any interview with an "RMA" or "Right Mental Attitude." Skills are very important, but having the right attitude might be what takes them from good job candidates to great ones!

Here are the students, displaying their "RMAs"!

Off goes the rest!

Mr. Fisher and Mr. Williams just lost the rest of their hair in front of the PM students. (Read how this all came about here.)


I sort of miss the half-shaved-half-not look, if I'm being honest. But I think they're rocking this out, too.

Shaving for a good cause

Earlier this school year, the EVIT staff made a goal: We wanted to raise $8,500 for the Mesa United Way. Campus Director James Fisher and Team Leader Chris Williams were so supportive of this goal that they offered to have their hair shaved if we made it.

(Or maybe they had no say and were volunteered... we can't quite remember.)

Anyway, not only did EVIT reach its goal -- we FAR surpassed it, raising more than $13,000! Wow! EVIT staff and students have been hard at work all year, raising this money by participating in the Live United Walk United event, donating change during the Mr. and Ms. EVIT contest, selling EVIT staff cook books, and various other fundraising efforts.

So today we are celebrating... by doing a bit of shaving.

A "before" shot of the very apprehensive Mr. Williams and Mr. Fisher:


Mr. Williams was brave enough to go first, and was shaved by two public relations staff members, Doris Moore and Patrick Jervis:


And then Mr. Fisher took the stage and was shaved by health staff members Sharon Black, Ronda Doolen and Jon Howell:


Only half of their heads were shaved so that the PM students could enjoy a little of the fun, too. I think they're enjoying their new looks.