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COVER STORY
COMMUNITY
Popular orthodontist bids adieu
COMMUNITY:
Pearson chooses successors
WWII veterans meet in Ahwatukee. p8
By Kendra Penningroth
Military reunion
AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS STAFF
izona State University pursuing her doctorate in behavioral neuroscience and a volunteer for ASU’s Graduate Association of Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Students’ Brain Fair for Children. Colina invited the group to its DISCOVERoom, giving elementary students a unique experience most don’t get until high school or later, if ever. Koebele herself didn’t have a chance to dissect a brain until college. Josh Klein, another neurosci-
In the last 10 years the Ahwatukee community has put itself on the map for exceptional people, restaurants and services, and Dr. Joe Pearson is no exception. He has been fixing smiles in Ahwatukee since 1986, when the community was made up of only one Circle K and a single grocery store. Unfortunately, Pearson will be leaving his Ahwatukee-based 28-year-old practice, Pearson Orthodontics, as he retires this month after his 30-year career. “I became an orthodontist in a roundabout kind of way…I was an engineer…but my wife worked for an orthodontist, and I liked his job better, so I went back to school.” Plain and simple. Pearson continued to explain that he had been an engineer working to build oil rigs, but was never able to actually see the final product he had produced. Because of his wish to actually see his work make a difference, he was even more attracted to orthodontics. “If you can stay healthy, you can have a good long career in orthodontics,” he said. “That’s part of why I was drawn to it. I wanted to
>> See DISCOVERoom on page 30
>> See ORTHODONTIST on page 32
GETOUT:
Living the dream Band defies trends in epic collection. p34
Fifth-graders learn about sheep brains during the Arizona State University Brain Fair for Children at the DISCOVERoom in Kyrene de la Colina Elementary School in Ahwatukee. (David Jolkovski/AFN staff photographer)
Brainstorming in school
Colina Elementary students trade recess for DISCOVERoom By Jamie Leland AHWATUKEE FOOTHILLS NEWS STAFF
SPORTS:
Above & beyond DV’s Mason flourishes in track. p45 Neighborhood p3 Calendar p5 Community p8 Opinion p14
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Kyrene de la Colina Elementary students crowd around a table. They’d just heard a brief presentation on the different areas of the brain and modeled a neuron out of pipe cleaners. Now, they were about to get a look at what they’d traded their lunch recess for — a real brain. The students held out their gloved hands, waiting for their turn to handle it. This is the Ahwatukee elementary school’s new DISCOV-
ERoom, which opened its doors last month. The space is dedicated to giving students an opportunity to explore science and engineering concepts outside of the structure of the classroom. Every week offers a new subject and each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, six to eight students from every class are allowed to visit the room during their recess before lunch. Recently, these students got a taste of neuroscience. The presenter was Stephanie Koebele, a graduate student at Ar-
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