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November 1 – 14, 2014
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New Vistas celebrates 35 years BY TRACY HOUSE
The press corps assembled to pose questions to Chandler’s Vice Mayor Rick Heumann. That doesn’t sound out of the norm, but these members of the media were first- through sixth-grade students at New Vistas Center for Education. They sat straight and tall waiting for their chance to ask the vice mayor about himself and the City of Chandler. Questions ranged from, “Do you enjoy being the vice mayor and can you tell me what you do as the vice mayor of Chandler?” to “Can you tell me how you are helping the City of Chandler better the environment?” Heumann answered the thoughtful questions from the beaming students who sat politely waiting to be called on for their turn. The student-led press conference was part of New Vistas’ 35th anniversary. Following the question-and-answer session, student ambassadors provided a tour of the school and classrooms. Founded in 1979 by co-directors Carol Elias and Dr. Eleanor Jordan, New Vistas welcomes 500 students through the doors each morning. Believing that students grow best academically when artificial grade-level ceilings are removed, students are individually advanced by means of a unique protocol of standardized testing that gives an accurate assessment of student’s current skill level. For example, a student may be chronologically in second grade, but academically works at his or
her own ability level—some students are working two to six years above their chronological grade. “It’s very neat to see the interaction, the kids really learning, the progressiveness of the school in terms of some of the things they’re doing at such a young age,” Heumann says. “The attitude of letting kids excel to their level...it’s really neat when we allow kids that openness in terms of being able to learn.” The private school has close to 100 teachers and more than 35 aides. There is at least one teacher and an aide or two coteachers in every classroom. The diversity of the school is unique. “I call us a mini United Nations,” Jordan says. “We represent 38 countries.” Elias explains the school started 35 years ago in a church a few blocks from where it stands today. “We just had two classrooms in the church,” Elias says. “We were there for 10 years. Then, it was a farming community. Our children were all children of ranchers and farmers and dairy farmers. Everything in Chandler was involved in that in one way or another.” She gives credit to City officials for the rich diversity at the school now. “These families are here because of the things they’ve offered in the City of Chandler,” referring to the technical, research and medical companies that conduct business in Chandler attracting families from all over the world.
CELEBRATING 35 YEARS: New Vistas Center for Education co-founder Carol Elias, Vice Mayor Rick Heumann, Councilman Jack Sellers and co-founder Dr. Eleanor Jordan at the Tuesday, Oct. 21, press conference. STSN photo by Tracy House
“This is a multicultural school. They (the students) are going to be living all over the world and they can transfer anywhere and be considered a very good student,” Elias explains. Looking ahead at the next 35 years, Elias says, “Our school was and always will be a balanced school. We’re not a school that swings moving far in one direction or another. We’re always looking ahead to see what’s out there and what’s new and what we can use in our classrooms, but we also balance.”
Named a Top 10 School by Johns Hopkins University and Top Science and Engineering School by Intel, Helios and other high-tech companies, New Vistas Center for Education is located at 670 N. Arizona Ave., Chandler. Visit the website at www.newvistasaz.com for more information. Tracy House is the news editor for the SanTan Sun News. She can be reached at tracy@santansun.com.
GIVING BACK IN COSTA RICA From Dr. Chamberlain’s Desktop y wife, my daughter and two of my assistants accompanied me to Costa Rica last month to help in an orphanDr. Thomas Chamberlain age in San Jose. During the visit, we were fortunate to meet dozens of local people who needed our help. Unfortunately, the numbers in need far exceeded our meager efforts. I believe that poverty presents humankind's greatest and most widespread challenge. At the orphanage and church (abrahamproject.org) we worked in a small but relatively modern dental facility on their campus. We treated many people in the local community that could not afford regular dental care elsewhere. Most of the treatment was extractions although every once in a while we
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would do a filling or a cleaning. It was a wonderful privilege to help the people there although there were many situations in which I felt that if their circumstances were changed we could certainly save the teeth that were infected and that we extracted. In fact, one of our first patients we saw was an 11-year old girl who had some severe crowding. Although I knew the crowding was preventing teeth from erupting and would one day cause a lot of trouble, besides extracting an infected primary tooth, there was little I could do with her in the 20-30 minutes we were able to spend with her. It certainly made me grateful that we were able to help those during our time there. It also made me grateful for what we are able to do in our practice back in Chandler. I am proud of my
Chamberlain Orthodontics Receives 2014 Best of Chandler Awards!
assistants. They paid for a great portion of this trip and took a week off work to do so. I openly acknowledge the unearned and undeserved blessings I have in my life. I don’t know why the economic, health and educational conditions vary so widely on our earth, but I do know that although I have been given much, I too must give. I feel such a blessing that we as a people can do what we can, wherever we can for those not as blessed as we are.
Dr. Thomas Chamberlain
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