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ECRWSS Carrier Route PreSorted Standard U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 371 Cave Creek, AZ
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TheFoothillsFocus.com
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This Week
Cave Creek - Carefree Area Edition
NEWS ................ 6
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Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Linch is CCUSD’s teacher of the year BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Foothills Focus Executive Editor
Hiring continues for Abrazo Cave Creek Hospital
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egan Linch wanted to be a teacher since she was a child. She realized that dream and now the Cave Creek Unified School District is honoring her for her work. A nine-year CCUSD educator, Linch is the district’s Teacher of the Year for
2021. The Desert Sun Academy fourthand fifth-grade teacher was awarded $3,000 and will complete her application for the 2021 Arizona Educational Foundation’s Teacher of the Year program. “I’m very honored and thrilled,” said Linch, who teaches math and science. “I’m still bouncing. There were great candidates for sure. I felt honored just to
be among them. I worked outside of just my school with curriculum committees and other parts of the district. I feel like that was helpful to my application.” Also recognized were honorees Trish Doran, a sixth-grade language arts teacher at Desert Willow Elementary School, and Kim Blackert, a third-grade
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Parks employee receives Ironwood Award
BUSINESS .........16
Mother: Elderberry syrup is a ‘magical product’
FEATURES ........17
Defining a legacy, Amanda Rumore co-authors ‘Legacy Speaks’
OPINION ................... 11 BUSINESS ................. 14 FEATURES ................ 17 YOUTH ...................... 25 CLASSIFIEDS ............ 26 Zone
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Serving the communities of Cave Creek and Carefree
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BY TARA ALATORRE Foothills Focus Contributing Write
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aricopa County Parks and Recreation Department’s Natural Resource Specialist Juanita Armstrong-Ullberg was the 2021 Ironwood Award recipient. The North Phoenix resident is the first person from the department to receive the award. The award was created by the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management (DFFM) to recognize exemplary government employees who made significant and positive impacts on urban forest management. She was nominated for the award by Russell Benford, who is a DFFM hazardous fuels program manager. He wanted to recognize the new programs Armstrong-Ullberg launched since
she joined the department in late 2018. He said they are enhancing the stewardship of the 120,000 acres of natural parkland the county manages. “It’s very nice to be recognized for the hard work we’ve been doing,” Ullberg said. “I would like to thank DFFM especially, Russell Benford, for recognizing the hard work that Maricopa County Parks and Recreation Department has been doing with the natural resource program.” After spending most of her 20-year natural resource career in the Midwest, she credits her ability to swiftly adapt and learn about the best practices for managing desert ecosystems through relationships she formed in Arizona. “I’ve had to rely on information from part-
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Pictured is the 2021 Ironwood Award recipient, Juanita Armstrong-Ullberg, as she collects native seeds with volunteers as part of the natural resource program she built since joining the department in October 2018. (Photo courtesy of Maricopa Parks and
Recreation Department)
