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Firefighters celebrate graduation PAGE
Abstract artist finds inspiration
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This Week
Cave Creek - Carefree Area Edition
NEWS ................. 6
BUSINESS ......... 13 Boulders’ chef enjoys playing in the kitchen
FEATURES ........ 15 Cave Creek sponsors stargazing gathering
OPINION ......................9 BUSINESS ................. 13 FEATURES ................ 15 YOUTH ...................... 21 CLASSIFIEDS ............ 22 2
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Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Wildlife Conservation Center volunteer wins $60K BY ALEX GALLAGHER Foothills Focus Staff Writer
Former Cave Creek Inn recognized as landmark
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Serving the communities of Cave Creek and Carefree
T
he Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center has had a lot to celebrate recently, as one of its volunteers was awarded $60,000 by Cox Conserves Heroes for her efforts in conservation. Diane Vaszily has been involved in conservation since she was 16 and has devoted over a decade to aiding the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center (SWCC) in its educational efforts. Vaszily has had a love of nature and the outdoors for as long as she can remember. “As a kid, like every kid, I was intrigued by every animal that peered behind a branch,” she said. “I am a questioning type of person, and I
was crazy into science growing up.” More than 40 years ago, Vaszily left her native Pennsylvania to venture to a state with a wider range of wildlife. “Wildlife became more important when I left Pennsylvania and went to Florida in 1970,” she said. “In Florida, you’re around wildlife that is of concern to people. I saw immediately that people in south Florida — like in Arizona — had come from somewhere else and did not understand the environment where the animals roll in it. I rededicated and redirected myself to that effort immediately.” While living in Florida, Vaszily was inspired by conservationist and activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, whom she eventually met. “It was my desire to meet her, talk with her
CCUSD students chat with Goodall BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI Foothills Focus Executive Editor
W
hen Lone Mountain Elementary School teacher Elizabeth Kramer was asked to participate in a Zoom session with Dr. Jane Goodall, she jumped at the chance to expose her students to one of the world’s great scientists. “Dr. Jensen, her husband works for ASU,” Kramer said about Dr. Patty Jensen, the Cave Creek Unified School District’s executive director of elementary leadership.
“She is the head of all of our elementary principals. She asked me if I wanted to participate and I said, ‘Absolutely.’ We’re a STEAM school, and to have a female scientist talk to us, how cool is that? In the 39 years I’ve taught, this is one of the top highlights of my career.” The class participated in ASU’s TomorrowTalks series featuring Goodall, who discussed her newest book, “The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times,” on Nov. 17.
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and see how I could carry on what she was doing, which I did,” Vaszily said. “In Florida, I became an environmental educator as well as a science educator and I would take people into the Everglades to show them how important it was, let them experience it and learn how to keep it the way it is.” Once she found her calling, Vaszily centered her life around a single goal: “Everything I’ve done is inform people that these animals have their place in a particular environment and how we can continue to allow it to have its place and share it.” Vaszily retired from education in Florida and, with her husband, moved to Cave Creek in
see WILDLIFE page 4
The Lone Mountain Elementary School class participated in ASU’s TomorrowTalks series feturing the English primatologist. (Submitted photo)
