Environmental Chemistry Class
Students in the Environmental Chemistry Lab are conducting a series of chemical tests to determine the productivity of soil around the school. Tests include pH level, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels, soil permeability, ion-exchange capacity, and water-holding capacity. Once they have concluded all of their tests, they will present their findings to the school and […]
Environmental Day at the Capitol 2018
Now in its fourth year, students from Sky Islands joined representatives from the Sierra Club to attend Environmental Day at the State Capitol. The students watched the proceedings on the Capitol floor, saw bills being passed in real time, and were able to meet with their local Representatives to discuss their concerns about key environmental issues facing […]
Urban Horticulture Class Spring 2018
Students in Urban Horticulture kicked off the spring planting season with a visit to Native Seeds/SEARCH, where they chose a variety of local, indigenous, and heirloom varieties of crops to be grown in the school gardens. Once the weather warmed up a bit, the students found themselves in the midst of multiple gardening, landscaping/ design, […]
Sky Islands Class Featured on KOLD News and KUAT Arizona Illustrated
Students in the Government class are learning about how their local government works by actively participating in their local legislative process! The class is assisting Steve Painter, Sky Islands’ social studies teacher, on a bill he has helped create, HB 2373. This bill would provide a pre-paid debit card to all teachers in order to purchase […]
Spring 2018
Students returned from Winter Break to a beautiful spring! The orchard began to bloom, classes and projects resumed, and lots of exciting field trips took place. Students in the Field Studies class visited the local chapter of the Sierra Club, where they met with Dan Millis and learned about the organization and its local conservation […]
Wash Clean-Up 2017
Jason and Lukas enlisted the help of the tenth grade class for Sky Islands’ regular Arcadia Wash clean-up. Students collected trash and logged al the items they found on data sheets, then tallied up their results. Almost 200 pounds of trash was removed from the wash in just a little under two hours, including hundreds […]
Aravaipa Canyon Trip 2017
Students in both Field Studies classes participated in our annual data collection trip to Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness, where they worked with local rangers gathering information on plant biodiversity and density. To do this, they employed two different methods of line transects and quadrats, which are square meter plots. The goal was to see how the […]
Culinary Arts Class 2017-18
Students in Culinary Arts this year have been having a great time and learning a lot about what it takes to create a successful lunch program this year! With chef Glen Coffman at the helm, the students have been learning all aspects of the kitchen, including knife work, baking, and how to make delicious use […]
Chicken Coop Project
Students in the Design/Build and Animal Studies classes have been hard at work constructing our new chicken coop! The selected site, which used to be an old playground, had to be cleared out and prepared first. Then the construction began! The coop will make use of a shade ramada to attach ceiling supports, and the […]