Letter to Salpointe Families - November 22, 2022

Dear Salpointe Family and Friends,

Please enjoy reading this 2021-2022 Gratitude Report that honors your support of Salpointe Catholic. We are forever grateful to you, our treasured alums, parents, past parents, faculty, staff and friends for your loyal generosity in support of the Lancers. 

Salpointe has always prided itself in signature academic, spiritual, artistic, emotional, social and athletic development. This past year has once again demonstrated exceptional talent and accomplishments by our Lancers in each of these areas. Members of the Class of 2022 were accepted to 187 colleges and universities and earned over $19M in merit scholarships. Forty three students graduated as Salpointe Scholars with grade point averages of 4.0 or higher. Ten Lancers chose to serve in America’s military. Thank you for your service.

In Humanities, students were not only exceptional thinkers and learners, but their ability to make connections among literature, theology, art and philosophy within the context of both national and global communities was both impressive and inspiring. AP Literature students dove deeply into the complexities inherent in the human condition: the flaws, the beauty, the triumphs and the pitfalls of humanity. They discussed their own roles as change makers. Striving for sophistication, this year’s Humanities students exceeded the expectations set by the program since 1978.
 
Salpointe is proud to be the home to the nationally accredited Cracchiolo Family Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics program. STEM students were awarded 1st place in engineering innovation in Racing the Sun. Programming students earned 53 microcredentials in Cyber Security, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. For the first time, Advanced Engineering Students took the industry standard Solidworks Certification Test, providing students the opportunity to work as CAD/CAM designers.  Engineering students literally flew to new heights, building drones and passing the FAA's recreational drone pilot test.  Senior engineering students earned college credit by participating in the U of A's “Solar Oven Throwdown.”  STEM students showed innovation and problem solving in the annual STEM Showcase. And by the way, over the past six years, in our Engineering Fundamentals, Robotics, and Programming electives, the number of female students has more than tripled!

Salpointe’s Campus Ministry Department provided the capstone Kairos retreat to almost 200 seniors. The department welcomed student participation in both YouCarm, part of the International Carmelite youth group, and in the liturgy team, who worked to make our all-school masses inspirational experiences for our community.

In Athletics, Salpointe won seven state championships: dance, men’s cross country, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer, beach volleyball and women’s basketball. All 26 Lancer teams earned the AIA Team Scholar Athlete award for having team GPAs of 3.5 or higher. Thirty six members of the Class of 2022 are now playing their sports in college. 

In its inaugural year, our AIA E-sports video gaming teams connected students to each other and to Salpointe in unprecedented ways. The teams competed in state playoffs in both the fall and spring semesters. Our Lancer varsity League of Legends team finished the season as the State Champion Runner-up!

Our Stearns Center for the Arts has transformed the arts, bringing collaboration and synergy to the many disciplines. In Corcoran Theater, our Thespians produced three amazing full-scale productions and two one-act plays: Disaster the Musical, The Man who Came to Dinner, Little Shop of Horrors, Governing Alice and Rockin’ Cinderella. Eighteen Lancers qualified for the International Thespian Competition and brought home top honors, including the 2022 International Thespian Excellence Award for Theatre Marketing, Monte Awards and Jimmy Awards. 

In Pocono Music Studio, the theme for this year was Reaching for Excellence and our ensembles did exactly that. In addition to entertaining at football games and campus activities, the Lancer Marching Band successfully participated in regional and statewide competition season and returned to the long standing tradition of marching in the Tucson Rodeo Parade. Salpointe's Maroon & Gold Lancer Jazz Band participated in the NAU Jazz Festival, earning two individual soloist awards and an Excellent rating. The Spring Fine Arts Festival featuring all Lancer musical ensembles and the Concert Choir was a manifestation of the synergistic and collaborative vision of Stearns Center for the Arts. 

In Dance, students were able to thrive in the Ginny L. Clements dance studio, a gorgeous space which features floor to ceiling mirrors and a floating Marley floor.  Dancers performed under the lights in the Corcoran Theater to full houses at both the fall and spring showcases and then the Lancer Dance Team competed at national competitions and won a state championship!
 
Taking advantage of the acoustically designed Foundation Choir Studio, our Lancer Concert Choir performed three varied programs with music in seven languages and with musical eras ranging from the 16th to the 21st centuries. Three students competed at the District Solo and Ensemble competition, earning two Excellent and one Superior rating. 

Crafting their talents in the Czarina and Humberto S. Lopez Visual Arts Studios, our 2D art students enjoyed in-studio learning and confidence building with the full array of technical processes and 3D art students sculpted with clay and completed their creations by glazing and firing in our new kilns. Several visual arts students exhibited at the University of Arizona Art Invitational as well as the Pima County Library High School Juried Art Show. Additionally, we proudly presented four shows exhibiting student and community art in the stunning Stevens Gallery.
 

And the beat goes on! We continue to be proud of our Lancer in every aspect of our holistic educational programming!

This gratitude report is being distributed electronically rather than in paper format. Salpointe has become a national leader among secondary schools for implementing the values of Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si: On Care of Our Common Home. We are committed to reducing, reusing, recycling and refusing when reasonably possible. This shift to the digital distribution of this report is part of that commitment.
 You are always welcome here!

Sincerely,

Kay Sullivan
President
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Salpointe Catholic High School

1545 E. Copper St.,
Tucson, AZ 85719
(520) 327-6581
Attendance: (520) 327-1990
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