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San Carlos Unified School District students have a lot to be proud of in 2024.
Not only are students carrying on the traditions of their Tribe, but they are also looking into the future to imagine the lives they might live.
From school pageants to the Gila County Fair, to statewide essay contests, SCUSD students are achieving social and academic success that will help them in the present and as they reach for their dreams beyond primary school.
Following the District’s tradition, both San Carlos High School and San Carlos Middle School recently crowned pageant winners who will represent the school and their culture throughout the year.
“Our schools have a pageant every year and traditionally select a new candidate,” says SCHS Principal Durena Thompson. “They share their talents, have to answer an impromptu question and then they have to do traditional attire modeling.”
This year’s winner is 10th grader, 15-year-old Antonette Phillips, who was crowned Miss San Carlos High School on October 16. Phillips will serve after being selected amongst two other contestants who will act as her attendants whenever she represents the school.
She read in Apache about the legends surrounding the formation of the Salt River Canyon and performed a traditional hoop dance to the four directions.
Her mother, Angelina Phillips, was a pageant participant as well, vying for Miss Indian Globe and Miss San Carlos as well as participating in pow wow and rodeo pageants in her youth.
“My mom taught me how to read the story, and how to dance with the hoops and really prepared me for most of it,” Phillips says. “I just had to have confidence in myself and tried my best not to be scared, to just show confidence.”
She hopes to go to college to become a pediatric occupational therapist and is an “A-plus student” according to her sponsor and chaperone Joyce Johnson.
“Pageantry is huge at this time of the year,” Johnson says. “Most of our pageants are held in October, because the veterans fair and rodeo is coming up, so they’re representing our school in the community with all the events that are going on during that time.”
Johnson says pageant winners have to be knowledgeable about the San Carlos community and ceremonies and must present themselves as model members of the community.
“She’ll be going to different parades and pageants within our community and nearby communities, so she acts as an ambassador for the school,” Johnson says. “She has to keep her grade point average up and can’t get into any trouble. It’s about her integrity as an individual representing San Carlos High School and being a role model for other students at our school.”
This year’s San Carlos Middle School Princess, 7th grader Anaya Wilson, age 12, was crowned on October 23. It was her fourth pageant after a two-year break.
Wilson spoke in Apache about the importance of preserving San Carlos Apache language and culture. She wore the traditional clothing she had worn for her Sunrise Ceremony, a coming-of-age rite of passage for Apache girls.
“When I do these, my main goals are to be a good role model to younger audiences and to show that you can do what you put your mind to,” Wilson says. “The rules are just simple behavior: Stay good in school, reach the expectations, which I can do because I’m an achiever.”
She credits her grandfather and mother for her success and for teaching her traditional Apache values as well as giving her the tools she needs to thrive.
Despite her competitive nature, Wilson appreciated the pageant’s positive atmosphere and the community’s support.
“It takes a lot of courage to go out there and go on a stage,” she says. “Especially when you’re speaking in front of a lot of people, it’s nerve-wracking.”
In addition to carrying on the pageant tradition, SCUSD is accelerating in other areas, with students from all levels achieving academic success.
The district’s Pre-K students won an art project at this year’s Gila County Fair and primary school students accelerated in writing and the arts.
“Every year, we participate in the Gila county fair,” says Rice Primary School Pre-K Teacher Marne Perez. “This is our third year, so this is our third first place.”
The project done by the 3- to 4-year-old students focused on the letter “C” and featured words such as “caterpillar” in English presented with their Apache translation.
Perez says it was a collaborative project with fellow teachers Antonia Tohtsoni and Kaylei Preston, the “three musketeers.”
The exercise taught students the importance of teamwork and helped prepare them for their next big project, creating a banner that will be displayed at the annual Veterans Day Parade.
“Every time they come to school and see their project on the wall, with all their works, it’s more motivating on their part,” Perez says. “It’s the same with us too. We think, ‘this is something, let’s do it again.’”
Fourth grader Kalianna Palmer also won a ribbon at the fair for her essay, “The Apache Family,” about her Apache ancestor’s lives in their wickiup. The story is about the roles of each family member in protecting the camp and feeding the family by hunting for game and gathering corn.
In the end, everyone ate and warmed themselves by the fire.
“I thought about it and thought about the setting and the characters,” Palmer says. “It’s an idea I got about my ancestors.”
According to her homeroom teacher, Tiffany Smitley, the story began with a picture Palmer presented to her reading class.
“They started with the picture first and then gathered ideas of what life was like back then,” Smitley says. “Then Kalianna built the story from there.”
For fifth-grader Lewis Cleveland, his essay was one of 20 winners in the state that won $529 to start an AZ529 Education Savings Plan through the state-sponsored AZ529 Essay Writing Contest.
Cleveland’s story outlined his dreams of becoming a woodworker and was one of 600 entries statewide. In addition to the prize, he was able to travel to Phoenix to be honored by State Treasurer Kimberly Yee.
In his essay, Lewis wrote that making money is not as important as finding happiness in his chosen field.
“I plan on being a woodworker,” Cleveland says.
The essay was one of 25 submitted by Rice Intermediate School Improvement Specialist, Maria Pura, who says it was an outgrowth of the school’s focus on improved student writing skills.
“We’re trying to emphasize writing as part of our educational day,” Pura says. “And I think we’re seeing some of the fruits of that labor by the essays they write.”
Journalist, writer and editor who has worked for community newspapers for more than 15 years. After four years at Davis-Monthan AFB and a few years living in Tucson, moved to California to find his fortune. He is happy to be back in Arizona, in the mountains he loves.
