Fall is in the air! Not in Tucson, of course, but in Boston, Williamstown, and Amherst, Massachussetts; Baltimore, Maryland; Brunswick, Maine; Portland, Oregon; New York, New York; Clinton, New York; Mt. Vernon, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and even in Claremont, California. Why, you might ask, am I thinking of these places? It is because these are the locations of the colleges and universities that have paid to fly our seniors out in an effort to recruit them. That's right - our students are being courted by Reed , Tufts, Amherst, Johns Hopkins, Bowdoin, Williams, Hamilton, Harvey Mudd, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Colorado College, and Kenyon. In fact, of the 7 students accepted to the Tufts fly -in program from the Southwest region, 5 of them were from our school! I couldn't be more proud of our amazing seniors and their college counselors. What tremendous opportunities!

Meanwhile, downstairs . . . everyone is settling in, which means that I spend less time helping 5^th graders open lockers, 90's club buttons are visible on backpacks, and our peer tutoring program is in full swing. It is worth repeating that we do not underestimate the difficulty of adjusting to our school culture/curriculum, and we are incredibly impressed by every step our new students take in this direction.

But BASIS isn't just about work! We have Harry Potter parties, Pirate Pajama nights, and dances! I love seeing our students imprint on our school by enjoying their time here, not just in class, but also playing "Quidditch" with pool noodles, competing in "pirate-speak" contests, playing cribbage with Dr. Zellmer, learning Simon and Garfunkel songs with Mr. Chambers, and working on their novels during lunch with Ms. Dodge. Indeed, this building is a hive of activity after classes are over for the day: teachers, students and peer tutors collaborate in student hours, guitars come out of storage, young actors block out scenes, the Patriotic Society members raise and lower our flag, and extracurricular choirs serenade me in my office (or maybe I'm just lucky that my office is so close to the room in which they practice!).

And of course, there was the picnic . . . more on that below!

Julia Toews

Head of School

BASIS Tucson North  

Why do you love teaching Physics?

I feel like I have always been a teacher! My favorite part of every job I have ever had has been teaching -- even when I wasn't getting paid. There were always rooms in the physics building where people could go for tutoring and I was always in there. My mom was a math teacher at Pima for 30 years, and I started doing some teaching there. I enjoyed being able to teach that many kids at once, instead of one-on-one. After my Bachelor's degree, I wanted to continue learning, so I applied to the University of Pennsylvania, where they were doing really exciting research with telescopes that fly at high altitude beyond the atmosphere. We built a telescope the size of an SUV, and students on field trips were always coming to tour the area, and I got to talk to them about science. Kids will stop you and ask you questions all the time, and it challenges you to think about what is happening at the base level. You get so many "what if" questions from the students!

What drew you to teach at BASIS?

I was really impressed with a friend of mine, who had gone to BASIS in high school, and she would tell me about the kinds of things that were going on in sciences. I wanted to teach at BASIS because there was so much exciting curriculum, and so many fascinating colleagues to work with. It is really refreshing after so many years in astronomy because the kids are so excited about science. All their hands go up at once and they all want to answer questions. For me, of course, it's fun to watch kids learn from you, but then to see them turn to their peers and teach them as well is amazing.

What is the coolest topic you've covered in the classroom at BASIS?

I try to insert astronomy into as many topics as possible, and I feel like anytime I take a topic from "a train moving from Tucson to Phoenix" to "A rocket ship going to the moon!", I see those hands go up. It may be because it's my own passion, but kids in Tucson are exposed to all these great observatories and astronomy. You can't help but see astronomy here. Tucson is amazing because we keep the light levels down and you can actually see the Milky Way outside your door. When you can relate physics to outer space and our solar system and galaxy, it adds an extra layer of fun to physics.

If you weren't at BASIS where would you be?

I would have continued doing research in astronomy. There are a lot of great opportunities here in Tucson. Travelling to other telescopes was fun and intellectually stimulating, but it was A LOT of travel, and I feel challenged here, in a way I haven't felt in a long time. I have to think of problems in different ways. And a 12-year-old's perspective is definitely different!

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Bea Alvarado

Matthew Aussprung

Amy Billings

Audrey Bockerstette

Sarah Brauer

Sandra Brody

Jessica Campbell

Cheryl Carnes

Tim Chambers

Corwin Chavez

Winton Chavez

Sean Clark

Trudi Connolly

Patrick Dessart

Lily Dodge

Ruth Elder

Tim Flannery

Brad Freese

Anna Fulford

Gary Gold

Lisa Gollenberg

Sarah Hardy

Shelly Hubman

Tucker Janes

Laura Jewett

Kevin Johnson

Matt Johnston

James Kittredge

Tatiana Kolesikova

Mei-Hui Liu

Brenda Lundt

Betsy Mahaffey

Kevin Mathews

Leslie Maracso

Porter McDonald

Don Lu Reilly

Maire Rex

Noreen Sleator

Andrew Sterling

Kasey Stuart

Hannah Sugarman

Amanda Sweeney

Alex Swindle

Elizabeth Thies

Leigh Thomas

Jennifer Uhlmann

Ling Van Bree

Kylie Walzak

Holly Whitaker

Joey Williams

Jeffrey Winkelman

Mark Zellmer