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Glendale’s Community Newspaper
Vol. 78 No. 50
Inside This Week
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Cactus falls in 5A State Championship BY JOE MCHUGH
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Glendale Star Staff Writer
NEWS...............5 Valleywise Health elects new chairman
FEATURES .... 20 Operation Santa spreads cheer through shopping
t ASU Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, the AIA 5A State Championship game featured a battle between the No. 4-seeded Glendale Cactus Cobras and No. 3-seeded Gilbert Higley Knights — a showdown between the East and West valleys. In the end, though, the Knights struck down the Cobras, 41-21, to secure the school’s first State Championship in school history. “It’s awesome to be the first to do anything, like this team has had a myriad of firsts,” Higley head coach Eddy Zubey said. “So, to be able to be the first team, they’re always going to be remembered
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Glendale Star Staff Writer
Carvana sculpting its annual Happy Haulerdays event OPINION.......................... 10 BUSINESS.......................14 SPORTS ...........................16 CALENDAR .....................18 FEATURES.......................20 RELIGION ........................24 YOUTH.............................26 CLASSIFIEDS ..................28
in the Higley lore to be able to be the first team to win at all, to do it all, so it’s awesome. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to accomplish, and I’m just happy that I did.” The game wasn’t short of storylines during the week leading up. The eventual champion Higley had been reallocated to 5A after only getting two wins last year in 6A. The change fueled the Knights this year, as they came out of the gates quickly, tacking on four straight wins to start the season. The Knights carried the momentum through to the end of the season, only dropping two games on the year. The now8-2 team entered the 5A conference playoffs and kept rolling, breezing through
Waddell Canyon View and winning two very close games against the No. 6 seed Goodyear Desert Edge and No. 2 seed Scottsdale Desert Mountain. Cactus was quite the opposite, as they were promoted from 4A to 5A this season and weren’t expected to reach the playoffs, let alone a State Championship game. The newly promoted Cobras got off to a slow start, being essentially written off through five games with a measly 2-3 record. But the Cinderella story was just starting, as they went on to win the final five games of the regular season. Come playoff time, Cactus was tested on three occasions, with a close victory over Surprise Willow Canyon and surprise SEE CACTUS PAGE 4
PUSD holds farewell reception for outgoing members BY JOE MCHUGH
FEATURES .... 21
December 15, 2022
n Dec. 8, the Peoria Unified School District held a farewell reception for two of its outgoing members, Congress Rep. Beverly Pingerelli and Governing Board Clerk Corey Underhill. The two were sent off to their future endeavors with many thanks for their years of service to the school’s board. “It’s awesome,” Underhill said. “We’ve been a part of the period since 2007, when my kids were just starting out. And this has been a real blessing for our family.” The two women have both served very fruitful terms with PUSD and have both inspired great change in the district.
Pingerelli has been with the Governing Board since 2014 and has served many positions in her tenure. The former president and clerk spent her time attempting to improve the overall academic performance from participating schools in the district. She also was heavily involved in the support of technical education opportunities. Underhill had served on the board since 2019. A former teacher in the district, she came into the board with many new ideas to improve the quality of life and education for its students. “I had a few ideas around curriculum and around behavioral support, and I’m happy to say that we were able, through the four years, to have adopted additional, relevant We are offering
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curriculum,” Underhill said. “We’ve done a lot in the area of social-emotional support, like getting additional social workers, implementing different programs across the schools to make sure that we’re really meeting the needs of those kids.” The Colorado native has been instrumental to many policies being implemented in the district. She ensured that the district would grow in a positive manner and offer the best education possible to every student. This implementation would ensure that the students would be set up best for a positive future. “Generally seeing the district continue to thrive through all of the turmoil that SEE PUSD PAGE 6
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