On Dec. 10-12, 2014 nearly 700 Arizona School Board members gathered in Phoenix for the 57th joint annual conference of the Arizona School Boards Association and the Arizona School Administrators Superintendents’ Division.

Recipients of the Golden Bell Award have shown outstanding success in student achievement. Principal Dan Serrano comments on Perry’s success: “ It’s a huge deal, Mr. Green was behind that. That was a good little feather in our cap.”

This conference allowed attendees to vote for various Golden Bell Awards: one being Awards for Programs that Advance Student Achievement. Behind winner Benson High School’s “Stars for Students Connection” program Perry placed second for our STEM Diploma program.

“When you get an award like that, it’s like getting an A+ Award for our school,” Serrano comments regarding Perry’s success, “And we’re a good school and we have good programs so you have to go out and it attracts people. We’re attracting a lot of students from other schools and other districts that want to come here.”

Perry’s STEM program is rigorous and deserves some serious kudos. Students and parents from all over the East Valley flock to Perry for their excellence in academics; STEM specifically.

STEM refers to Perry’s program that focuses on science, technology, engineering and math courses to prepare students for college majors and careers in those fields. Students can choose from either the STEM Scholar Diploma track or the STEM Diploma track prior to freshman year, and stick with the track from all four years of high school.

Graduating from Perry requires four math credits and three science credits — STEM students go above and beyond. STEM Scholar Diploma track requires enrollees to graduate with five honors math credits and six honors science credits, while STEM Diploma requires only five honors math credits and five honors science credits. STEM Scholar Diploma enrollees also are required to take all honors English and history courses.