Current Initiatives

Big hearts mean big goals! Below you will find details on the current initiatives for the 2022-2023 school year for which we are focused on raising funds. We support our teachers and students in a variety of ways, from supplies and equipment to programs like STEAM and robotics.

Feathering the Nest with Falcon Pride

Campus Beautification & Spirit Gear

Our PRIDE initiative focuses on the beautification of school campuses such as updating playground areas, landscaping, and providing falcon spirit signage. Falcon spirit wear is available at our FALCON SHOP located at the top navigation. Click the button to make your purchase and items are delivered right to your door! GO FALCONS!

Student Group Volunteer Events

The PTO facilitates positive volunteer events with various student groups and family involvement. Students who are seeking community service hours can give back to their school by managing the pollinator garden, trash cleanup, and light landscaping duties, just to name a few. In October of 2020, PTO kicked off their inaugural “Make A Difference Day” nationally recognized event. Over 60 volunteers from the community, families and children came out for the day to landscape and clean-up at the FHUSD High School Campus, even our very own mayor and husband joined our team for the day!

Falcon Fiesta for Graduating Seniors

We support Falcon Fiesta which is a safe, drug and alcohol free environment for our graduating seniors and their guest, the night of graduation from 10:00pm-4:00am. It’s a graduation celebration night to remember! Thousands of dollars in gifts and money are donated by many organizations so attendees can enjoy Games, Food, DJ Music, Dancing, Raffles, Photo Booth and MORE!

PTO Falcon Legacy Scholarship

The PTO Falcon Legacy Scholarship will be awarded to one female and one male senior high student who is committed to displaying a
P
ositive Attitude,
Respectful To All,
Innovative,
Disciplined, and Achieves
E
xcellence.

For the upcoming school year, we’ve increased this scholarship to $2,500 per student! To see all GEEF scholarships, including the FHUSD PTO PRIDE award, click here.

Congratulations to our 2021/2022 school year Falcon Legacy Scholarship winners: Michaela Quintana and Jared Reichler!

Enhancing the Brand & Mission of Our Organization

Our new and improved website is intended to help facilitate stronger communication between parents, district staff, students as well as current and future residents. Thank you to our Title Sponsor and Fourth Element Marketing for their generous contributions to achieve this goal.

STEM & STEAM Programs

The PTO is excited to be at the forefront of this initiative. We financially supported the creation of the Robotics Club at McDowell Mountain Elementary in 2014 followed by the Fountain Hills Middle School in 2015. Over the years, we have continued to invest thousands of dollars in equipment and competition fees in order to provide our children with an important experience in engineering to help prepare them for the future – Go GIZMOS & CREATORS!

We also support STEM/STEAM within the classrooms to benefit all students in our district. This includes equipment such as green screens, Dash & Dot Wonder Workshop programmable robots, Maker Space and art supplies for both McDowell Mountain and Fountain Hills Middle School.

Librarian Expansion Program

The PTO is excited to continue the Librarian Expansion initiative. We were recently given a generous grant from the Fountain Hills Community Foundation in the amount of $2,500 to be applied to this program for the 2021/2022 school year. A librarian is an integral part of the learning experience for every child and we are excited to build on this important effort for the librarians throughout our district.

Ongoing Teacher & Student Support

We will continue to support our greater school community through funding of important programming such as books for teachers and libraries, homework labs, teacher supplies, robotics, music, STEAM and PE equipment.

PTO also provides multiple smaller valued support throughout the year such as club t-shirts, MMES yearbook party, staff appreciation “pick-me-ups” at all schools, district office, and bus barn; local author literacy program, “Super Saturday” support, special treats to support our students, as well as many others. The PTO’s goal is to meet the needs at each of our schools and make sure we try to help every teacher and student feel appreciated.

SODEXO Collaboration & Support

We are excited to continue this initiative for the 22-23 school year! We have collaborated with the District’s food service organization, SODEXO, allowing us to leverage the relationship to purchase food items for many of our events and fundraisers at significant discounts. These savings give us the opportunity to allocate more funds to our other initiatives. Plus, 90% of what we spend goes directly back into the District account, making this a win-win for all! ! For example, during the last 3 Fridays in May of 2021 (during lunch hours), PTO paid for and provided for a variety of frozen treats to ALL students at all 3 schools. SODEXO is aware of alternative selections needed for children with allergies as well as providing the personnel to help carry out the distribution of the treats, which is a huge help to the PTO. We look forward to this partnership for our upcoming events!