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THE SUNDAY SANTAN SUN NEWS | OCTOBER 10, 2021
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ACP swim rebuilding family after COVID season BY KATHRYN FIELD Contributing Writer
After a year of socially distanced high school athletics, many teams look forward to simply returning to normal competition. For the Arizona College Prep swim team, this season is about becoming a family again. Usually a very close group, the ACP swim team lost most of their team building activities during the 2020 season. COVID protocols kept the team socially distanced during travel to meets and limited team building opportunities. “Last year, the culture was there but I feel like we were all kind of distanced with COVID,” said senior Kate Shimkus. After a year with limited team building, swimmers look forward to working back toward the family feeling the team had before the pandemic. Seniors who have experienced the team under normal conditions are leading the charge to make everyone feel welcome. “We obviously had team bonding last year but it was not as close as it was
From left: Kate White, Kate Shimkus and Olivia Ramos are three of Arizona College Prep’s swimmer who are helping rebuild a family atmosphere on the team after that was interrupted by the pandemic.
this year, so it’s really cool that as seniors we get to take that on and mentor the freshmen,” said senior Kate White. For this year’s seniors, this season is as much about making current members feel welcome as it is about instilling the values in members to continue to include everyone in the years to come. They hope to leave a legacy of inclusion that will continue long after they graduate. Senior Olivia Ramos wants the underclassmen to know that there is an expectation to include everyone on the team and make them feel welcome. Ramos, Shimkus and White remember what it was like to be an underclassman on the team and how much See
(Courtesy Kristine Nelson)
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CUSD renames stadium for Hamilton’s first principal BY ZACH ALVIRA Sports Editor
Arizona College Prep’s football stadium, which brings a new level of energy to Gilbert Road in Chandler on Friday nights, now officially has a name. Previously called “Knight Stadium” when it made its debut in late August, the host site for all of Arizona College Prep home football and, eventually, soccer games will now be renamed in honor of Dr. Fred DePrez, who founded ACP as “Hamilton Prep” in 2007. The resolution was brought to the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board Sept. 22 and passed unanimously. “I really want to thank you so much,” DePrez said. “This is really a tremendous recognition, and it was completely unexpected. "In fact, (former CUSD Superintendent) Camille (Casteel) called me about this 6 months ago and I thought, ‘I have been retired 6 years, how could I still be in trouble?’ It just caught me completely off guard.” DePrez was the first principal at Hamilton High School, which quickly grew both in terms of enrollment and in the success of its athletic programs. In 2006, he sought new ways to provide education opportunities for Hamilton students and families outside of the large classroom settings the main high school was providing. So, he created Hamilton Prep, a high school within a high school. It officially opened to seventh and eighth grade students in 2007, using rented space from Chandler Christian Church, (now
Above: ACP head football coach Myron Blueford being able to refer to his team’s home stadium by an actual name further solidifies it as their own after using other schools’ fields for years. (Pablo Robles/Arizonan Staff) Right: Hamilton’s first-ever principal Dr. Fred DePrez was honored Sept. 22 by the Chandler Unified School District Governing Board by renaming Arizona College Prep’s football stadium after him. (Courtesy CUSD)
Compass Church) just down the street from the main Hamilton campus. The demand by families to attend Hamilton Prep grew exponentially. In 2010, Erie Elementary School was repurposed and remodeled to house Hamilton Prep, which then became known as Arizona College Prep – Erie. Students and staffed officially moved in two years later in 2012. The name and location change also allowed ACP to open its doors to more students. On top of seventh and eighth graders, high school freshman up to seniors were then able to enroll. The school had 359 students when it
opened in 2012. But has since exploded to nearly 1,300 on its new high school campus. “It’s been a tremendous thing for the community,” DePrez said of the school. “My grandson went there for a couple of years, so my own family has benefitted from this.” Arizona College Prep has received numerous academic honors since its inception. It was named an Arizona Educational Foundation A+ School of Excellence, a U.S. News & World Report Best High School, the top public high school in the greater Phoenix area by Niche
and was awarded the 2019 National Blue-Ribbon by the U.S. Department of Education. Students have received millions of dollars in academic scholarships. Some have received individual See
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