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Puppeteer ready for a Valley road show
BY ROB WINDER
Cronkite News
Stacey Gordon’s road to becoming a puppeteer began very early in life.
“I don’t know a preschooler that doesn’t look at ‘Sesame Street’ and say, ‘I want to live there.’ I de�initely wanted to do that,” she said.
The Phoenix resident made that childhood dream a reality in 2016, when she was selected as the puppeteer behind one of “Sesame Street’s” newest neighbors, Julia. Like Gordon’s son, Julia is autistic.
In addition to her work on “Sesame Street,” Gordon owns and operates Puppet Pie, a downtown studio at Grand Avenue and McKinley Street where she builds puppets available for purchase, and where children of all ages apply science, math, engineering and art concepts as they create puppets of their own.
Now, with help from a grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Gordon and her puppets might soon be coming to your street.
Gordon was one of 24 Arizona artists awarded the commission’s research and development grants for 2021. The $5,000 grants were given to the artists to “advance their artistic practice, expand their creative horizons, and deepen the impact of their work,” according to the commission’s website.
Gordon is using her grant to bring the fun of Puppet Pie to Valley neighborhoods with a vehicle that’s already beloved by many children: an ice cream truck.
Last year, Gordon purchased a 1973 step van from Conrad Martinez, owner of Mis�its Cick Kustoms, who is restoring and modifying the truck to be used as a mobile puppet studio and theater.
The truck won’t merely make the workshop activities of Puppet Pie portable. Gordon also will use the truck to put on full-�ledged puppet shows for families.
“I’ve done short pieces for children. I do a lot of work with children, but it’s all workshops,” Gordon said. “This grant is allowing me to take time and build a show the right way. And bring in a story from start to �inish that has a lesson in it, that does teach kids to be OK with themselves and to persevere and to try and think outside of the box.”
That ambition and sense of mission wasn’t part of Gordon’s original vision for putting her puppets on wheels. Initially, because many of her puppets are foodthemed, she was simply looking for a fun way to juxtapose her booth at Phoenix Fan Fusion with the food cart she always found herself next to each year.
“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be hilarious if I’m selling the exact same thing, but as puppets?” Gordon recalled.
Gordon credits her dad with inspiring
“To me, there would be nothing more fun and special than getting to come to a puppet ice cream party where you watch a show, you get to eat popsicles and ice cream. And then you get to make a puppet and bring it home,” Stacey Gordon says. “And doing that in communities and making it accessible is kind of where my heart is.” (Courtesy of Stacey Gordon)
her to use the ice cream truck for something more.
“I really was just going to do just a little space where I could keep my stuff in there and then roll into a festival or fair and sell my puppets that I made,” she said.
To create the kind of mobile show she envisions now – developing a script, music and the “actors” – would require Gordon to take a couple of months off from her puppet-building workshops, she said.
But “the constant grind of doing all the workshops” is what keeps the rent and utilities paid at her studio, not to mention what allows her to make a living as an artist.
“It would take me years to be able to do this, if it weren’t for this grant,” Gordon said.
The grant will also be used to obtain the various permits she will need to hold both public and private events across metro Phoenix, as well as purchase items needed to perform.
Additionally, the grant has also accelerated the restoration of the truck itself, which required even more work than expected, Gordon said.
When it comes to getting an old ice cream truck back on the road to bring smiles in a different way, “there’s a lot that goes into it,” Gordon said.
The same should not be true of the application process for the grant, said Kesha Bruce, the Arizona Commission on the Arts’ artist program manager. Like Gordon’s truck, that process recently underwent a renovation to be less intimidating for applicants, she said.
“The goal of it was to make it so that it wasn’t so labor intensive and cumbersome, especially for �irst-time applicants,” she said.
Rather than use “grant speak,” applicants are urged to be their authentic selves and talk to the selection panel “like you would speak to a normal person,” Bruce said. Answers to the application questions can be given in an audio or video recording instead of in writing, she said.
Besides passion and heart – and puppets – younger patrons of Gordon’s ice cream truck probably will want to see some actual ice cream.
They won’t be disappointed. A new freezer has been installed in the truck.
“To me, there would be nothing more fun and special than getting to come to a puppet ice cream party where you watch a show, you get to eat popsicles and ice cream,” Gordon said. “And then you get to make a puppet and bring it home. And doing that in communities and making it accessible is kind of where my heart is.” ■
An edition of the East Valley Tribune TheMesaTribune.com JULY 25, 2021
Mesa schools: Student centered, future focused
BY DR. ANDI FOURLIS Tribune Guest Writer
Education and the relationships students form with their teachers are the pathway to opportunities. As a parent, educator and community member, I know that what we do matters.
This spring, I had the opportunity to reconnect with my beloved �irst-grade teacher from Lowell Elementary. Upon seeing Mrs. Shuff, I couldn’t help but ask, “Do you have a �irst name?!” She laughed and told me I could call her Susan. I was grateful to tell her she was the reason I became a teacher. Not only did she wear the coolest out�its, but she also believed in me.
She knew me well and had high expectations. She made me feel like I could do and be anything.
It is our goal that every student feels inspired to follow their dreams, and we want to provide every opportunity for success. As the proud superintendent, my why is rooted in our Promise that every student is known by name, served by strength and need, and graduates ready for college, career and community. Ful�illing our Promise means that students can live a life full of opportunities.
To deliver on our Promise, we have developed a strategic plan. This was a lengthy process involving feedback from thousands of stakeholders, including students, families, staff and community members.
The Mesa Public Schools Portrait of a Graduate is the heart of what we do and designed to keep our work student centered and future focused. It includes essential attitudes and skills for graduating college, career and community ready. The essential attitudes are ethical, inclusive and resilient.
Our students and families will learn about our Portrait of a Graduate and strategic goals throughout this year. Our community can also learn more online at mpsaz.org/mission.
On behalf of our entire Mesa Public Schools family, we are excited to welcome our students to the 2021-22 school year on August 3. Whether our families have chosen on-campus learning or online learning through Mesa Virtual Campus, we cannot wait to see our incredible learners.
Dr. Andi Fourlis is superintendent of
Mesa Public Schools. ■
MPS focusing on the Portrait of a Graduate
BY MESA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
This fall, Mesa Public Schools families will learn more about the district’s innovative strategic plan and Portrait of a Graduate.
In 2017, the Mesa Public Schools Promise was adopted by the Governing Board. The Promise states that every student is known by name, served by strength and need, and graduates ready for college, career and community.
The strategic planning process began in 2018 to answer the question: Once the Promise is ful�illed, what would a graduate look like? For eight months, the district spoke with parents, students, staff and community members about their vision for the future to create the Portrait of a Graduate.
This includes essential attitudes and skills for a graduate to be successful. The attitudes are ethical, inclusive and resilient. The skills are collaborator, communicator, community contributor, creative thinker and innovator, and critical thinker and problem solver.
“We believe through the strategic planning process, our Promise and the Portrait of a Graduate that if we align resources, engage our community, ignite a culture of learning and well-being, and ensure equity for all students, we will achieve college, career and community readiness,” says Dr. Andi Fourlis, superintendent.
Helen Hollands, executive director of information and outreach, says a strategic plan helps a school de�ine what it intends to achieve when it comes to student success objectives and organizational goals.
“With a plan in place, the Governing Board has a roadmap it can track, evaluate and modify to facilitate better governance decisions and provide direction for the future of the school,” Hollands says.
Felicia Fraizer-Bisner is a 2021 Dobson High graduate who will attend Yale University this fall. She says her experiences mirror the essential attitudes in the Portrait of a Graduate.
���SCHOOLS ���� 29
EVIT changes lives.
“Dobson’s diverse community gave me a great foundation to experience a variety of unique perspectives,” Bisner says. “I think my service learning and volunteering provided something tangible to apply what I was learning. Plus, when I give back to my community, I know that I always leave feeling good. It’s a great way to make community connections.”
Heather Sharpe is a National Board Certi�ied Teacher at Mountain View High School. Her art classroom exempli�ies the Portrait of a Graduate and the applications necessary for students to be successful in the workplace.
“I may not be able to introduce everything there is about the world of art, but I can teach my students how to approach it, to edit and think for themselves,” Sharpe says. “I can provide a sense of community so my students learn the important skills needed to thrive after high school, and to ensure they have the tools and skills needed for college, career and community.”
Learn more at strategy.mpsaz.org. ■
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