Fall 2018

For high school students who emerge as leaders in Tucson High Magnet School’s garden, the Community and School Garden Program is opening unexpected paths to the University of Arizona.

When Melissa Watkins decided to leave the University of Arizona in 2010, she hadn’t yet finished her degree. “I did everything I could to try to be a successful student,” Watkins says. “But it got to a point where I said, ‘I can’t keep fighting. This isn’t the right time in my life.’”

According to a new report from the National Academy of Sciences, or NAS, many employers, especially in high tech, say the most important skills for career success are critical thinking, communication, teamwork and the ability to be a lifelong learner. In fact, in one study done at Google, managers ranked such “soft skills” as the most valuable, while technical subject-matter skills ranked last.

From his days begging for food in his native Ethiopia to the horrific accident that nearly claimed his life, Josh Brewer endured more than his fair share of trauma by the time he was a high school senior, yet his perseverance and drive only continued to grow.

Acting on a desire to “do what we can while we’re living,” Jerry and Kathy Short made a $1 million gift to establish the Founders Endowed Chair in Education for Global Children’s and Adolescent Literature within the University of Arizona College of Education’s Worlds of Words.