Westwood High School

Westwood High School Home of the Warriors

  • 945 West Rio Salado Parkway
  • Mesa, Arizona 85201-3902
  • Phone (480) 472-4400

Now enrolling K-12 students for the 2021-22 school year | Ahora inscribiendo estudiantes de kínder a doceavo grado para el año escolar 2021-22 Enroll now | Inscríbase ahora

Previous Professional Roles & Responsibilities

← Ms. Valerie Cichy

Professional Development

  • 2019- AVID Path Training, Reading for Interdisciplinary Literacy
  • 2018- AVID Summer Institute, Digital Teaching and Learning
  • 2017- Arizona GEAR UP, "College and Career Advising in the Middle Grades" 
  • 2017- Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminar, National WWI Museum and Memorial, "World War I and Its Aftermath" 
  • 2017- National Endowment for the Humanities, American Landmarks, Kansas University, "Native-American and African-American Education in Kansas, 1830-1960" 
  • 2017- AVID Summer Institute, Leadership for AVID Schoolwide
  • 2016- National Endowment for the Humanities, American Landmarks, Ohio History Connection, "Demon Times: Temperance, Immigration and Progressivism in an American City" 
  • 2016- AVID Summer Institute, Advancing the AVID Elective 
  • 2015- AVID, Critical Reading 2
  • 2015- AVID, Critical Reading 1
  • 2015- AVID Summer Institute, Tutorology
  • 2014- Gilder Lehrman Summer Seminar, Loyola University, "America in the First World War" 
  • 2014- AVID Summer Institute, Implementation
  • 2014- National Endowment for the Humanities, American Landmarks, Delta State University, "The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, Culture and History in the Mississippi Delta" 
  • 2013- National Endowment for the Humanities, American Landmarks, Kentucky Historical Society, "Torn Within, Threatened Without: Kentucky and the Border States in the Civil War"
  • 2011- AVID Summer Institute, History 1
  • 2011- National Council for History Education Summer Colloquium
  • 2010- National Council for Social Studies Conference, attendee and presenter
  • 2010- Foundation for Teaching Economics, "Economic Forces in American History
  • 2010- National Council for History Education Summer Colloquium
  • 2009- National Council for Social Studies Conference
  • 2009- Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute (June 2009)
  • 2009- National Council for History Education Summer Colloquium
  • 2008- Teaching American History Grant
  • 2007- Macroeconomics for Teachers, Thomas R. Brown Foundation
  • 2007- Microeconomics for Teachers, Thomas R. Brown Foundation

Current Roles & Responsibilities Westwood HS 2020-present

  • iConsortium, icon member

Rhodes Professional Roles & Responsibilities 2009-2020

  • AVID Elective Teacher
  • 7th Grade Social Studies teacher- Honors, General & Inclusion
  • AVID Coordinator
  • Social Studies Department Chair
  • Gifted Advocate
  • Faculty Senate
  • RJHS Leadership Team
  • Rhodes to Success Leadership Team
  • Innovation Team
  • AVID Site Team- Lead
  • Ambassadors Club Sponsor
  • Study Hall Club Organizer & Sponsor
  • Debate Club Sponsor

Other Professional Involvement

  • Mesa Foundation Minigrants recipient, "Seniors Need Flexibility Too!", 2020
  • Touchdown for Teachers, recipient, 2020
  • Wishes for Teachers, recipient, 2019
  • SRP Social Studies Grant, "How Could People Have Avoided, Or Resolved, the environmental & Humanitarian Problems That Caused, or Were Caused by the Dust Bowl?", 2018-2019
  • Social Studies Writing Task Revision Committee, 2016-2017
  • AVID Recruitment Committee, 2015
  • AVID Technology Committee, 2015
  • SRP Social Studies Grant, "Making History Come Alive", 2012-2013
  • National Council for the Social Studies presenter, "Using Political Cartoons as Primary Sources", 2010
  • Social Studies CRT Writing Committee, 2007

Certifications & Endorsements

  • Economics
  • High School History
  • Middle Grades Social Studies
  • AVID
  • Gifted
  • SEI