Preparing Every

Student for Success in

College, Career and Life

Alhambra
BioScience
Bostrom
Trevor G. Browne
Camelback
Central
Cesar Chavez
Cyber
Desiderata
Betty H. Fairfax
Franklin
Carl Hayden
Maryvale
Metro Tech
North
South Mountain
Suns-Diamondbacks
Kent P. Scribner, Ph.D.
Superintendent

Quintin Boyce, PhD.
Principal


BIOSCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL
512 E. Pierce St.
Phoenix, Arizona 85012
www.phxbiosciencehigh.org
(602) 764-5600
Letter of Recommendation: Carmen Perez-Vazquez Phoenix Union Foundation for Excellence

Though Carmen Perez-Vazquez would hardly be caught in public wearing blue tights and a cape, she
still conveys the message that helping professions are more a career path than an avocation. From
her choice to immerse herself in BioScience High Schools bio-medical pathway, to the hundreds of
hours of community service she has completed in various medical or educational venues, to the 200-
hour internships where she works, Carmen is a student who practically appears to have super powers.
Or maybe she is simply just preparing for a future that involves coming to the rescue.

Beneath Carmens mild-mannered exterior is a steady, caring heart, wrapped in layers of discipline,
determination, and focus. She chose BioScience knowing that expectations are high, and because of
our unique mission and methodology. From the beginning, Carmen has been immersed in integrated,
blocked coursework featuring problem-solving, research-based learning, and flipped classrooms built
around digital podcasts, science modules, and hyperlinks. She has arrived each day prepared to
discuss and deconstruct ideas and arguments, as well as to collaborate. All Bio students are held
accountable for their own learning via bi-weekly, evidence-based, narrative evaluations and 1-on-1
student/teacher conferences in every course. In this rigorous academic setting, Carmens powerful
work ethic has enabled her to earn high marks (4.35 weighted GPA/3.5 unweighted GPA), most
notably 12 As and 2 Bs since the start of her junior year. She is continuing her quest to go above
and beyond this year, as she enters the last few weeks of the semester with As in every course.

Carmens academic rise has been superlative, but her effort to extend her learning outside the walls
of the classroom has been even more exceptional. Every BioScience senior is required to do a 200-
hour senior capstone internship, which she is splitting between three agencies: On Monday
afternoons she helps empower positive change with school-age kids at Wesley Community Center, as
a tutor and arts and craft assistant. For four hours on Tuesday afternoons, Carmen can be found
interning in the Child Life playroom of nearby Maricopa Medical Center. And Thursdays and
Fridays are spent at American Lutheran Preschool, where she had earlier been employed as a
teachers aide. In all probability she will far exceed the required number of internship hours as she
hopes to turn her passion for working with children into a career in pediatric nursing. As a prelude to
college next fall, she has begun working with a University of Arizona mentor from the College of
Medicine, where they have recently completed a medical case study. She is also already working on
a senior studio project (to be presented next spring) researching factors that influence the childhood
illiteracy rate in the United States.

Just as impressively, Carmen maintains this same high level of engagement in her free time. She is a
two-year member of BioSciences National Honor Society, and is president of the National Chinese
Honor Society, which she has been in since her sophomore year. She is also a charter member of the
Astronomy Club and has helped Bio put on the FIRST Lego League competition for the past two
years. Since junior year, on weekends, she has volunteered over 150 hours at Phoenix Childrens
Hospital where she once again mixes business with pleasure, assisting sick children and their
families.

While Carmen, whose parents ended their own education in grade school, may have come from
humble beginnings herself, she had made the most of the opportunities she has been presented. The
young lady who came to us four years ago seeking change and looking for a challenge, is now
armed with experience, initiative, curiosity, and compassion, and ready to leap tall buildings in a
single bound. Carmen Perez-Vazquez has tremendous potential, and whether she pursues a career in
nursing or any other helping profession, she has much to offer. I strongly recommend Carmen for
consideration for Phoenix Union Foundation for Excellence scholarships, knowing her positive
outlook, work ethic, and civic-mindedness make her a compelling candidate. I encourage you to
contact me should you have additional questions about her qualifications or her character.

Teresa A. Haggerty, BioScience High School Counselor Haggerty@phoenixunion.org