GIFT continues to change lives 20 years later

The school began “preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s careers” 20 years ago. On Tuesday, GIFT celebrated with a party and monument dedication at its office on West Ball Park Street in Thatcher.

EVIT

Mark Tregaskes was Safford Unified School District superintendent more than two decades ago when he got to talking to a friend, Keith Crandell.

In 1973, Crandell was working as director of vocational education for Mesa Public Schools when he came up with the idea to bring all students interested in vocational education classes to one school. Seventeen years later, Crandell led the drive to create Arizona’s first JTED, or Joint Technical Education District. In November 1990, taxpayers gave their approval and soon the East Valley Institute of Technology was serving students from 10 school districts in career and technical education.

Crandell told Tregaskes that he thought the Gila Valley should have its own JTED. Tregaskes agreed and after discussing it with his teachers and other local superintendents, everyone embarked upon a crusade to get voters onboard. The idea was that the state, school districts and taxpayers could split the cost of teaching students skills they can use straight out of high school to obtain jobs or study in college.

Voters saw the wisdom in it and GIFT became a reality in November 2000; the first board was seated in 2001.

Students throughout the Valley and Greenlee County can attend vocational education classes at Eastern Arizona College, their high school or at another high school if it’s not offered at their own. About 200 to 250 GIFT students take classes at EAC annually.

1st superintendent

Dean Phillips, who had started the alternative Mt. Graham High School seven years earlier, was tapped to be the first GIFT superintendent. He remembers just how hectic things were that first year.

For the first few months he was overseeing the end of Mt. Graham’s school year and working to get GIFT off the ground. He not only spent a lot of time in Phoenix working with the Governor’s Office and Legislature on funding, but he was developing a curriculum that would ultimately result in a state certificate for students. He was also hiring teachers, and remembers having to tell them he couldn’t guarantee the district would survive.

But it did, and by the end of his seventh year, the district had expanded to offer programs as a certified nursing assistant, pharmacy technician, cosmetology, sports medicine and fire science.

“With what Troy Thygerson and Clay Emery have done since then, it’s been fantastic to see,” Phillips said of his successors. “Thousands of kids in this Valley have been very well impacted.”

Kids who have certificates can work in their field while going to college, Phillips said.

“There have been so many positive stories out of that program and I’m glad I was a part of it, a small part of it,” he said.

Tregaskes said the creation of the district has also strengthened the vocational programs offered at each of the Valley’s high schools. Thanks to state funding, they’re able to buy industry-standard equipment and because the districts can come together to hire qualified teachers, they can offer more classes. There have been times when students have wanted to learn a particular skill, but one district couldn’t justify the cost, he said.

2nd superintendent

Troy Thygerson spent 12 years as GIFT’S second superintendent and agrees wholeheartedly with Tresgaskes. Safford High School created a program for future teachers and a Film & TV production class, for example.

Thygerson also loves Morenci High School’s Industrial Electrician Program, which brought Freeport McMoRan employees in to teach students.

“That’s one of the best programs in the state of Arizona,” Thygerson said.

Thygerson took every vocational, or what is now called career and technical education, class available while a student at Duncan High School and knew the benefits.

He’s particularly proud that during his time at GIFT they doubled enrollment and discovered that extra funding not used at EAC could be used by the high schools. He also recalls with fondness the monthly Students of Merit celebrations. Some of those students said they’d never won an award in their life, he said.

As the Gila Valley grows, Thygerson said he’s positive the district will continue to add to its programs. He envisions more computer technology classes, especially those that can teach cyber security skills.

GIFT is a huge boon for students and their parents, he said.

“Just so many parents are grateful that their kids have had an opportunity to earn a certificate and a college degree,” Thygerson said. “We’ve had students get a two-year college degree in that field and then graduate two weeks later from high school. To me, that’s phenomenal. Not every student is going to do that, but what I do know is it gives students a jump start on a career and their lives, and that’s a fact.”

GIFT is a springboard

Allred remembers visiting family members in the hospital and knowing he wanted to go into the healthcare field.

Three months after turning 18, he was working at Mt. Graham Regional Medical Center as a phlebotomist and lab assistant with an associate’s degree in general studies in hand. It was also there that he met his first hospital administrator and realized that was another career path he could pursue.

He worked at the hospital for 18 months and after he got back from his church mission, he went to the University of Arizona where he studied political science and physiology. He obtained his master’s degree in health care administration from the University of Pittsburgh and went to work for HonorHealth. He’s now pursuing his doctorate in organized leadership in healthcare.

Thanks to GIFT, Allred said he didn’t have to “burn” a lot of years trying to figure out what he wanted to do. The beauty of GIFT is that it can be whatever you want it to be, he said.

“It’s a starting point if you want it to be, but it can also be your dream job if that’s what you want,” Allred said.

Tregaskes, who now lives in Show Low, remembers coming to Safford for Thanksgiving last year and visiting a hair salon. He soon found himself surrounded by hair stylists, all of whom were trained through GIFT.

One woman, not knowing who he was, said flat out that GIFT saved her life, he said.

He’s not quite sure what she meant by that, but he’s confident that GIFT has had a huge impact on many lives.

“You hear individual stories like that and you realize GIFT didn’t just affect one person, it was life changing for many and continues to be,” he said.

Current GIFT Superintendent Clay Emery said he intended to just sit back and take in all of the wonderful GIFT stories at the celebration Tuesday. He expected to see many “legendary” educators at the event.

“I don’t know if you can ever quantify the impact the school has had on students. I think you go one-by-one and the impact on one is immeasurable because of how it changes someone’s life,” he said. “I believe one of the ways we find joy is through success on whatever level that is. Being able to pursue a goal or a dream and being able to accomplish it, that’s success.”