Students of all religions, cultures, and beliefs call ASU Prep home, and we are honored to include and welcome them. Passover is one of the most widely celebrated Jewish holidays. It commemorates the Israelites’ Exodus from slavery in Egypt to freedom. The holiday, which usually falls in March or April, is often celebrated for eight days and incorporates remembrance of Jewish history, family, and themes of springtime. This year, it concludes the evening of April 13.

The Passover holiday is a “festival of freedom.” The festive seder meal occurs on the first two nights of the holiday and is observed with families, friends, and communities. The seder involves the re-telling of the Exodus. In order to protect their first-born children, the Israelites marked their doors with lamb’s blood so the angel of death would pass over them, thus the name Passover, or “pesach” in Hebrew.

Through stories, songs, and the consumption of ritual foods, families retell the story of deliverance and pass on traditions and religious beliefs. Many Jews do not eat certain leavened foods during Passover. There is a specific section of the seder called the four questions, where the youngest person at the table asks about the different Passover symbols and the elders explain.

In 2020, an estimated 15 million people worldwide identified themselves as Jewish. Jews believe God made a special covenant with Abraham, the founder of Judaism, and that he and his descendants were chosen people who would create a great nation. The origins of the Jewish faith are explained throughout the Torah.

ASU Prep wishes all our community celebrating Passover, a wonderful holiday.  

ASU Prep is proud that students from all over the United States, as well as around the world, call our schools home. With its diverse student body and faculty and staff, it is also home to a wide variety of religions and beliefs.  

Christians around the world celebrated Easter this past Sunday, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion. The significance of Easter is Jesus’ resurrection and triumph over death. Christians believe it is this triumph that affirms Jesus was the prophesied Messiah of Israel and the King of a new heaven and a new earth.

In the Christian calendar, Easter follows Lent—the period of 40 days not counting Sundays before Easter—which some Christian sects observe by acts of penance and fasting. Some Christians choose to give up specific preferences, such as sweets, soda, or social media, during Lent as a reminder to pray and to refocus on spiritual matters.

Easter has accumulated a great many secular traditions and symbols. Decorating and hiding eggs for example. The egg became a symbol representing new life. In the U.S., another common custom is that the Easter bunny leaves children baskets with toys and candies on Easter morning. 

Christianity is the largest religious group in the world—approximately one-third of the world’s total population–with an estimated 2.6 billion identifying themselves as Christians. Like many religions, Christianity has several denominations, but Easter brings them together in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.    

ASU Prep Leaders and Tech Programs Receive Recognition Across

Three Categories, Including Prestigious Designation as Winning School Leader

TEMPE, Ariz. (April 11, 2023) –  A forward-thinking, innovative approach to education is once again earning accolades for ASU Preparatory Academy and its leadership team. At the annual EdTech Awards, ASU Prep leaders and initiatives earned honors in three categories, including School Leader, School Leader Setting a Trend and Learning Management Solution.

Among the honorees is Julie Young, Managing Director of ASU Prep and Vice President of ASU Educational Outreach, who was named the winner of the School Leader category. In addition, Amy McGrath, Chief Operating Officer for ASU Prep and Deputy Vice President of ASU Educational Outreach, was named a finalist in the School Leader Setting a Trend category. 

Rounding out ASU’s presence at the awards was the ASU Prep Learning Cloud, which was a finalist in the Learning Management Solution category.

“Through ASU Prep, we’re leveraging rapidly advancing technology to bring personalized educational opportunities to K-12 students everywhere,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow. “Peer recognitions like this affirm that our learning network is effectively harnessing emerging technologies to support student success.”

The EdTech Awards were established in 2010 to recognize, acknowledge and celebrate the most exceptional innovators, leaders and trendsetters in education technology. Celebrating its 13th year, the U.S.-based program is the world’s largest recognition program for education technology, recognizing the biggest names in edtech—and those who soon will be.

This year’s finalists and winners were narrowed from the larger field and judged based on various criteria, including pedagogical workability, efficacy and results, support, clarity, value and potential.

“A very big congratulations to all The EdTech Awards 2023 finalists and winners—and congratulations to all who endured the upheavals of the last few years only to come through stronger, more experienced, resilient and resolute in laying out the future of learning,” said Victor Rivero, who as Editor-in-Chief of EdTech Digest, oversees the program.

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing the central role of Black people in U.S. history. We can celebrate Black History Month in many ways, like attending events in our community, supporting black-owned businesses, and reading books written by black authors. Here is a sampling of Black History Month events hosted by our ASU community:

 I, Too, Sing America Black History Month Film Festival

A Black History Month film festival hosted by The Baháʼís of Scottsdale.

• Happening now through Feb 25
• Free
• Registration Information

 Community Activists-Take Charge-Mothers and Other People

An event hosted both virtually and in the Student Pavilion at the Tempe ASU campus where participants will learn the rich history of African American women in Arizona and place them in the larger context and tradition of Black women who serve as activists throughout the African Diaspora. During the event, Dr. Akua Duku Anokye will discuss her book, Black Woman Rising: African American Community Mother Activists of Phoenix.

• February 15 from 3 – 4 p.m.
• Free
• Registration information

 Space2Inspire Weekend

Join us to witness the unveiling of a giant Black History Month inspired art mosaic on the field of Sun Devil Stadium that will be photographed from a satellite in outer space! This weekend will feature special events that honor and recognize two notable ASU graduates: Ed Dwight, the first black American astronaut candidate and Sian Proctor, SpaceX astronaut, the fourth black woman in space and the first black woman Mission Pilot during the first civilian mission to orbit on Inspiration4.

• February 17 – 19
• $35 – $70
• Registration information

 Movies on the Field: Black Panther Wakanda Forever

Bring a blanket and sit on the grass to enjoy Wakanda Forever under the stars. This event includes a panel on Afrofuturism before the movie!

• February 17, Doors open at 6 p.m.
• Free
• Registration information

Wonderspaces Virtual Reality Film Series—’Traveling While Black’

Wonderspaces are partnering with the School of Arts, Media and Engineering to launch a monthly Virtual Reality (VR) Film Series featuring a new celebrated VR film every month for one weekend only on the ASU Tempe campus. “Traveling While Black” is a documentary-style virtual reality film that immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement for Black Americans, confronting the way we understand and talk about race in America. Each visit runs for approximately 50 minutes, and showtimes start on the hour from noon to 7 p.m. during exhibition weekends.

• February 18 – 19
• $16 for adults, $12 for children under 13, $10 for ASU students with ID
• Registration information