On a bright Tuesday morning, four of our fifth graders stood in the courtyard, sized up a group of prospective parents, and got to work selling Ventana Vista in two languages. "Our bobcat is very important," one of them announced, gesturing toward the mascot statue with the authority of someone who has walked past it every school day for six years. Then, without missing a beat, a classmate picked up the thread in Spanish, describing the kindergarten playground in the kind of fluid, confident Spanish that makes you realize just how far these kids have come since their first day in kindergarten.
This is what Dr. Dauman's student-led tour model looks like in action, and if you've ever wondered whether the immersion program really works, watching a ten-year-old switch effortlessly between English and Spanish in front of a room full of strangers is your answer.
They Showed Off Everything
And we mean everything. The music room, where they stood under the rainbow of ukuleles and explained how students start with singing in kindergarten and pick up instruments by fourth grade. The art room, where Mrs. Fouts greeted the group and our kids jumped in to describe this year's recycled trash monster project. The robotics room. The community garden. The library, where the legacy projects from each graduating class line the walls.
They talked about FIRST LEGO League, after-school band and orchestra, musical productions, and the Spanish-language robotics curriculum that starts in first grade. They were thorough. They were charming. And they clearly had a blast doing it.
The Parents Were Impressed
The prospective families asked great questions: How does immersion work? What about class sizes? Is there transportation? How do you make friends? How does the gifted program work?
Dr. Dauman handled the logistics, but the kids handled the persuasion. When they peeked into a kindergarten classroom where Sra. Meza was reviewing family vocabulary with five-year-olds who responded without hesitation, you could see the visiting parents start to get it.
One of our tour guides summed up fifth grade this way: "Fifth grade is probably, in my opinion, the best grade. Because we get to have so many more privileges and fun opportunities, like camp and doing the announcements and Market Day." Hard to argue with that.
The Best Ambassadors We Have
When our tour guides were asked about their favorite memories at Ventana Vista, they rattled off the greatest hits: overnight camp in fifth grade, hatching chicks in third grade, field trips to the Fox Theatre and Colossal Cave, and just being known by every teacher in the building.
One student, asked about a least favorite thing, paused and shrugged. "I don't really have a least favorite thing about this school."
For the prospective families walking the halls that morning, the pitch wasn't in a brochure or a slide deck. It was four kids in sneakers and sweatshirts, switching between languages, leading adults through a place they clearly love. As their families, you already know what this school is. But it's something else entirely to watch your kids show it off to the world.
Oh, and One More Thing
Ventana Vista was just named a 2026 A+ School of Excellence by the Arizona Educational Foundation, one of just 48 schools in the state to earn the designation this year. That news came in the same week as the tour. Not a bad week to be a Bobcat.