Dr. Quintin Boyce served as principal of Camelback High School during the academic years 2014-16.

In the spring of 2016, during the second year of his tenure, Dr. Boyce was selected to serve as the new Executive Director for Teaching and Learning for the Phoenix Union High School District.

As a result of Boyce’s selection to serve at the district office, Camelback will have a new principal for the 2016-17 academic year, Dana Cook.

Dana Cook enters her 22nd year in public education in the Phoenix Metropolitan area. She has been an assistant principal at Maryvale High School for 9 years.

Dana Cook career notes

Ms. Cook came to the Phoenix Union district as a special education teacher in 1997 and became a special education facilitator in 2003. She began her career teaching in the Washington Elementary School District in 1995. She holds a B.S. in Education and Special Education from Northern Arizona University and a M.A. in Educational Administration and Supervision from Arizona State University. She is looking forward to working closely with the Camelback High School Community Network (CCN).

Dr. Boyce career notes

Prior to joining the Spartan family at Camelback, Dr. Boyce taught as a science teacher at South Mountain High School and then Bioscience High School – ultimately becoming principal of the school. Throughout these experiences he demonstrated a great degree of passion for both participating in and developing student-centered programs that aimed to help students maximize their academic and social potential.

While at South Mountain, Dr. Boyce helped develop several mentoring programs – one in particular which provided a vibrant science and travel experience for students. He served as the varsity baseball coach and actively participated in curriculum development at both the school and district level.

As a result of his success in the classroom, Dr. Boyce was offered the opportunity to teach at the Phoenix Bioscience High School. During his time in the classroom at Bioscience he taught the multiple subjects of Biology, Chemistry, Biotechnology and Forensic Science. He continued to be a teacher leader as he impacted the further development of the innovative learning experiences that have garnered Bioscience national attention and accolades.

While navigating his first year of teaching at Bioscience, Boyce began the pursuit of his doctoral degree at Arizona State University. The completion of his degree ultimately culminated with his ascension into the principalship at Bioscience.

Under the guidance and direction of Dr. Boyce, Bioscience strengthened significant relationships with the neighboring Phoenix Biomedical corridor. To date, graduates of Bioscience High School gain entrance into some of the most selective universities in the nation with some of the highest collective scholarships totals amassed in the Phoenix Union High School District.

Dr. Boyce subsequently was selected to succeed Dr. Chad Gestson as principal at Camelback High School when Dr. Gestson assumed a leadership role at the District level.

During his two years at Camelback, Dr. Boyce supported the growth of the Camelback Montessori College Preparatory program and celebrated the first graduating class for this special group of students.

Seeing a critical need for young positive male interaction in the learning community, Dr. Boyce created a “Men of Camelback” group, whose primary focus was to surround young high school-aged men with positive, loving, male adults. This program blossomed into genuine relationships between the multiple age groups represented.

Understanding the importance of community involvement and relationships, Dr. Boyce worked closely with the Camelback High School Community Network (CCN) to realize his vision for the community by engaging with this caring, committed group of individuals.

With the aid of the CCN, Dr. Boyce was able to create a professionally developed promotional video, which can be found on the successismandatory.org website. This video captured the essence of Camelback High School and will be used for soliciting donations for the Camelback scholars program (formerly known as the Camelback “gap scholarship” program) and also for the recruitment of future Camelback students from Camelback’s various feeder school districts.

Dr. Boyce worked closely with neighboring partner schools and specifically created collaboration opportunities between the math teachers from nearby middle schools and Camelback’s math teachers to strengthen the level of student support in math during the transition from middle to high school.

In addition, Dr. Boyce also developed a monthly teacher mentoring program where he met with a different group of Camelback teachers monthly to help bolster best-teaching practices while simultaneously developing relationships. This mentoring program was coupled with instituting quarterly teacher dinners, which provided a platform for teachers to engage with the CCN and also expand their professional network by engaging and developing relationships with other teachers on the campus.

These programs, in addition to Camelback’s very impactful peer tutoring program, the monthly CNN/student dinners, and its success-is-mandatory program, which fosters academic support throughout the school, all add to the special nature of the Camelback High School learning community.