The inaugural class graduating at Verrado High School on Thursday, sets a high standard for the next generation of seniors.

Of 264 students, 255 are going to college this fall, Principal Tom Huffman says.

"I am so proud of these seniors because they were blazing the trail as they leave," he said. "The bar is now set really high for the Class of 2011 and beyond."

Senior Natali Olveda, 18, noted that her class acted as if they were "seniors" from the time the Buckeye school opened in 2006 with about 300 students. Being part of the first class forced students to become leaders at a young age, molding new school traditions every year, she said.

Geared toward teacher collaboration, Verrado was built around the concept of smaller learning communities.

Each of the four classroom wings has an office for a guidance counselor and small media centers. There are only three walls per classroom.

"When I came in for registration (as a freshman), I didn't know about the school concept, but I was open to the idea," said Sarah Cronk, 18, who is in the top 1 percent of her class. "We were the guinea pigs every year."

In total, about 75 students received more than $4.2 million in college scholarships. Huffman said that's an extraordinary figure for a school with 27 percent of students on free and reduced lunch.

Gayatri Malhotra, 17, received $56,000 in scholarships to Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. The varsity tennis player was recruited to the Division III school, but she said her first priority is studying for a pre-medical degree.

"Now that I look back on it, I really do like Verrado. It was a really good experience," she said. "The teachers really inspired me to work hard. The school gave me a lot of opportunities to succeed and I really got to stand out."

Thursday's graduation ceremony starts at 8 p.m. in Verrado's stadium, 20050 W. Indian School Road.

"Four years ago, we had a bunch of 13- or 14-year-old students here excited and scared," Huffman said. "Now those same students are graduating with confidence and have a list of accomplishments behind them. They are all feeling more than college-ready."

Learning about careers is only part of the lesson for sixth-graders at Verrado Middle School in Buckeye. The other part is learning about the schooling it takes to get there.

The students mingled with business owners, entrepreneurs and members of the Buckeye Police and Fire departments during Monday's Career Day.

"Students are not making the connection between what we do in our classroom to what they will be doing in the future as far as their career goes," sixth-grade teacher Sue Lange said.

That's why she organized the career fair, which she hopes will become an annual program and schoolwide.

"I am a social-studies teacher and I was incorporating math into the lesson," Lange said. "A student said, 'I want to be a pilot, but I don't need to know math.' "

Each of the 300 sixth-grade students chose three careers to learn about, and the professionals explained how to be successful in those jobs.

The Buckeye Police Department's K-9 unit brought three dogs to campus. Police officers talked about their job and the training required to do well.

They put on a demonstration and took questions from the students, such as:

"Do they train them as a puppy?"

"What is your favorite part of the job?"

Sixth-grader Anthony Totri said he was glad to be part of Career Day.

"I think it was a great opportunity to see what jobs are possible," the 12-year-old said. "Since I was a little kid, I loved animals. Not many people get to see what these kinds of jobs do."

Verrado Middle School seventh-graders raised $1,755.13 for Riah's Rainbow, a Wisconsin-based organization that donates books and toys to children's hospitals.

On Saturday, young patients at Phoenix Children's Hospital received the students' gifts.

The 319 Buckeye students collected the money through a "penny war," which split the children into 10 homeroom classes that competed to collect the most pennies in a week. The winning class received a pizza party.

The money the students raised paid for craft items, coloring books, crayons, reading books, movie and store gift cards, Lego sets, a Lego table and some DVDs.

Buckeye mother Susi Henry, who founded the Arizona chapter of Riah's Rainbow, has raised nearly $4,000 for Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Henry created the chapter after learning about Riah's struggle with brain cancer.

Riah, short for Mariah, was diagnosed at age 3 and died in August 2008. She would have turned 6 on May 28.

Riah's Rainbow strives to bring smiles to the faces of children who spend time in the hospital.

Information: www.riahsrainbow.org.

You live in a John Mellencamp song, you want to know everyone’s
business and the notion of walking down to the corner market
to pick up a pie simply strikes your fancy. If this description fits you,
you’ll be right at home in Buckeye’s Verrado community, which was
built on small-town principles.

Read more from Phoenix Magazine's "Best Places to Live, Phoenix" May 2008 issue.