About Tri-city College Prep

School History | Statement of Success | Graduation Statistics
Tri-City College Prep was selected by U.S. News and World Reports as one of "America's Best High Schools" January 2010.

TCP is a school dedicated to keeping standards high and helping students reach them.

Education is one of the most important skills needed in today's society; therefore we have centralized everything we do around preparing students for college. This need for education is why we are one of only a few high schools who offer college classes to high school students.

In order to be considered a college preparatory school we must meet certain guidelines which make our courses meticulous and require a lot of motivation and therefore are not for everyone. We have many highly qualified teachers who are prepared to help anyone succeed who has the motivation and ambition to tackle such a challenge.

Due to our staff's hard work and the diligence of our students TCP has earned a reputation of being one of the top schools in Arizona and the Nation.

Arizona Department of Education has labeled TCP as

AZ Higher Performing Schools Recognition
ABEC (Arizona Business and Education Coalition) recognizes the Arizona Higher Performing Schools – schools that are advancing their students toward college and career readiness (CCR) more rapidly than schools of like demographics.

The National Center for Educational Achievement (NCEA), a department of ACT, Inc., in partnership with the Arizona Department of Education (ADE), recently released the 2011 NCEA Higher Performing Schools list for Arizona. The list identifies those elementary, middle and high schools in Arizona that have consistently outperformed their peers with similar student populations over a three-year period (the 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11 school years).(azbec.com)

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The History Behind Tri-City College Prep High School

Tri-City College Prep High School (TCP) was founded on $2000 and a promise to a man shortly before he died. The man was Paul W. Bear and the promise was made by his granddaughter, Mary Ellen Halvorson. The promise was that she would do something with the $2000 that would make it grow. After a few years of hard work and lots of research she realized that there was no better investment for Paul’s $2000 than the education of children as that will continue to grow for lifetimes to come. The idea for the investment and use of the money came in early 1998 when Mary Ellen decided she wanted to start a school. The school she wanted to start would emphasize math and science while preparing students for college. This was an innovative idea because there was currently no school in the area that specialized in college preparation. More importantly she wanted her school to be free so anyone who wanted to benefit from what the school offered had the chance to do so. She applied for and received a charter from the state of Arizona.

TCP first opened its doors in 1999 and had its first graduating class in 2000. The school started on the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus where the university graciously rented three buildings to the school. From there TCP and the money grew as promised to Paul Bear. Eventually in May of 2005 the school moved to its permanent location on Side Road in Prescott, AZ. As TCP grew so did the need for sports so the students as well as the staff raised money to build a GYM in 2008 that supports a wide range of sports including Basketball, Volleyball, and Crew Rowing. About the same time as the GYM was being built some parents wanted a place for the students to play soccer at the school. A parent group, organized by the Larson family and with the help of a local church set out to make a field on which students could play soccer. Thanks to the support of staff, parents, students and the community the school has places to hold sports.

From research and travel as far as Oxford University in Oxford, England Dr. Mary Ellen Halvorson learned that the best way to prepare students for college was to have them start taking actual college courses while still in high school. After further research she found that Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa already had a program in place for high schools to offer college classes. The school partnered with Graceland University to offer true university credits to high school students right on the TCP campus.

Today TCP has become known for its quality education focusing on college preparation and offering college credits from both Graceland University and Yavapai College. The school’s excellence now includes award winning programs in all academic areas including the arts, winning Arizona’s nomination for the Kennedy Center for the Arts Award in 2008. As per the promise made to Paul W. Bear the school is continuing to grow to make his original $2000 everlasting.

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Statement of Success
Tri-City Prep High School

Updated 6/18/07 Tri-City College Prep High School has not only become a model for college preparatory high schools in Arizona, but it is also taking its place among college preparatory high schools nationally and internationally. The following facts document this statement:

• TCP is one of only 3 public high schools in the state of Arizona to have full College Preparatory accreditation with AdvancedEd (formerly NCA).
• TCP is internationally accredited with the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation. Listed as one of 25 U.S. schools in the Directory of International Schools.
• 98% of our graduating seniors continue their education in college or enter the military.
• We offer 41 college credits through Graceland University at $25 per credit hour.
• At a regional competition TCP won 3rd place for Mock Trial - 2004.
• State Superintendent Tom Horne chose to visit Tri-City Prep High School as the only area high school to be rated "Highly Performing" for three years in a row, and currently rated "excelling."
• TCP has membership in the Arizona Interscholastic Association.
• TCP holds memberships in the following organizations: National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta (Math Honor Society), Science National Honor Society, Tri-M International Music Honor Society, Double Helix Science Club, International Northern Arizona Math/Science Consortium, Leo Club, Future Medical Professionals Assn. of America.
• Our Show Choir ranked "Superior" at the NAU Jazz and Madrigal Festival 4 years in a row.
• TCP placed students in the Northern AZ Regional Orchestra, Choir and Band.
• At the Arizona State Envirothon competition, TCP ranked in the top three schools - 2004, 05, & 06.
• 73% of TCP faculty have either a Master's or Doctorate degree. All of the fine Arts teachers have master's degrees. Several faculty have international backgrounds.
• Three of our faculty were nominated as "Teacher of the Year" with the Wal-Mart Corporation and our Latin teacher won the competition.
• TCP's Elena Slominski, was named Yavapai County High School Teacher of the Year 2006.
• One senior received her Associate of Science degree prior to her H. S. diploma.
• Twenty Five Students participated in the State Governor's Conference.
• Three Students were selected for the National Youth Conference in Washington D. C.
• TCP had the only National Merit Scholarship Finalist for 2005-2006.
• TCP's speech team has won the school sweepstakes award at the Thumb Butte Invitational forensics tournament - 2004, 05, & 06.
• TCP research students wrote a historical book about WWI which was published and entered into the Library of Congress.
• Approximately 170 students from 10 Yavapai County high schools competed at the regional math competition in 2006, where TCP won 1st place overall, winning 13 trophies.
• This year 2006, in Mu Alpha Theta Western United States Region, TCP is ranked 14th.
• TCP's Academic Decathalon students have collected five gold medals during 2006, 2007.
• TCP Hosted the Northern Arizona Regional Science Fair for K-4th grade for the last 2 years.
• We have the only rowing club in Northern Arizona. We are official members of US Rowing Association, and offer academic credit for the sport.
• Our chapter of Future Business Leaders of America had two students qualify for the national competition in 2006
• TCP Art Guild held the 3rd semi-annual art show focusing on ceramic/glass casting.
• TCP's robotics team won 2nd place in the International Western N. America Reg. competition - 2006
• We are the only school in the Tri-city area to have Art, Music, Drama, and Dance programs.
• Our art department co-chaired the "Mayor's Breakfast with the Arts."
• TCP's music teacher is the principle cellist for the Yavapai College Symphony Orchestra
• 100% of TCP students meet the standards for the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS). 36% of TCP students exceed the standards in both reading and writing compared to the rest of Arizona students at 4% for reading and 9% for writing.

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Tri-City College Prep Graduation Statistics

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