Douglas Santo is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Basha High School for AZPreps365.com

Basha High School has seen major growth in its enrollment over the past few years, and among the many contributors to that growth is its success in athletics and academics.

The latest Arizona School Report Card from the Arizona Department of Education, for 2021-2022, gave Basha an A with a score of 96.03%. Only one other school in the Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) earned a better grade. Perry High School earned an A grade with a score of 98.04 percent.

“The academic piece, the rigor that comes with our classes, I think kids feel comfortable here,” Basha Athletic Director Eric Magana said. “And I think that kind of spreads amongst the community.”

Basha has seen an increase of more than 450 students from 2021 to 2023 and is expecting at least another 125 students to enroll for 2024. There are currently around 2,800 students at Basha.

“A big part of that has contributed to the culture we have in place on campus. When there is a good culture in place, students and parents spread that around in the community,” Marques Reischl, Basha’s principal, said. “Word of mouth is a powerful recruiting tool.”

The Bears take pride in being viewed as a big school based on the extracurricular and athletic programs they offer while still having the atmosphere of a smaller school.

Marisol Archie, world language department head, with the help of translator Erica Davis, an AP literature and seminar teacher at Basha, said it’s the duty of teachers and administrators to create an inclusive environment for the students. It’s important for the students to feel comfortable and welcomed while having access to the resources to succeed and the opportunity to be involved in advanced programs where they can gain job experience while still in high school.

Even with the increase in student population, Basha has fewer than 3,000 students enrolled.

Hamilton High School has roughly 3,900 students, Chandler High School has roughly 3,500 students and Perry has around 3,300 students.

“[Students] feel comfortable, they feel welcomed, they feel included,” Magana said. “Friends talk and they’re like, ‘Hey come to my school, like it’s really good here. I like this, I like that.’”

The athletics programs at Basha have found outstanding success in the last few years, most notably the football and softball programs. Each team won its 6A premier state championship last season. In addition, in 2020, Basha won the first-ever girls wrestling state championship and the year before, the girls volleyball team won its first state championship.

“We started to see some major inroads with our football program, with our basketball programs, our softball and baseball programs,” Magana said. “I believe that athletics is the front porch of the school.”

The increase in transfer students has also been a contributor to the rise in the student population.

Basha has seen more students transferring in than in years past. It isn’t necessarily that other schools don’t have a comparable number of transfers. Rather, with the recent success of athletics, and parents knowing the academics at Basha have been stable at a high level, Basha’s number of transfers is rising to meet the numbers from the bigger schools in the district.

“When your program is good you get more transfers,” Dan Serrano, CUSD executive director of secondary education, said. “In the past, it’s really only been Chandler and Hamilton, now Basha is there too.”

Arizona has an open enrollment policy that allows students to transfer between schools outside of their zoned areas. Serrano said there are a variety of reasons students transfer. It can be due to the extracurricular activities or programs in the classroom that different schools offer, or it can be because students have friends at one school or another.

But the athletic programs certainly play a big role in many transfer decisions. Serrano said parents take their kids to the schools with strong athletic programs because they can get recognition and earn college scholarships.

The zoning boundaries for each high school changed a few years ago and the rule at the time was if a student transferred out of their boundary but did not move their residence, they were ineligible to play athletics for the first year. But in 2022, the rule was changed and reduced the ineligible season to only six games and only for varsity. Now if a student transfers, they can play the whole season if they choose, on junior varsity or a lower level.

Serrano said this has had a big effect on school’s athletic programs because after six games, those high-level transfers are eligible to play, and can make a playoff run with their new school. This also raises the level of competition within each athletic program for roster spots and starting roles.

The athletics programs are extremely important, but having high-level academics combined with the athletics gives the students the best of both worlds.

“We really try to have as many options as possible for students on our campus in terms of course selections,” Reischl said. “The more offerings we can provide, the more likely we are to strike an interest with perspective families.”

Archie pointed out that certain programs, like the football team, attract a lot of the attention, but there are many other activities that appeal to students' interests as well. The outstanding reputation of the band and music program, the medical, science, and agriculture programs, and the academic extra curriculars all give students many options to pursue.

“It takes an entire work force at a school to make it run like a well-oiled machine,” Archie said. “If one area is not working, then we are all affected to some degree.”

The teachers are who determine the level of academics at a school and how eager the students are to learn. Magana recalled from his high school days how there were some classes he really did not want to go to, but he had a teacher who made learning fun for him, so he went to school each day to see what they’d do in that class. He believes many students carry the same mindset now.

“Let’s be honest, most kids, they don’t come here and like every single subject right,” Magana said. “Say I have six classes during the day. I may only like two of them, but those two classes are awesome. So, I’m going to get my butt up and I’m going to go to the first four and I’ll catch the last two as well. So, it encourages them to be there.”

Having teachers who go out of their way to help their students learn and grow is one of the most important qualities for a school. Teachers who care about getting to know their students as well as helping them learn in the classroom is very important for students.

“Our teachers are all about relationships. They do an amazing job of being intentional with our culture on campus,” Reischl said. “They greet students and staff, they are people other people want to be around, they win relationships in short conversations, and they align their values within our school mission statement.”

As Basha continues to grow and get closer to its full capacity of students, the teachers and administrators are trying to do their part to sustain the same culture that has gotten Basha to this point.

“If we keep meeting students’ needs and continue to work together as one staff,” Archie said, “then [the culture] will not be in danger of losing any perks or the feel of a small school.”