May 25, 2006

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

Despite rain, Williams Heritage Day attracts nearly 1,000

Many children “traveled the world with passports in hand” to enrich their minds and experience the cultures of their community.

By Geeta Venkatesan
Special to the Times

“Celebrations of the World” was the theme of this year’s Williams Elementary School Heritage Day Festival on May 19. Close to 1,000 festivalgoers braved the rain to visit the 19 cultural booths that showcased their heritage and pride with cultural costumes, food, displays, and games.

Throughout the day volunteer’s spirits remained high as we reminded each other “the party must go on.”

Crowds gathered around the stage to watch 26 performances put on by Williams students and family. The cultural diversity of the Almaden community was embraced through the coming together of so many people of different backgrounds. The festival’s purpose was fulfilled, as all who attended learned about our multi-cultural community, and appreciated the unity in diversity of Almaden residents.

This year’s festival was unique for Williams. The flags of 50 nations were on display for the first time on the morning of May 19 before flag salute. “Seeing the flags up made the day feel extra special,” says Malini Nagarajan, student volunteer coordinator for the event.

Personally, as the event coordinator, as I was putting the first flag up and I felt the first drop of rain I reflected upon the months of planning and preparation that go into making such an event successful.

“It’s like planning your wedding day,” remarked committee member Ellen Takeuchi. “It takes months of planning and it’s all over in three hours!”

Committee members Lisa Yang, Susan Park, Ellen Takeuchi, Tina Meng and myself extend their thanks to the following: Bret Harte Middle School for the flags, the estimated 100 Leland High School volunteers, all the parent volunteers, and the performers who invested many hours of practice and commitment to put on the spectacular show of music, dance, and entertainment. And appreciation goes to the children who “traveled the world with passports in hand” to enrich their minds and experience the cultures of their community.

Bright days ahead for Graystone

By Allison Johnson
Special to the Times

Graystone families refused to let rain dampen their spirits or their pocketbooks on Friday, May 19, as the school held its most successful Spring Celebration fund-raiser to date, bringing in over $60,000 to support school programs such as science, music, art and technology.

While the overcast skies during the day may have been kind to all of the Graystone kids walking laps in their tangerine shirts to earn pledge contributions, the volunteers were surprised when late afternoon showers poured down on the silent auction tables and on the stage where the band had already set up.

Within minutes, volunteers raced home and brought back many pop-up awnings, while those that stayed quickly covered the valuable auction items with plastic. Eventually the clouds broke and the crowds came, bidding on getaways to vacation homes, beautiful baskets, sports memorabilia, spa services, helicopter and plane rides. Even with the rain, the auction was the most successful ever held.

In a bit of irony, the slogan for this year's celebration was, "Helping Graystone Shine." So even amid the downpour, the volunteers, the sponsors, the parents, the friends, and of course the children did indeed help Graystone shine that night. And those efforts will continue to shine through the next school year as well.