September 27, 2007

SCHOOL SCENEin Almaden Valley

Los Alamitos Elementary prepares to walk the plank

By Shana McLean Moore
Special to the Times

The students, staff, and parents of Los Alamitos Elementary School are embracing their inner pirates as they prepare for this year’s walk-a-thon and silent auction with a swashbuckling theme of “Walk the Plank.”

Event organizers Jill Anderson and Wendy Walker have created a backdrop that would make Captain Jack Sparrow proud, with a cafeteria decorated with pirate ships, skull and crossbone flags and treasure chests brimming with jewels.

Anderson and Walker recruited a crew of 150 supportive deckhands to make sure things run smoothly for the walk and the auction. They hope their efforts will bring in even better results than last year’s total of 529 walkers and 6,181 total miles walked. To encourage students to solicit sponsors, all students who raise at least $60 will be given a commemorative T-shirt designed by Los Alamitos parent and artist Nicole Ison.

Participants are encouraged to re-fuel by visiting the “galley,” run by Los Alamitos parents Brandy and Phil Varni. In addition to donating their locally made “Phil’s” barbecue sauce for their famous ribs, they will also be selling burgers, hot dogs and chicken sandwiches with chips and a drink.

Silent auction chairs Debbie Michels and Monique Guerra are excited about some new and creative offerings for this year’s auction. They invite the community to support the school by coming down and bidding on items such as a homemade Greek-Lebanese dinner for six, a martini party with live music for 16 and four hours with a DJ who will add pizzazz to your private party. There are also restaurant gift cards, theater tickets and vacation getaways.

“Our local businesses have stepped up again to support our school,” says Michels. “The Sandwich Mill, Amato’s and Swirls are just a sampling of the local stores and restaurants that have donated to our school.”

Guerra is hopeful that the unique items such as the “Evening at the Shark Tank,” with lower box seats, a pre-game locker room tour, a meal in the pressroom and a ride on the Zamboni will help the school match last year’s total revenue of $100,000.

“We could not possibly have the successful auction that we have each year without the families at our school, and the local businesses and corporations that donate each year,” Michels adds. “We are so appreciative of their support for our school. They allow us to raise the money to help our children grow through the programs the funds support, like our award-winning music program, hands on science, technology and art.”

To make a tax-deductible donation to the Los Alamitos silent auction, contact Debbie Michels at debbiemichels@yahoo.com or (408) 927-5857.

The walk-a-thon and auction take place at Los Alamitos Elementary School from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 6. The community is welcome to attend.

It’s not too late to join AVCS’ Positive Parenting class

Those parents who were thinking of signing up for the Almaden Valley Counseling Service’s fall Positive Parenting class still have time.

AVCS will hold its fall session of positive parenting classes starting the week of Oct. 1. The classes are based on the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) model and are designed to help parents meet the challenges of raising their children.

Participants learn to:

- Build self-esteem and responsibility
- Encourage cooperation and problem solving
- Implement discipline versus punishment
- Resolve conflicts

The classes are held one night a week for seven weeks, from 7:15 – 9:15 pm.

The schedule is:

- Preschool–Tuesday, Oct. 2;
- School Age–Weds., Oct. 3;
- Teen Age–Thursday, Oct. 4.

The fee is $110 for one parent or $165 for a couple.

If interested in attending this session or to be added to the mailing list for future classes, call the agency at (408) 997-0200, e-mail staff@avcounseling.org, or download the class registration form from www.avcounseling.org.

Guadalupe Elementary student wins contest

When Samantha Wong, a student at Guadalupe Elementary School last year, begged her mom to purchase a FunCake™ from the school fund-raising catalog, her mother, Jaylene Wong, agreed that they would add another item to their order. Samantha wanted the FunCake™ because it came with frosting and decorations, which allow people to decorate the cake in any way they like.

Samantha’s sister, Madelyne, a student at Leigh High School, loves art and when she heard that there was a nationwide contest for the best decorated FunCake™, she asked her sister if she would mind if she gave it a try!

Out of the FunCake™ box spilled the decorating ingredients including a large package of white frosting, two small tubes of icing in red and blue and four small bags containing colored sugars and sprinkles. Using just these decorations she transformed the plain top of the cake into a beautiful scene of a red Cardinal bird resting on a tree branch in the clouds. The sisters then quickly snapped a picture of the cake before it was eaten and sent it to the fund-raising company.

A few months later, the Wong family received a telephone call from Victoria Ladd, owner of San Jose-based, Successful Fundraisers, letting them know Madelyne’s cake had been selected as a winner. As a result, Madelyne and Guadalupe Elementary School each received a check for $500.

The checks were presented to Madelyne and Guadalupe Principal Martha Lux on Sept. 12 at a ceremony at the school.

“I’m so proud of her,” said her mother, “her artistic ability also shows up in her sidewalk chalk art!” Madelyne was ecstatic and is looking forward to taking her younger sister to Baskin Robbins to celebrate!
Lux was also very excited to hear the good news of the unexpected gift.

“The Guadalupe Home and School Club’s Science Camp fund-raiser raised nearly $5,300 to offset science camp fees and thanks to the Wong family’s participation in the contest, our school gets $500. We can definitely use the extra funds right now,” Lux said.

Seeking School News

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