November 28, 2003


A night at the opera keeps music alive at Los Alamitos

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

Parents and supporters of Los Alamitos students recently enjoyed a night out at the opera. In addition to enjoying an evening of entertainment, the goal of the evening was to raise funds for Los Alamitos Elementary programs not available through the San Jose Unified School District.

In an ongoing effort to keep science, music, art, robotics and technology alive and well at Los Alamitos Elementary, the S.M.A.R.T. Foundation was established by a group of parents and teachers to raise the funds necessary to pay for teacher salaries and programs relative to the acronym that makes up its name.

Last Friday, their most recent fundraiser featured a catered dinner at the home of Stella Slyngstad, followed by a night at Opera San Jose, where attendees were treated to performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Il Pagliacci. According to Chairman Jeff Oneal, the $130 per couple evening raised approximately $2,500, money that will go into the general fund to pay for music teacher salaries, educational materials and enrichment programs, which are not available through the San Jose Unified School District.

“This is to help raise awareness in the community for all the things the foundation supports,” said Kathryn Nymoen, who spearheaded the event. Nymoen used a theme that came naturally, as her husband Mark Veregge not only teaches music at the school, but has a long standing role as percussionist for Opera San Jose and the San Francisco Opera, with hundreds of performances to his credit. Former coral teacher Glennis Wood was also cast in the lead role as “Lola” in Cavelleria Rusticana, adding a more personalized Los Alamitos flavor to the evening.

“She really took the reigns and brought this all together—all on very short notice,” said Oneal of Nymoen. “We made enough money to make it worthwhile and [will] hopefully do it again next year. I’m not really a big opera fan,” he admitted. “But for the foundation, we did it.”

The S.M.A.R.T. Foundation, an independent fundraising arm outside the school’s PTA, was established four years ago under the helm of former principal Devin Blizzard and chaired by Nancy Cerone until Oneal took over this year. The team of 10 board members, including Bill Varni, Jeff Pine, Jim Kateley, Robin Cruz, Patti Rodriguez, Kathryn Nymoen, Nancy Archanbault, teacher Debbie Merrill and principal Lisa Gonzales, organize the foundation’s various funding opportunities that provide a variety of enrichment programs for the school.

According to Nymoen, unlike the PTA, that supports family and children events, the S.M.A.R.T. Foundation is geared more toward adult fundraising endeavors, and donations in many forms, including stock, can be earmarked for specific projects. “It’s a relatively new concept on campus and hopefully we’ll keep it strong,” she says.

According to parent volunteer Lynne Wach, in addition to their fundraising events, Scrip remains one of their top priorities as music teacher salaries are completely paid through the program, but warns of the consequences if more families don’t participate. “If we don’t raise awareness and raise more money, then we won’t have a music teacher next year,” she says. “It’s so easy to do. It takes two minutes to register online and money comes back to our school without another thought. We could have years of surplus for music if every family participated in just one way.”

Wach says participation in the Scrip program doesn’t cost parents any money and revolves around two simple methods—buying scrip at the school or registering grocery club cards and credit cards with the program so that money offered by participating retailers will get credited to Los Alamitos. With the holiday shopping season underway, she recommends buying scrip to pay for gifts as well. “You can also buy postage stamps and gift cards for other stores like Nordstrom and Borders Books at Safeway,” she adds.

In addition to past fundraisers such as family dinner night at Armadillo Willy’s, the foundation is currently planning a variety of future events, including a spring Bocci Ball tournament that will be held in Los Gatos. “We’re going to be trying other things this year,” says Oneal. “Although the main fundraiser for the school is the walk-a-thon, we’re smaller, but we hope to grow.”

The goal of the S.M.A.R.T. Foundation is to eventually build an endowment to secure and keep the various programs such as accelerated reading and math in place for years to come. “It’s a humble grouping,” admits Nymoen. “But we have a lot of synergy and will be able to get a lot accomplished this year.”