Bill’s Word: Cheers and Tears!

Dear Friend,
Save the Date! Salute to Education is April 24, 2015 from 6:00 – 9:00 PM at Rhythmix Cultural Works. We look forward to honoring innovative programs and volunteers from each Alameda public school. Tickets are just $30 and are on sale here. We hope you will join us for gourmet hors d’oeuvres, wine and beverages, and great fellowship to celebrate the wonderful work that happens in our public schools.

Salute to Education would not be possible without the support from our sponsors:  Alameda Point Partners, Alameda South Shore Center, and Tim Lewis Communities.  We appreciate these businesses’ support of public education in Alameda!

Adopt A Classroom: This past Thursday, I made our 174th Adopt A Classroom presentation. This exceeds our record and our goal for the year. What has been wonderful to experience is the growth of Alameda business and community support for this program. We have been able to adopt more teachers in need and teachers from low-income schools this year because our business and community friends recognize the value of supporting public education in Alameda. Thank you especially to new Adopt A Classroom supporters this month, AEC Living and The Graber Family. Of course, we also thank all our donors from February and all year long. You can see photos from our adoptions on our Facebook page and a listing of all Adopt A Classroom donors and recipients here.

As usual, the Adopt A Classroom presentations included lots of cheers and lots of tears from the recipients. Probably one of the most touching was when the family of AEF former board member Tricia Collins-Levi adopted a brand new special education teacher at Paden Elementary. Ms. Rios had been on the job for about a week when Ms. Collins-Levi’s family came into her classroom and presented her with a gift of $500. Talk about feeling welcomed to the Alameda community!

Hoops Championships! Girls basketball playoffs and championships are this week!  The top teams in Division I and Division II leagues face off beginning Tuesday with the championship games on Friday. Check out the full schedule here.

Meanwhile, the boys basketball season has begun and from the look so far, this may well be one of the most competitive boys seasons we have had.  That schedule is also here.

What makes AEF’s Middle School Sports program unique from other youth sports program is our tie-in with the schools. As Wood principal Cammie Harris commented the other day, it builds unity and community at the school. Students wear their school jerseys to class on game day and the whole student body feels school spirit. Teachers and administrators get to better know and support their student-athletes outside of the classroom.  AEF’s academic tie-in help support student success in the classroom.

Summer Camps:It is that time of the year already to begin thinking about summer camps. We have some really exciting new offerings this summer including photography, solar power and for high schoolers, Entrepreneurship 101: Build Your Own Business! We will also offer summer internship opportunities for high school students. Camp registration begins in March. Please visit this page to check out these wonderful learning opportunities for your students and to enroll. Meanwhile, this winter and spring, K-8th grade students are expanding their educational opportunities with dozens of after school classes in music, technology, and the arts.

This spring we have several presentations to help support success in high school and beyond including a College Finances presentation on March 23, 6:30 – 7:30 PM at Alameda High Little Theatre and Incoming Freshman Information Nights, 6:30 – 7:30 PM on April 29th (Kofman Auditorium for future Alameda High School students) and May 7th (Jr. Jets Room for future Encinal high school students).  No registration necessary and these events are free.
The work we do makes an impact, from the teacher who can now buy the supplies she needs for her classroom, to the student-athlete who become motivated to achieve in the classroom, to the student who discovers a new world of learning through one of our enrichment programs. Thank you for supporting our work to “support student success” in Alameda!

Sincerely,

Bill Sonneman, President

P.S.  I invite you to learn more about the work we do by exploring this website or calling our office at 510-337-7189. We would be happy to talk to you about the impact our programs make on student lives!

Shop online at AmazonSmile, Amazon donates 0.5% of the purchase price to the AEF. Bookmark the link http://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-2867769 and support us every time you shop.

Eat pizza at Mountain Mike‘s, get a discount while supporting AEF.  Download a coupon here.

Donate Now!  The Alameda Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Our tax ID number is 94-2867769. Your donation is tax-deductible as per the current tax guidelines.