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SchoolPower Treats Supporters to an Ocean View
The Pacific Ocean provided the backdrop for SchoolPower’s recent annual business appreciation party, hosted by The Deck and Pacific Edge Hotel. Supporters of SchoolPower, Laguna Beach’s non-profit education foundation, dined on food prepared by Chef Rainer Schwarz and received President Tom Motherway’s appreciation. “Your generosity and support not only means excellent schools for Laguna Beach kids, but makes our town the wonderful community that it is,” Motherway said. Read More
4Cs Learning Environment Fund-a-Need
Innovative classrooms were the focus of SchoolPower’s Fund-a-Need program, giving a kick-start to a recent Laguna Beach district initiative to modernize schools. In Carrie Denton’s environmental sciences lab, which serves as Laguna Beach High School’s first test site, there is no front of the classroom. Denton’s lessons are fluid, creative and lively as two 80-inch monitors on opposite walls and wheeled desks allow students’ attention, bodies, study groups and class discussions to shift. “Collaboration of students is very easy,” Denton says. “I can move students if I need to during a lesson. This environment allows the students to be [...]
“Stroke of Genius” Breaks Records
Saturday, March 14, 2015 – Montage Laguna Beach Local education foundation SchoolPower, which broke records this year with its community campaign, continued its winning streak at Montage Laguna Beach at its 30th annual gala “Stroke of Genius.” The featured Fund-a-Need, which will advance a district initiative to transform classrooms, raised the most money in the history of SchoolPower’s Fund-a-Need campaigns. SchoolPower president Tom Motherway and LBUSD chief technology officer Mike Morrison introduced the Fund-a-Need video, a parody of “The Office,” from the innovative mobile desks requested by the district. In order to outfit 12 classrooms with large monitors, audio [...]
SchoolPower’s “Stroke of Genius” Breaks Records
Local education foundation SchoolPower, which broke records this year with its community campaign, continued its winning streak at Montage Laguna Beach at its 30th annual gala “Stroke of Genius.” The featured Fund-a-Need which will advance a district initiative to transform classrooms raised the most money in the history of SchoolPower’s Fund-a-Need campaigns. SchoolPower president Tom Motherway and LBUSD chief technology officer Mike Morrison introduced the Fund-a-Need video, a parody of “The Office,” from the innovative mobile desks requested by the district. In order to outfit 12 classrooms with large monitors, audio systems and innovative furniture that allow fluid configurations [...]
Lumberyard Chef Challenge VI
SchoolPower’s annual Chef Challenge VI was won by the elementary dudes – Michael Conlon and Chris Duddy. The event netted $10,025 and has grossed $65,887 over the past six years thanks to the generosity and hospitality of Lumberyard restaurant owners Cary and Suzanne Redfearn. Lumberyard raises money for local schools by shutting its doors to the public for an evening and hosting the unique dinner, which has proven to be a sell-out function with Laguna’s parents.
SchoolPower’s DodgeBall V Tournament
SchoolPower’s Dodgeball V Tournament brought the community together, filling the high school gyms with 66 teams, 512 players and a cacophony of referee whistles, ricocheting balls and roaring fans last Wednesday. El Morro teachers won the adult division and the coveted Golden Skull dodgeball trophy on center court. Champions of all divisions were also awarded $500 in prize money to allocate to any Laguna Beach School District department or program. The El Morro team is purchasing literature for the classrooms. “I’m so excited we finally won!” said third grade teacher Shannon Velotta, who said that the El Morro teachers [...]
Dodgeball V
SchoolPower’s Dodgeball V Tournament brought the community together, filling the high school gyms with 66 teams, 512 players and a cacophony of referee whistles, ricocheting balls and roaring fans last Wednesday. El Morro teachers won the adult division and the coveted Golden Skull dodgeball trophy on center court. Champions of all divisions were also awarded $500 in prize money to allocate to any Laguna Beach School District department or program. The El Morro team is purchasing literature for the classrooms. “I'm so excited we finally won!” said third grade teacher Shannon Velotta, who said that the El Morro teachers will [...]
SchoolPower has presented the 2014 Hall of Fame Award to Firebrand Media for its unwavering support of local public schools.
Firebrand, which creates nationwide publications, websites and marketing, produces local mainstays The Laguna Beach Independent newspaper and Laguna Beach Magazine from its Broadway Street headquarters. More than write about Laguna, Firebrand has supported the idea of community with more than $50,000 of in-kind sponsorship and revenue to the local education foundation. “SchoolPower has always been close to our hearts,” said Scott Sanchez, Firebrand’s chief technology officer and publisher. “The kids are the foundation of our town, and making sure that we support them feels like the right thing to do.” The groups’ collaboration began five years ago, when Firebrand [...]
SchoolPower Business Appreciation Dinner – May 8, 2014
Local parents know the SchoolPower Student Directory is a post-Internet phonebook that remains relevant and indispensable. It is also a great source of added revenue to Laguna’s public schools, as the 2013-2014 edition raised over $76k. SchoolPower, Laguna’s non-profit education foundation, thanked Directory advertisers at The Bungalows at Pacific Edge Hotel on May 8. The event also honored members of the Business Alliance and the new Real Estate Honor Roll, two year-long sponsorship programs that are estimated to raise approximately $50,000 for the schools this year. The relationships also bring goodwill, as residents are encouraged to support the businesses [...]
SchoolPower’s Dinner Dance “Sowing the Seeds”
SchoolPower’s 29th Annual Dinner Dance, held March 1st, 2014, netted over $225,000 for Laguna Beach schools. The event, which drew over 300 guests to Montage Laguna Beach, dedicated a portion of the evening to raising money for an initiative selected at the recommendation of district leaders. This year’s Fund-a-Need, “Xtremely iNteractive,” requested Apple iPads, Apple TVs and Google Chromebooks and advances a long-term goal to create high-tech, interactive classrooms. “Last year’s Fund-a-Need upgraded the district’s wireless network and allowed the increased use of classroom technology at all four schools,” said SchoolPower President Lynn Gregory. “We now have the infrastructure [...]
