The highlight of the evening was the video for this year’s Fund-a-Need, “The Reimagined Classroom (and Library!)”, to support the district initiative of transforming 11 classrooms at the high school and middle school, as well as the Thurston library. Created by teachers Andy Crisp and Jun Chen and introduced by LBUSD’s Chief Technology Officer Mike Morrison, the fast-paced video had the crowd laughing out loud as they followed a twisting and far-fetched journey that ultimately led to the practical conclusion of investing in our schools’ future.

Completely energized by the video, the crowd gave a standing ovation to its creators and then gave a record-breaking $299,050 to the Fund-a-Need initiative. An extremely generous “double match” by the Wilson and Martini families, along with contributions from LBUSD and SchoolPower Endowment, maximized the impact of each donation exponentially. Due to exceeding the ambitious goal, 12 classrooms (instead of the original 11) in addition the Thurston library will be reimagined with LCD displays, sound amplification and flexible furniture. This builds on last year’s Fund-a-Need, which helped the district modernize 12 classrooms to transform how Laguna students learn in this ever-changing world.

Parent Brent Martini explained, “Every upgraded space means more motivated and inspired teachers and students, and anytime you have that combination, high performing kids are a likely result. And that’s what this is all about…the fundamental belief that the better the learning environment, the better the learning, the better off our kids are at LBUSD.”