2011 Auction Planning - Call to Arms! For ALL who are interested in helping out in this year's auction, we will have our first All Volunteer meeting for this year's Auction event on Thursday, December 2nd from 8:45am to 9:45am in the library.
This year's event theme is Adelante: A Gala Experience. It promises to be a truly amazing evening of food, wine and fun at a new location. It will be somewhat of a departure from our events of the last few years. You are needed to help make it happen. If you can't make it on Thursday but would like to be involved, please contact one of our auction planning committee members: Michele Brady, Christina Falco, Christie Hausmann, Denise Lee or Lisa Ortiz. |
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Annual Giving Update
We want to thank all of you who have participated in this year's annual giving campaign. As of December 1st, we have reached 90% parent participation, and have raised $261,565 (including matching gifts and gifts from alumni and grandparents) to date. We are still accepting pledges for this year's campaign. If you haven't yet, please consider making a tax-deductible donation online at www.gatewaysc.org/giving/donate.html or submit your pledge to the Development Office for tracking.
Thank you for your support of our school, the faculty, and the children!
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40 Acts of Kindness Updates
Second Harvest Canned Food Drive. Help your student bring in canned food for the Second Harvest Food Drive. The 6th grade class leads our entire school in this community service effort; each class collects canned goods, and the 6th graders count and weigh donations by class. As of November 29th we have raised 3,126.94 pounds of food - let's beat last year's award winning donation of 6,400 pounds. These donations help to feed thousands of people in Santa Cruz county, one in four of which are children. Thank you for your generosity!
Student Council Coat Drive. Please consider bringing in a gently used or new warm coats for the Annual Coat Drive for needy families. The coat drive is run in conjuction with Classic Cleaners. There will be a collection bag in each classroom (until December 12th).
The Student Council Bake Sale on November 18th raised $345 to support Jacob's Heart!! Jacob's Heart provides services to families with children with cancer or other life threatening illnesses). Thank you to our student council members and to all those who donated (and purchased) baked goods for the sale!
If you work with a local group that needs volunteers or would like to help organize a service opportunity, please contact Gateway parent Karen Hovekamp (Luke '17, Jack '19) @ hovekamp@pacbell.net.
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8th Grade Washington DC Fundraisers:
Tamales On Sale Now - 8th graders are selling tamales (orders must be in by Dec. 9th for pick up on Dec. 16th. Click here for more info and to download an order form.
Family photography session with 8th grade parent Laura Lucas. For a nominal fee of $25, you will receive high resolution digital images of your family portrait. All proceeds will go to the Class of 2011 8th grade Washington DC fundraising. Make an appointment directly with Laura through email: lucasjohnlaura@aol.com.
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Race to Nowhere - New Screenings!
If you missed seeing the screening of the documentary "Race to Nowhere" on 11/4, you might want to check out one of the following upcoming screenings in the area:
December 2nd at 7:00pm at Bonny Doon Elementary School. Click here for ticket information.
December 16th at 6:30pm at Santa Cruz High School. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets ($10 in advance). Proceeds will go to support Santa Cruz High sports programs.
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Open House - Thursday December 9th, 9-11am
If you have any friends or neighbors who are investigating school options for next year, please encourage them to attend an open house. RSVP's recommended. Please contact Colleen at x.302 or colleen.sullivan@gatewaysc.org.
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Reminder: Early dismissal (12:00 pm) and no after school care on Friday December 17th.
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Gateway Dads Group to help the Monterey Bay Salmon and Trout Project on Sunday December 5th, 10am - 2pm. The Gateway Dads group will be working with MBSTP to help clean out an area vital to the local salmon and steelhead hatcheries that was damaged during the Lockheed Fire of 2009. If you are interested in helping with this project, please contact Mat Rowley at mathersrowley@mac.com.
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Holiday Slowcoast Gift Box - 10% of purchase will go to Gateway School. These beautiful handmade redwood boxes filled will local "Slowcoast" food, wine and other goodies make the perfect holiday gift. For more information on how to order, click here.
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Calling all New Leaf Shoppers! Just in time for the holidays, Scrip cards for New Leaf shopping are available in the Main Office! Cards come in $100 denominations and act like a gift card (you don't have to spend it all at one time). You can pay for the gift card by writing a check to Gateway School or charge to your account. Gateway will receive 5% of all purchases. What a great way to support our school!
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Grandparent Newsletter - We now send our monthly version of Gateway Family News to grandparents. If you are interested in having your child's grandparents receive this newsletter which highlights of school programs and events for the month, please send their name and email address to kristin.smith@gatewaysc.org.
Beyond the classrooms, don't miss other school news and photos posted on our Family News Blog page on the Gateway website, as well as on our new Facebook page. Stay informed through these links.
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Financial Aid for the 2011-2012 School Year: If you would like to apply for aid for the 2011-2012 school year, please click on this link for the complete packet of forms and instructions. In order to apply for aid, you must file a Parents' Financial Statement (PFS) with School and Student Service for Financial Aid (SSS). We recommend that parents file this form online, but parents can choose to file the paper PFS form instead if they prefer. To file online, go to sss.nais.org anytime from November 15th onward; to file the paper form, print out pages 16-21 from the attached financial aid packet and follow the directions in the packet. The Main Office also has a limited supply of paper PFS forms. In addition to filing your PFS, you must also upload or mail to SSS a copy of your complete 2010 tax return. We recommend that parents start preparing now to get their 2010 taxes done as early as possible during the month of February 2011, and file the PFS by February 1, 2011. As long as your PFS is filed by February 1, 2011 and the copy of your complete 2010 tax return is received by SSS by February 25, 2011, your application will be considered for the first round of financial aid awards (the round in which the bulk of our financial aid budget is awarded). If you are divorced, separated or never married, please be aware that each parent must file a separate PFS and each parent must submit a copy of his or her complete 2010 tax return to SSS. Please contact Rima in the Business Office at x 308 if you have any questions.
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