WCCUSD students participating in projects funded by The Ed. Fund's 2011-2012 Grants Program.
In This Issue
Community Corner
24th Annual Excellence in Education Gala
Teachers' Box
Scholar Track
Program Spotlight
Quick Links


Click here for a list of our sponsors from 2011.
Distinguished Citizen Award

Congratulations to Todd Groves, a powerhouse volunteer in West County. Todd brought the Writer Coach Connection Program to El Cerrito High School and Portola Middle School. He was the Program Advisor for El Cerrito High School Instructional Learning Team and Master Plan for Academic Change (MPAC), among other titles representing the work Todd does to benefit our students. Todd tirelessly advocates for students across the entire school district, and his work has made a  noticeable difference.

Community Corner
2012 Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam Preliminaries
April 14, 2012
12:00 PM to 2:00 PM
East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, Richmond
Celebrate the voices of 21st century America! The annual slam features hundreds of young writers, emcees, and performers from throughout the Bay Area and Northern California. The Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam is open to any youth 13-19 years old in the greater Bay Area.

Young Scholars' Reception 
April 26, 2012
5:30 PM to 9:30 PM
LoVonya DeJean Middle SchoolRichmond
Honoring scholarship winners from all across the West Contra Costa Unified School District at the Young Scholars' Reception. Over a dozen scholarship organizations will be represented.

Super SATurday: SAT/College Rally and Resource Fair 
April 28, 2012
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Laney College, Oakland
An event designed to increase community and public awareness to the dismal college entrance test partici-pation and success rates of academically disadvantaged youth in urban environments.  Sponsored by the Choose College Educational Foundation.

Richmond Tales Fest 2012 
April 29, 2012
12:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Richmond Civic Center and Auditorium
West County Reads is spearheading a community collabora- tion to support family literacy. Attendees will enjoy a range of educational and fun family activities designed to reinforce the importance of literacy and to provide parents information to help them succeed in their role as their child's first reading teacher.  
Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn Find us on Google+ View our videos on YouTube

Join Our Mailing List
April 2012 Newsletter

Celebrating Excellence in Education


Greetings!

I would like to personally invite you to our 24th Annual Excellence in Education Gala on May 18th. Every year at this inspiring event, The Ed. Fund spotlights outstanding teachers and students in West County. This May, we will be honoring four exceptional teachers with the Teaching Excellence Award and one phenomenal school volunteer with the Distinguished Citizen Award.  Many of our high-achieving, college-bound scholarship winners will be at the event, and welcome the opportunity to show their appreciation for your support.  Please join us in celebrating and honoring these individuals.

Your support of the Gala this year will allow The Ed. Fund to implement and expand programs for our students and teachers. I hope that you will join us in honoring deserving individuals from across West County.  It is the mission of The Ed. Fund to support and foster fine educational opportunities and the Gala provides the opportunity for the West County community to celebrate and reflect upon the wonderful things taking place in this District.

Please help us continue making a positive impact on the quality of education for West County students.

In gratitude,

Joel Mackey
Exective Director
West Contra Costa Public Education Fund



Excellence in Education Gala  

Teachers' Box

The Ed. Fund partnered with the West Contra Costa Unified School District to select this year's Teaching Excellence Award winners and the two nominees for the county Teacher of the Year award. We had the great pleasure of visiting the classrooms of the best West County teachers in our pursuit of this year's winners. It was wonderful to see so many dynamic classrooms.

We are very pleased to announce the four Teaching Excellence Award winners and two honorable mentions:

Winners
Joshua Hastings, Richmond High School
Maria Saxton, Washington Elementary School
Abigail Sims-Evelyn, LoVonya DeJean Middle School
Tracey Singh-Poole, DeAnza High School

Honorable Mention
Julie Skow, Juan Crespi Middle School
Meaghan Stern, Helms Middle School

The West Contra Costa Unified School District has selected Joshua Hastings and Tracey Singh-Poole to compete for the Contra Costa County Teacher of the Year Award.

Congratulations to our honorees and their families!


Scholar Track

The Ed. Fund has had a record-setting scholarship season. This year we will beoffering $200,000 in scholarships to more than 70 seniors. All of our scholarship finalists are college-bound high school seniors from low-income families. We look forward to welcoming them to The Ed. Fund scholarship community and wish all applicants the best of luck in the selection process.

Scholarship winners will be announced on April 16, 2012.

The Ed. Fund would like to thank the dozens of volunteers who are in the process of reviewing applications and helping The Ed. Fund select the next generation of scholarship winners. We are proud to say that our scholars are not just selected by us, they are selected by the community.


Program Spotlight

On March 17th, hundreds of parents and their children attended the WCCUSD's Getting Ready for College and Career Conference at LoVonya DeJean Middle School. The District, The Ed. Fund and members of the West County College Access Network collaborated to provide programming for this conference targeted toward 7th to 12th graders and their parents.

Workshops topics included paying for college, preparing for college, the Holy Names University Early Admit Program, and much more.

Materials from the conference are available for download on the WCCAN website.