Las Positas College Foundation

April 2013 
In This Issue
Introduction
Giving and Getting
The Best of the Best Gala        and ONLINE Auction
Board Member Profile
Quick Links
Janet Lockhart
Lisa Elliott, Esq.
Board of Directors Chair
 

Greetings!

 

Greetings!

 

We're pleased to bring you our second Las Positas College Foundation e-newsletter for 2013. This quarterly update is designed to keep you connected with the College and the Foundation's shared goal of building a brighter future together. As members of our campus and regional communities, you are vital to our success.

 

Las Positas College serves the entire Tri-Valley region from its campus in Livermore. The College educates students for transfer to four-year universities and colleges and for technical and vocational careers, while also offering life-long learning opportunities for continuous education.

 

The Las Positas College Foundation works to further those goals by developing resources that support the College and, equally important, informing the regional community about the College by promoting its opportunities, resources, and benefits.

"Giving and Getting"
Supporter and Recipient Spotlight

 

Christine Kelly
Christine Kelly (Photo taken on a hiking adventure near Bridal Veil Falls at Yosemite.)

We're pleased this quarter to feature LPC student Christine Kelly and long-time generous Las Positas College supporter, Wells Fargo. Christine has received a $1,000 Wells Fargo scholarship that the bank funded in conjunction with the Bernard Osher Foundation. It is a perpetual scholarship that will assist students like Christine each year forever.

 

Christine is majoring in Anthropology with a planned second major in Landscape Architecture. Life for her has not always been easy: "I've been working to help my family since I was young," she said. "I had my first job at age 13." After she passed the California High School Proficiency exam during her junior year at San Ramon High School in 2003, she continued to work and had no plans to further her education. But in 2010, after she recognized that returning to school would improve her prospects in life, she enrolled at Las Positas College.

 

"I plan to pursue a field in which I can give back to the local and global community," she said. "Through applied anthropology, research, photography, and an understanding of our natural and created landscapes, I plan to focus on environmental sustainability."

 

Christine is active on campus, participating in the honors program, in club leadership, and with student projects she has helped organize on campus. She credits the Las Positas College Foundation for helping support the Sustainability Club's design and implementation of a composting program to both lower the total waste output from the campus and create compost for the community.

 

"I'm incredibly grateful not only for [the Foundation's] support of student organizations," she said, "but for the scholarships I have received."

 

The LPC Foundation thanks Wells Fargo Bank for its generous support that makes a difference in the lives of Christine and other students on our campus. For many years, Wells Fargo has underwritten numerous Foundation initiatives. It has also been a significant sponsor of the Foundation's yearly gala, the Best of the Best. To learn more about that event, read on!

 

The Best of the Best Gala and Online Auction

 

This year's Las Positas College Foundation Best of the Best gala party will be held April 27, 2013.

 

New this year is our online auction being held in advance of the event. Beginning today through April 18, visitors to biddingforgood/lpcfoundtion may bid on over 70 items ranging from modestly priced offerings to remarkable vacation and lifestyle packages. Then, throughout the evening of the gala event, guests will have an opportunity to bid on a select number of unique "Attendee Only" auction lots such as travel adventures and elegant wines.

 

Best of the Best gala tickets are priced at $95 through April 8 and $125 thereafter. The attendees will have lovely evening with the beneficiaries being the students, faculty, staff, and greater community that Las Positas College serves.

 

This year, the Best of the Best will feature a cocktail party with the theme Fundraising for good with good friends having fun. The evening will begin with guests sampling Livermore Valley wines and Signature Cocktails with delicious hors d'oeuvres presented by ten exceptional Tri-Valley restaurants. The event is held in the elegant lobby of the Mertes Center for the Arts on the Las Positas College campus.

 

During the evening, guests will be entertained in the Mertes Center's Main Stage Theater with a Performing Arts Showcase featuring student presentations of dance, choral jazz, excerpts from the yearly musical, Hair, orchestra music, and interpretive speaking. The evening will culminate with a dessert and champagne celebration of the College.

 

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit lpcfoundation.org/bestofthebest.

 

Foundation Member Profile

 

Jim Ott
Jim Ott, Board Member

From time-to-time, we feature in this newsletter one of our Foundation Board of Directors members. This quarter, meet Jim Ott.

 

Jim has volunteered as a board member for our Foundation since its inception in 2003. An executive in banking for 30 years, Jim served as the CEO of UNCLE Credit Union for ten years until his retirement in 2010. He is currently the CFO of i-GATE, a state-designated innovation hub situated in Livermore that fosters green transportation technology.

 

Jim's involvement with Las Positas College is due to his love of education, which was inspired by his father, a community college counselor. In June 2002, Jim was selected by Las Positas College president Karen Halliday as the recipient of the Friend of the College award. It is given annually to an individual from the community who significantly contributes time and energy to the College and its well-being. Jim helped establish the Las Positas College Foundation, and was its chairman for two years. He was also elected to the Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees from 2006 to 2010.

 

As an adjunct instructor of English at Las Positas College since 1997, Jim is now able to teach more classes during the day. He is also pursuing his doctorate in Educational Leadership at Saint Mary's College.

 

Jim enjoys giving back to the community and helping students become better writers. His short stories and poetry have been published in several small press literary journals, and he is a columnist in the Tri-Valley Times. Other community involvement includes being a founding member of the Rotary Club of Pleasanton North and is a past-Chairman of the Livermore Chamber of Commerce.

 

From 2001-2003, Jim served as Pleasanton's Poet Laureate. He is a co-founder of Pleasanton's Poetry, Prose, and Arts Festival. Because of his work in the area of promoting poetry, he won a civic award from the City of Pleasanton and has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Wall Street Journal, and on KQED FM radio.

 

Jim was born in California and attended its public schools-including a community college in Saratoga. He earned his bachelors and masters degrees in English at San Jose State University.

 

A Pleasanton resident since 1985, Jim is married to Pamela Ott, Pleasanton's Economic Development Director.

 

We hope you've found this newsletter informative. As always, please feel free to contact the LPC Foundation at [email protected] or by phone at (925) 424-1010.  

 

Sincerely,

 

Ted Kaye
Las Positas College Foundation