The Crowd: School district drums up funds with dinner and a show
School is back in session and the promise of a new year of learning and growth awaits Newport-Mesa kids. One of the most significant elements contributing to the quality of local education is the involvement of caring parents who take an active role. Fortunately, there are many, the ranks are strong and the results evident.
As the school year dawns in Costa Mesa this week, the spotlight of parental dedication shines on Katrina Foley. The mother of two sons attending Costa Mesa High School, Foley, an attorney with a Newport Beach based law practice, serves as a councilwoman for the city of Costa Mesa and chairs the foundation dedicated to the enrichment of education at Costa Mesa High.
Appropriately, it’s called the Costa Mesa High School Foundation and Foley is bullish on its ambitious goals.
“Our kids deserve the best quality public education that can be provided in America. To accomplish this, the path to success is not just found in modern facilities but rather in exemplary educators offering diverse experiences for students — opening doors, expanding minds,” she said as she launches into an explanation of the new academies at Costa Mesa High.
“With the start of the new school year, our students will be offered educational paths in the arts through an academy called ACE (Academy of Creative Expression), the sciences and mathematics through Delta, and soon a language academy focusing on Chinese that will be called Mandarin,” she said.
Foley continued extolling the progress being made by the new leadership at Costa Mesa High in the hands of young and ambitious principal Jacob Haley, and staff members and teachers revamping every department from athletics, to mathematics, to English and the performing arts.
Foley is a one-woman pep rally and she is sending a message to fellow Costa Mesa parents, alumna and local business and community leaders to get behind the school and support a start of the school year gala event being billed as “Beat The Drum For The Arts.”
The event unfolds Sept. 19 in the Garden Terrace at South Coast Plaza with an al fresco dinner catered by Veez Asian Fare and dancing to the popular local band “Flashback Heart Attack.” Tickets are $100 per person and can be reserved at cmhsfoundation.org.
“We need a major turnout of local support to help raise funds that will make a difference for our students,” she said.
Foley reports that on the top of the list is orchestra equipment, instruments and a concert grand piano for the music department under the respected guidance of John Lindfors. Sponsorship for the gala presently is coming from South Coast Plaza and the city of Costa Mesa, but Foley said the event needs additional funding. To get involved, reach out to her at (949) 244-9010.
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Monkey Business In The O.C.
The 2015 “Rockin’ Round the Zoo at Zoofari High” marked 23 amazing years of socializing and fundraising for the Santa Ana Zoo. The local community treasure in Prentice Park was rewarded with more than $100,000 in net proceeds from the Aug 29 event produced by FOSAZ (Friends of Santa Ana Zoo).
Some 350 guests mingled with the monkeys, hooted with an amazing owl, and reverted to the joy of youth dining on delicacies catered by Parties by Panache, sipping a cocktail billed as “Love Potion No. 9” ( a root beer float with vodka) while wandering the zoo grounds unleashed and uninhibited communing with creatures in the dark of night.
Event host and Executive Director of FOSAZ Cathi Decker welcomed the crowd and paid tribute to the honorees of the night, fellow FOSAZ board members Patti Mickey, Patty McClendon and Steve McGuigan. The evening was also a platform for announcing a planned $2-million facelift for the Amazon’s Edge exhibit making room for two new guests to join the zoo family, giant river otters. Opportunity drawing tickets were sold and two lucky winners were given the chance to name the river otters.
Major support for FOSAZ comes from docents including Sally Cadwallader, Elizabeth Colunga-Vega, Laurel Bell, Sabrina Gatelum, Melanie Saracco and Laurel Saenz.
To learn more about the work of the zoo and FOSAZ please visit SantaAnaZoo.org or cdecker@forsaz.org.
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An All-American Tradition Lives On
Labor Day in Newport Beach, has for 66 years meant that the place to be for kids of all ages is the carnival on the bayfront lawn at the Balboa Bay Club. Labor Day 2015 was no exception.
Events director Aaron Trent joined club General Manager Malcolm Smith and a staff of volunteers led by Melonie Hertrick producing a Labor Day spectacular including rides, games, animals, prizes and power burgers.
Hundreds of locals descended on the lawn as three and four generations of Newport-Mesa families celebrated the end of summer in red-white-and-blue style.
THE CROWD runs Fridays. B.W. Cook is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.
