Ernie & Liezl Els led a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony last night to celebrate the opening of the first two buildings of their state-of-the-art Center, focused on improving the lives of individuals with autism.
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| Ernie, Ben, Liezl and Samantha Els at the Ribbon Cutting for The Els Center of Excellence |
"This Center is amazing and special just like
us!" summed up Zack Poerio, who delivered a passionate
and flawless address on behalf of students from The Learning Center at The Els Center of Excellence, at last night's Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.
Zack, who along with over 100 other students attended his first day of school at the brand new Center yesterday, added: " Thank you Ms. Liezl and Ernie for fighting for us - you are my heroes! Lets make this the best school in the world!"
The Ribbon
Cutting Ceremony,
attended by
donors, local supporters, dignitaries and media,
celebrated
the official opening of the first two components of The
Els Center of Excellence -
The Lower S
chool
and
The Els
Center of Excellence Auditorium Building.
Among the special guests included
PGA TOUR players Louis Oo
sthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Robert Allenby who came down to support their friend and fellow player. Honored guests
included Els for Autism Chairman - Giuseppe Ciucci, Palm Beach County Commissioner - Hal Valeche, as well as Mayor Karen Golonka and representatives of the Town of Jupiter.
Representatives from the offices of Congressman Patrick Murphy and Representative MaryLynn Magar
,
also
attended the event and a special U.S. flag presentation to The Els Center of Excellence was made by Congressman Murphy's office as part of the ceremony.
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| Watch a video of Zack Poerio's passionate speech at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony courtesy of Palm Beach Post |
Er
nie and Liezl Els, the Founders of the Els for Autism Foundation, and parents of Ben, 12, who has autism and attends the new school, addressed a crowd of 300 guests before the ribbon was cut.
Ernie Els opened with the acknowledgement that getting the Center built "took a lot of effort from a lot of people," but that "a lot of families are going to benefit from this Center." He went on to thank all the individuals and organizations that had made building the Center possible but stressed that the
f
acility was not complete and that they still have "a long way to go," w
ith t
he next goal to build the Upper School and all of the sports and recreational facilities.
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| Ernie with fellow PGA TOUR players Robert Allenby, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel |
Liezl Els, credited by her husband as "the power behind this whole thing," went on to speak movingly about seeing their dream of a world-class Center for Excellence come to fruition. Liezl explained their goal was "to make our Center and programs accessible to people around the world."
"The Center is going to give our children the space to explore and express themselves. Over time they
have had to make d
o with whatever they could get," Liezl explained."We wanted to build a facility
where these kids could
realize
their potential - and where we could show the world just what our kids are made of, how strong they are, how talented they are and how far they can go really go in life and w
hat a massive contribution they can make to society."
She added: "We have so many plans. Program-wise, our aim is to service the whole family across the full life span and construction wise we plan to build on all 26 acres of this campus, with the
next components to go up being the golf practice facility and the Upper School building."
Liezl, thanked her husband for providing the golfing platform by which the Foundation was a
ble to
raise so much of its funds. She said: "a huge thank you for not only what you have given our child but the kids out there in the community and across the world." Liezl also made special mention of Ben's 16 year old sister Samantha, who Liezl told guests, "helps her brother Ben find his way every-day," and exemplified the integral part that siblings play in the lives of children with autism.
After the ribbon was cut by Ernie and Liezl, guests had the opportunity to tour the facility, enjoy musical performances in the auditorium by Reese Carpenter and Carlos Bosso, and talk to Els for Autism staff and Learning Center teachers about the new Center and the programs and services it will provide.
The Learning Center, which opened yesterday is a public charter school with capacity for up to 150 children from ages 3-14, and, in-line with
the entire campus, has been designed to create a learning environment specifically suited to children on the spectrum.
The ceremony also marked the opening of the state-of-the-art Auditorium Building, specifically designed to help facilitate the dissemination and gathering of applied research findings and best practices with the global autism community.
