As we begin the holiday season, I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for your support of the San Gabriel Educational Foundation. This year continues to be a time of growth for our organization with the promise of so much more. Serving almost 5,000 students annually, we have already provided new and continued educational resources and innovative learning opportunities for all students, while continuing our commitment to the support of academic excellence. I hope you will share in my joy and pride in all that SEF has already accomplished as we simply could not do any of this work without your generous support.  

This year we continued to provide full funding to cover the cost of Gabrielino High School's after school library hours, which provides students access to resources, technology and a space to study while under supervision. Additionally, we continue to fully fund the college counseling program, Naviance. This program provides each of the 1,600+ students of GHS with a "comprehensive college, career and life readiness solution developed to help the district align student strengths and interests to post-secondary goals, improving student outcomes and connecting learning to life."

We are engaged in an ongoing effort to identify and provide innovative learning opportunities inside and outside of the classroom, and are extremely excited to develop and facilitate literacy initiatives that support students' success across the district. Through the promotion of recreational reading, the fall district wide elementary school reading challenge was a grand slam. As we wrap up this initiative we will have distributed more than 6,200 pieces of literature, student designed bookmarks and school site spirit wristband reading reminders for each of the 2,087 TK-5 elementary school students in the district. We could not be more grateful to our partners, Kids Need to Read, for their approximately $50,000 donation in support of our efforts.

Collaborating closely with outside agencies, we have coordinated a field trip to the Getty Museum, including busing, for the students of Del Mar High School and brought the Dairy Council of California's Mobile Dairy Classroom to various school sites. 

We believe author visits can make a huge difference in the lives of students and continue to host distinguished author assemblies within the district. For our families, we are expanding the author visits to serve the wider community outside of the last school bell.  

Our dedication to the students, their families and our SGUSD partners has never been stronger and our investment in all eight schools continues to grow. Striving to  promote mental health and wellness, we are thrilled to bring a virtual reality studio and wellness platform to the students of the district. The product has been designed to deliver evidence based content for mental wellness and mindfulness which can sometimes feel inaccessible. The pilot will roll out in 2020, and we are looking forward to the promotion of positive feelings and well-being as well as the reduction of anxiety and stress in our schools. 

Continuing our support of the arts, in the spring we will welcome resident artists from Poprock Academy to the elementary sites to facilitate our Kinder and 5th grade performance classes. These wonderful opportunities support diverse learning experiences for our students across all social and economic levels. 

With an increased desire to support families, we are offering parent education workshops in the new year. Look for details regarding our January workshop, Mindful Movement, coming soon. 

As you can see these are exciting times for all of us. We undertake all of these programs and goals thanks to your support. The 2019/2020 Annual Fund Campaign has the power to take us to new heights in support of our children and we will continue to focus on the mobilization of much needed resources in order to expand our reach. As the president of SEF, you share my commitment to SEF's mission and I am deeply grateful to you for your steadfast support and your continued confidence and advocacy for all that we do. Please consider making your tax deductible donation towards our cause, supporting our children, our schools and our community.

Wishing you and all of your families peace, joy and love during this holiday season!