PTA Council recognizes honorary service at Founder's Day luncheon

DOING IT FOR THE KIDS - The Pleasanton PTA Council held its Founder's Day luncheon Feb. 24. Suzanne Young, the council's vice president of fund raising and a past-president for Harvest Park PTA, shared the highlights with me.

It was a day of celebration and appreciation on which Rotary was thanked for donating $2,000 toward a child abuse prevention program. Also, three members were given Honorary Service Awards.

Jerri Long was the first recipient. She has worn many hats throughout the years: teacher, reporter, PTA board member, school district official. For the community, she helped create our own local "Make a Difference Day" festival and is an organizer for the annual "Celebrating Freedom" Fourth of July community event.

The second award winner was Jill Buck, who founded and served as the first president of both the Walnut Grove PTA and the Pleasanton PTA Council. She developed the Go Green Initiative at Walnut Grove, a program that has been adopted in five states. She brought together parents, teachers, administrators and professionals to bring a local focus to the issue of child abuse, initiating a community forum on the topic and facilitating an ongoing partnership among the PTA Council, the school district and the Child Abuse Prevention Agency.

The final star of the day was Tanya Ludden. Her initial experience with PTA began in Florida. After moving to Pleasanton in 1995 she became a parent club president at Harvest Park Middle School and Amador Valley High School, helping those groups convert to PTA and PTSA organizations.

Tanya is also involved in PTA at the district and state levels and is active with the Amador Athletic Boosters, the ValleyCare Foundation and Amador Valley's Community of Character initiative.

The Pleasanton council continues to assert itself at the state level. This year, it wrote two resolutions for the State PTA Convention, "Sun Safety: Skin Cancer Prevention Measures at School" and "Credentialed School Nurses."

To find out more, log on to www.pleasantonpta.org.

THE LAWS OF LIFE ESSAY CONTEST was brought to Foothill by a PTA grant, and the winners were recently announced.

The top five entries for each grade were chosen from 300 submissions. Ninth-grade winners were: first place, Susan Kim; second place, Sara Schoch; third place, Kailey Richards; fourth place, Katia Johnston; and fifth place, Kaitlyn Turner.

For the 10th grade, the first place winner was Joshua Moog; second place, Kara Wahler; third place, Nikeeta Sharma; fourth place, Spring Sun; and fifth place, Nathan Poon.

The top five winning essays from the 11th grade were: first place, Jessica Whitaker; second place, Jon Rosell III; third place, Bijan Behzadi; fourth place, Jessica Bow; and fifth place, Daniel Triassi.

And the senior winners were: first place, Alison Davis; second place, Michelle Kim; third place, Amelia Halim; fourth place, Aleia Van Dyke; and fifth place, Priya Shankar.

ALL-AMERICAN GUYS: The Good Guys are back this weekend for their 23rd "All American Get-Together" at the Alameda County Fairgrounds.

Northern California's largest two-day automotive event features more than 3,000 hot rods, custom cars, classics, trucks, muscle cars and street machines on display. There will be a swap meet, a "car for sale" corral and manufacturers' exhibits.

Gates open Saturday and Sunday at 8 am. General admission is $12; tickets for kids 7-12 cost $6, and children 6 and younger get in free. Fairgrounds parking is $8.

FUND RAISING CAN BE FUNNY, particularly if the proceeds come from a show by the cast of "Wigged Out" at Danville's Victoria's Hair on Stage in Danville. This Saturday's presentation of "The Taming of the Do" features 40 cabaret-style songs. It benefits the Pleasanton-based Valley Humane Society, specifically its new building fund.

Victoria's Hair On Stage is located at 520 San Ramon Valley Blvd. in Danville. The curtain goes up at 9 p.m. Tickets are $37 each and attendees must be over 21 years of age. For more information, contact Gay Maestas at 925-447-8903.