“…SEF has held multiple events that help the community connect with their own health and wellness.”
1. Why do you support SEF?
AJ King, Pound Pro Fitness Instructor
I support the San Gabriel Education Foundation because of the Foundation’s continual goal to connect San Gabriel students, schools, parents, and the community. SEF regularly offers an array of events, classes, and opportunities for San Gabriel families and staff. I believe that because of these opportunities, it has helped the San Gabriel community grow stronger and closer.
As an advocate for health and wellness, SEF has held multiple events that help the community connect with their own health and wellness. When we are healthy physically and mentally, we are able to lead fulfilling lives that inspire others. SEF demonstrates and communicates these values to the students, parents, and staff in the San Gabriel Unified School District. It is a privilege to work alongside SEF as it continues to bridge any gap between education and community. I look forward to watching our future leaders develop and flourish because of the opportunities SEF provides.
2. In your opinion, what is the One Thing that SEF does that enriches students’ lives?
I believe that SEF enriches students’ lives by investing in San Gabriel teachers. When SEF invests in the teachers of San Gabriel, teachers are more equipped and ready to serve their students. Our youth is directly impacted by their teachers on a daily basis and SEF is constantly supporting those teachers with opportunities in health and emotional wellness.
On Sunday, May 22, the San Gabriel Unified School District celebrated the Visual and Performing Arts during their 2022 Arts Fest and what a wonderful celebration it was! As part of the day’s event, attendees enjoyed amazingly talented student performances, were invited to participate in many workshops and craft making activities, tour an amazing high school art gallery display and so much more!
SEF was incredibly honored to be part of the festivities hosting a creative origami making crafts booth. We are especially grateful to Executive Board Member Robert Bringas Jr. for developing and organizing such a fun activity where treasured volunteers enjoyed helping visitors create their own origami masterpiece in honor of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Everything came together beautifully and we had so much fun!
Up next? SEF is inviting ALL K-12 SGUSD students to participate in our district wide literacy event. This year our theme is “Read. Imagine. Design.” ~ The Story of a Book Cover Reimagined by YOU! We are proud to facilitate our annual event designed to engage our community and enrich the lives of students. We were told last year’s event was transformative and impactful in ways we could only imagine and could not be more pleased.
Interested in supporting us? We invite YOU to help SEF ensure another successful event. Your donation of time or resources is invaluable to us. For more information on sponsorship opportunities and registration details contact SEF directly @ (626) 451-5465 to volunteer your time. You are wanted and you are welcomed!
SEF’s investments in breaking down barriers in access to the arts will go far in helping to close achievement gaps and creating career paths.
1. Why do you support SEF?
VP of Finance and Administration California Institute of the Arts Former SEF President
I support SEF as the Foundation has made art education and exposure a high priority. While I believe most people understand that the arts are important in a well rounded education, budgets and time committed for the arts has diminished over the years in K-12 education.
Recent research on the impact of the arts on academic and social development have found that there is strong evidence that arts educational experiences can produce significant positive impacts on academic and social development. Families that have resources are able to augment their child’s exposure to the arts outside of the school curriculum in ways that not all families are able to participate.
Furthermore, there are multiple career paths in the arts that can become reality with access to the arts. SEF’s investments in breaking down barriers in access to the arts will go far in helping to close achievement gaps and creating career paths.
2. In your opinion, what is the One Thing that SEF does that enriches students’ lives?
I believe that one thing that SEF does is to provide access – access to the arts, access to community engagement, access to summer enrichment programs through scholarships, access to program development through teacher grants, access to music through program funding, access to fun through community events – the list goes on.
We are excited to reminisce about our recent book delivery to Wilson Elementary School where 68 Kinder-2nd grade Mandarin Dual Language Immersion students received a special gift. All in all there were 136 individual resources including a book or learning resource and a Highlights magazine for each student.
We are thankful to our supporters from the San Marino Rotary Readers Program and the Kids Need to Read Foundation for their investment in our organization which allows us to continue our book giveaways in San Gabriel public schools!!
Books enrich students’ lives in many ways including building vocabulary, improving memory, sharpening their intellect and relieving stress. Please visit our website at SEFfor8schools.org if you would like to make a tax-deductible donation in support of our efforts. We thank you!
When: Thursday, February 10th ~ 4-7pm Where: Tia Gladys Restaurant – 921 S. Gladys Avenue (next to Mission Car Wash)
Thank you to everyone who came out to support SEF during this yummy fundraising event! And much appreciation goes out to Tia Gladys for hosting a wonderful night of food, fun and family.
Thank you for your support of the San Gabriel Educational Foundation and the students in our schools!!
Insuring equity in education is critical and organizations like SEF help by bringing additional resources to our public school students.
1. Why do you support SEF?
Chasity Jennings-Nunez, MD Former SEF President City of SG HEAR Commission Chairperson
I support SEF because I value access to quality public education. SEF provides programs that positively impact students at each of the SGUSD schools, from elementary to high school. The board members and Executive Director work hard to identify ways to collaborate with and strengthen the school sites. Some of the district’s most successful and popular school programs have benefited from SEF’s support. The Visual and Performing Arts programs throughout the district, the Speech and Debate teams at Gabrielino and Jefferson and the Naviance College and Career planning resource at GHS have all been successful with the critical support of SEF.
As a commissioner on our city’s Human Equity, Access, and Relations (HEAR) commission, I support ways of increasing equity and inclusion in our city. SEF maintains after school library hours at GHS allowing students who don’t have ready access to tech resources or a safe, quiet space to complete homework, an opportunity to do so. The after school program offerings at JMS foster connections between diverse groups of students and introduces them to new interests from cooking to dance to coding to medicine. SEF’s strong partnership with the Kids Need To Read Foundation has provided access to 1000’s of books for students on every campus and their most recent grant from the Tournament of Roses Foundation will be used to purchase musical instruments, ensuring greater access to participation in the district’s music programs.
Finally, I support SEF because they have particularly invested in Del Mar High School with funding for field trips and other activities. Insuring equity in education is critical and organizations like SEF help by bringing additional resources to our public school students.
2. In your opinion, what is the One Thing that SEF does that enriches students’ lives?
The “One Thing” that SEF does that enriches students’ lives is to provide opportunities to engage in new experiences. From the ACE (Architecture-Construction-Engineering) program and visiting author assemblies at GHS to the incredible variety of after school offerings at JMS to the assemblies and book distributions at the elementary schools, SEF has facilitated experiences to broaden the perspectives of our students beyond what might be available to them in their home or neighborhood. To learn is to gain knowledge by study, instruction or experience. SEF’s dedication to providing new experiences for our students truly supports learning and education.
Every study confirms that reading skills are the strongest predictor of success in school, and the presence of books in the home makes all the difference.
Thanks to generous support provided by the Kids Need to Read Foundation and the San Marino Rotary Readers Program, SEF and a small group of dedicated volunteers distributed almost 800 pieces of literature to excited students.
After providing students with access to and a choice of books, we are thrilled to share that each student left the event with brand new, free, quality pieces of literature. One student said…”this is the best day ever!”
Up next: With partnership support from the amazing teachers SEF is building a dual language vocabulary bank designed to introduce and share a student developed Spanish language word bank. We can’t wait to share further details soon!!
SEF focusing on ways to increase support of student’s literacy development for all K-12 students? We say YES!
Your dedication and efforts individually, and for many of you as a team, continues to inspire the San Gabriel Educational Foundation. As you know, we are all fortunate to be part of a dynamic district that is rich in cultural diversity and is recognized as a leader in many outstanding programs. Together, in partnership, I am confident we can have a significant impact on the success of SEF and the financial support we provide the district.
As we plan for the future, we look forward to forging strong partnerships with each and every one of you. We will continue our commitment to excellence and strive to align SEF funded programs to the broader mission, vision and philosophy of the district. We will continue to focus on students and student achievement and strive to be flexible, adaptable and responsive to the community’s changing needs. We will move forward together as the strong community that we are.
Moving forward, we will be scheduling our next meeting and hope that when joining us you will bring along friends and colleagues (lots of them) and that we will learn and grow together to become a powerful force for all things wonderful in our community!!
In the meantime, we are hosting a SEF Board Recruitment event on Wednesday, 10/27. If you or someone you know would like to learn more about our organization or has interest in possibly joining the Board please rsvp to let me know you will be joining us.
Thanks to generous funding provided by Schools First Credit Union, and of course the abundant support we receive from our partners at Johnny Was and Green Street Restaurant, SEF has been hopping all over town distributing teacher gift bags to all of the SGUSD credentialed teachers, the school site Principals and their incredible Office Managers. This go around, we are also thrilled to share there has even been a few gift bags accounted for and distributed at the district office accordingly!!
You know that feeling when you do something you hope brings joy and happiness to others? Well we could not be more grateful to our funding partners, donors and supporters for giving us the opportunity to understand that special feeling today and every day!!
SEF wholeheartedly believes in the necessity and benefits of the arts in education, and its role as a powerful healing and unifying expression of San Gabriel’s diverse and talented community.
We are overwhelmed by the generous support received from the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Foundation that will allow us to continue to provide much needed financial support, resources and programming for all students. We thank them and all of our donors for sharing in our vision. We are grateful for all those who are helping to make our communities a better place to live and work and for making a difference in the lives of our youth!!
The San Gabriel Educational Foundation (SEF), a 501 (c)(3) organization, is dedicated to partnering with parents and the community to give San Gabriel Unified School District students unique learning experiences inside and outside the classroom.
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