Randy Barth, THINK Together founder & CEO
Last week, our tireless staff ran a full-day Spring Break program district-wide that served more than 5,000 Santa Ana students. This created an opportunity for these students to have a fun-enriching week as well as the opportunity to participate in preparation for the upcoming California Standardized Tests (CST). This also created an opportunity for the parents of these 5,000 students to have a worry-free week of work while their children were out of school for the holiday.
Thanks to our Orange County General Manager Tia Dwyer, these students were able to receive both free breakfast and lunch each day. When it appeared that the district was not going to be able to provide free meals at the Spring Break program through its normal channels, Tia demonstrated her initiative and creativity to solve the problem. She connected us to another feeding program that she had heard about and we were able to work with the district to bring that opportunity to Santa Ana students.
As part of the Spring Break culmination activities, I visited the program at Thorpe Fundamental Elementary last Friday. That site served students from both Thorpe and Greeneville Fundamental. While at Thorpe, I got to enjoy a dance performance that was spearheaded by our enrichment partner Active Learning. The students had a great time and I want to congratulate our combined Thorpe/Greenville staff under the leadership of Donna Hinojasa and Elizabeth Thompson.
Finally, our I want to extend our congratulations to the entire OC Region for executing a very successful week of programming on top of your regular duties. Running full-day programs with no school support (administrators/office staff/cafeteria support) and feeding 5,000 students two meals a day (on top of your regular work) is no easy task. Congratulations on job well done!!!
See some representative photos of the week on Flickr.
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