Telling our Community Story

This year at Bel Aire Park our theme has been finding our voice and telling our story.  In thinking about our annual World's Fair last week, it occurred to me that this event is an important way that we share our story as a school community.  We've held this event for several years now as a way to come together with kids and families for a fun, relaxed time where we can enjoy being together.  While also trying to celebrate a little bit of culture from around the world in keeping with our International Baccalaureate program.   It requires a lot of work to put this event together and this year especially I was reflecting about all the people that have their hand in making it successful.  We have members of our staff, leaders from our Family Faculty Club, volunteers from our ELAC group, community support from organizations like 4-H and community partners like Cooke Orthodontics and Umpqua Bank all contributing ideas, time, or resources to help us have an enjoyable time together.  We had the support of both the Napa High and Vintage High football teams to help run many of the food booths and activities so that our parents could enjoy the time with their kids.  We had donations from so many parents for our raffle baskets that help offset the cost of the event.  We even had some parents whose kids are no longer at Bel Aire coming back to help make the always popular tamales.

As I watch all this happening and see the happy, painted faces of our kids, I know that although we all have our unique circumstances and backgrounds, this is what it means to be a community.  We come together with a common purpose; we appreciate serving and playing along side one another where we feel at home.  Although all communities have their ups and downs, for me, our community story will always include the joy that I feel when we make happy memories for our children and set an example of service to others. 

I want to express my appreciation for all those that helped in any way and particularly want to acknowledge Meleah Riddleberger and Beki Anderson for heading up this event.  I'm looking forward to another important event this coming Friday, our Rock the Night dinner and silent auction. This is another way that we can gather as adult members of our community to support our kids and give them special experiences as part of their school day.  A big thank you to Sabrina Skillings and Makayla Branco for making this event happen.  Here's to our Bel Aire Park community!!