This Week’s Wildcat Roar!
THANK YOU to Liz Kenny, Mr. Mugg, and all of the families representing cultures from around the world at M.E’s first annual International Potluck. The event was such an educational and enriching experience! What a great way for our community to come together to learn about our different cultures! Thank you to Rachel Sweigart, Patricia Hofmeister Gullo, Priscila Gerson, Yuosra El-Sherief, Bridget Hope, Julie Lyons, Kavita Mehta, Shay Chawla, Shital Bhakta, Sangeetha Gopinathan, Linly Harris, Amy Pleickhardt, Val Wallace, Jesus Trejo, Jessica Williams, Tamara Piland, Wendy Frame, Cindy Chu, Danny Pleickhardt, Mr. Mugg’s 3rd grade class, and all of the M.E. families who attended!
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Week of 11/10/2019
There is a lot of magic that happens behind the scenes of our fabulous hot lunch set up at M.E.! Karen Strayley and Mayuko Williams work hard every single day to coordinate and organize our M.E. lunches and snack bar. Thank you ladies for the seamless lunch operation, for wearing a smile every day, and for all of the support our kiddos receive from both of you! You two are a very special part of our M.E. Family!
Thank you Dawn Mayeda and the Sage Garden Project for awarding M.E. with the Sage Garden Project Grow Package! Thank you also to Jamie Burnet, Lisa McColl, and Linly Harris who applied on M.E.’s behalf for this one of a kind program which will enhance our school garden and nutrition education programs at M.E. Our Wildcats are going to learn so much about grow, cook, eat, compost and repeat!
Big Kuddos to Girl Scout Troops 1952 and 1536 for doing such an amazing job collecting food for those in need! Thanks to Bree Smith, Amanda Martin, and Shanna Block for leading the charge!
Week of 11/3/19
A big round of applause to our M.E. Green Team for doing a trash audit with our Wildcats before the break. Thank you SO much to Cia Hudson, Barbara Larson, Sangeetha Satheesan, Ellen Klepack, Rachel Woodfield, Amy Pleickhardt, and M.E. 4th graders for digging into our trash to find ways we can reduce waste! Not a glamours job, but you made it a fun and educational experience for our Wildcats!
We can’t say THANK YOU enough to our Fun Facilitator Volunteers Rachel Griffin, Kavita Mehta, Andrea Hilsentroth, Tamara Piland, Val Wallace, Rob Mayers, and Amy Pleickhardt for supporting so many opportunities for play at lunch. We are happy to see so many smiling faces having fun and enjoying a comfortable, collaborative and peaceful recess!
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Week of 10/6/19
Thanks to Shawna Coleman and Holly DeFalco for organizing and coordinating such a fun Red Ribbon Week! We all had fun dressing up and learning ways to be healthy!
So much gratitude for Nancy Logan and the 12 inspirational teens with the San Dieguito Alliance for Drug Free Youth for speaking with our 5th and 6th graders about making good choices.
Our kiddos had so much fun playing football with Ryan Wickman and Craig Schneider at the Dad’s Club Punt, Pass & Kick. Thanks to these two Wildcat Dads for putting this event on!
Thank you to Principal McColl and Superintendent, Andreé Grey for guiding the interactive Safety Plan and Input session Thursday evening. Thanks to our community Safety Personnel for taking the time to join us. David Harrison, Emergency Prepardness Manager, Julie Mortison, School Resource Officer, and Sgt. Reid Shipley, School Resources Sergeant provided valuable information.
A very big THANK YOU to our VP of Membership, Breanne Alshin for working so hard to on this year’s membership pledge drive and making it such a huge success! Breanne’s dedication helped raise important funds that will benefit our wildcats’ experience at M.E.!
Hey Hey Ms. G!!! Thank you for bringing all of our Wildcats together to build connections and making lasting friendships while having fun at another super successful Mix-it-up @ lunch!
Hearts were full when Brooke Stealey, M.E. alumni, came to speak to our 1st-4th graders as part of our Red Ribbon Week activities. Brooke spoke to her audience about choices you can make everyday to be the best YOU can be! Our Wildcats were enamored with Ms. Brooke and we can not express enough gratitude for this confident young lady! Thank you for being such an amazing role model to our Wildcats!
Week of 9/29/19
BIG thanks to our very own MR. MUGG for cooking up his famous BBQ plates despite the weather and Campout cancellation. Thank you MR. MUGG for providing your delicious BBQ to M.E. families as to-go plates!!!
Big things are coming to our Art Program thanks to Jen Bazzel and Jen Styn. These two have been working hard behind the scenes to bring new and exiting features to our art program. Keep your eyes open for new art displays to hit the walls on the M.E. campus!
Our giving garden will be getting much needed love and care this coming year thanks to Serena Gibbs. Thank you Serena for stepping up as the Garden Chair and sharing your talents in the garden with our lucky community! We are beyond grateful you took on this important role for our school.
Week of 9/22/19
We are super appreciative of Breanne Alshin for working so hard on ‘all things’ Membership Toolkit. This software transition has had many challenges and she has stepped up and put many hours in! We really appreciate you Breanne!
Thank you to Rachel Griffin for training our Fun Facilitators. Thank you for equipping all of our volunteers with the skills and information to facilitate a successful and fun recess! And THANK YOU to all of the Fun Facilitator Volunteers who have stepped up to help with re-energizing recess for our kiddos!
Thank you Amy Durkin for taking on the VP of Room Parents role again this year! Your support helps make many classroom events and activities possible!
We are overcome by gratitude for Katie Witherall stepping up to become our MEPTA website guru. Katie will be generously sharing her skills to keep this website updated. Welcome Katie to the PTA team and making such a big difference in such a short time!
Week of 9/15/19
Big warm hugs filled with gratitude for Rachel Griffin, an amazing parent at M.E. who spends many hours helping teachers and students. Rachel has been an instrumental volunteer helping behind the scenes with both T.R.A.C. and the Re-Energize Recess initiative. Thank you Rachel for helping set our teachers and students up for success.
THANK YOU to all of the parents who signed up at BTSN and in the classroom. Our teachers and students are so lucky to have you! M.E. volunteers truly make a difference!
Thank you to our Sweet Teachers for scooping ice cream on Thursday evening! The students absolutely LOVED having their fun teachers dancing and serving them dessert!
Big kudos to Principal McColl and Miss G for showcasing our T.R.A.C. program and facilitating such a fun “family rules” activity for M.E. families!
Week of 9/8/19
A big THANKS to Liz Kenny for all of the hard work putting together a fun and successful Pancake Breakfast!
Thank you to our Amazing Teachers who joined us at the Pancake Breakfast! Families cherish getting to spend time with you outside of the classroom!
We would all be a big mess without Marcie Carey and Patti Neil taking care of all kinds of business at the front office. Thank you Marcie and Patti for all you do (we know it’s ALOT)!
Mireya “Mimi” Leveson-Gower and Suat Liny, thank you for always taking such good care of our kinders at recess and lunch. You go above and beyond making sure our kids are eating their lunches and making new friends while also providing comfort with bandaids and hugs.
Of course we have to thank our one and only, Mr. Mighty for bringing so much fun to the Pancake Breakfast!
Week of 9/1/19
Thank you to o Amazing Teachers and PTA for all of the hard work setting up for a successful Back to School Night!
Many thanks to Andrea Hilsenroth for making sure that we had a welcoming and beautiful reception at Back to School Night!
A big thanks to Stephanie Barberree for all of the hard work that goes into our M.E. spirit wear sales!
THANK YOU Karrie Pyke for such a fun new spirit wear design!
We want to recognize Breanne Alshin, thank you for the countless hours you have spent getting Membership Toolkit up and running and for all of your work with our pledge drive!
Thank you to Natalee Maynes and Jessica Williams for continuing to coordinate such a warm welcome to all of our new families! Thank you to all of our buddy families for all you have done to welcome so many new families to our M.E. community this year!
Week of 8/25/19
We want to give HUGE thanks to all of the parents, teachers and staff that gave their time over the summer to make the upcoming M.E. school year one to remember! A lot of work goes on behind the scenes and we appreciate all that you have done already! Michelle Hannah, Breanne Alshin, Stephanie Barberree, Courtney Bustillos, Karrie Pyke, Jamie Burnett, Cierra Balodis-Brick,Rachel Griffin, Linly Harris, Jessica Williams, Natalee Maynes, Andrea Hilsenroth, ALL TEACHERS, Marcie Carey, Patti Neil, Julio Oliver, and Principal McColl.
Thank you for all you do for M.E.!
Week of 6/16/19
A huge Wildcat roar for our outgoing PTA president, Linly Harris. We are so thankful for all the time and energy Linly and her family gave to our ME community this year. Linly’s leadership has made ME a better place for our students and our families.
Week of 6/9/19
We would like to recognize Jerry Archbold, Ryan Wickman and our awesome Dad’s Club for organizing another amazing Field Day! Also, thank you to everyone who came out to help them put this day on and those who also came to cheer on our Wildcats. The kids all had a blast and enjoyed their time out on the field!
Week of 6/2/19
We would like to recognize Val Wallace and Amy Pleickhardt for all their work getting ready to transition into the role of Co- PTA President for the 2019/2020 school year. They have already put in countless hours organizing, planning and making sure that next year will be successful and tons of fun. Thank you ladies for all that you continue to do for our school community!
Week of 5/26/19
A huge thank you goes to Nicole Fowler and Amanda Martin for their work bringing this years ‘One Book, One School, One Community Program’ to life. The students are loving reading “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and enjoying the daily trivia questions.
Week of 5/19/19
We would like to recognize our PTA Historians Sarah Tolmay and Tara Stealey. They have spent countless hours all school year long taking pictures at assemblies and events, updating the display case outside the office, managing our school Dropbox account, training this year’s yearbook team, and planning and creating an amazing yearbook that we all cannot wait to see. Thank you both for your hard work and dedication to our school!
Week of 5/12/19
Week of 5/05/19
We would like to recognize Peter Sieffert, our PTA Auditor. Thank you Peter for your hard work auditing ME’s PTA books and financial records to ensure accuracy. We appreciate your time and efforts!
Week of 4/28/19
A huge shoutout goes to Liz Kenny and Stephanie Barberree for co-chairing our ME Gala this weekend! They have spent months planning and organizing such a fun event for our parent community all while raising money for our school! You ladies took on a massive undertaking and we appreciate your hard work and dedication. They would like to recognize the following volunteers for their devotion towards making this event a huge success:
Amy Pleickhardt and Val Wallace
Decorations:
Kristen Schlicht, Jenn Ramirez, Jen Bhavnani, Shay Chadha, Heidi Beacham, McKenna Hill and Sara Norwood
Raffle Tickets:
Shay Chadha
Event Promotion:
Jen Styn (Graphic Design), Courtney Bustillos (Communication) and Antonio Fuentes (Slideshow)
Student Photography:
Sarah Tolmay
Grade Raffle Baskets:
Jessica Williams, Melissa Hirsch, Sara Norwood and Courtney Evenskaas
Time for Teacher Chair:
Mika Barber
Auction Procurement:
Jen Bhavnani, Maunee Bullock, Heidi Beacham, Sara Norwood, Mika Barber and Nicole Fuentes
Thank you to our community who came out for this week’s ME events!
Week of 4/21/19
We want to give a big shout out to Jen Styn. Jen did the beautiful graphic art for our new garden signs. She is always so gracious about giving her time and talents.
Another shout out goes to Shay Chadha for her countless hours organizing and coordinating our ME Gala Raffle. Thank you Shay for all of your hard work!
Week of 4/14/19
The PTA Membership team wants to give a big thank you to Jamie Burnett. Jamie spent time at school over spring break to help with firing this year’s legacy tiles. Thank you, Jamie, for all of your work and special care to make sure they turned out beautifully!
Week of 3/24/19
We would like to recognize Shital Bhakta on her countless hours organizing this years Science Fair. Thank you Shital for arranging an event that allows our children to get creative and passionate about Science and pushes them to think outside of the box. Thank you also to the following for their part in the event: Mrs. Creighton, Courtney Evenskaas, Wendy Frame, Sandy Cullins, Marci Cantor and Avneet Sidhu. Also, thank you to the families who attended and supported!
Week of 3/17/19
A ‘Wildcat roar’ goes out to Stephanie Barberree, Liz Kenny, Amber DeRoads, Courtney Evenskaas, Kelly Hammel and Meredith Wesley for donating your time to collect items for our grade level auction baskets for this years gala. We appreciate all you do!
Also, thank you to the families who came out on Wednesday night to enjoy some frozen yogurt at Menchies and good food at Habit. We appreciate your continued support of our Restaurant Nights!
Week of 3/10/19
A huge ‘wildcat’ thank you to Ms. Kelly Griffin! Ms. Griffin is ME’s new TRAC Teacher/SECD Educator. Each week, Ms. Griffin will be in your child’s classroom teaching social, emotional and character development. She is building a community of kindness by encouraging inclusion, building positive relationships, and creating a warm and welcoming school climate. We are so thankful for everything you are doing Ms. Griffin!
Week of 3/3/19
Week of 2/24/19
This week we would like to recognize Amy Durkin for her role as our PTA VP of Room Parents. Amy continuously works hard to organize and distribute class funds, get communications to the room parents to be sent out to classes and jumps in to help whenever more hands are needed. Thanks Amy for all you do!
Week of 2/17/19
A huge shoutout goes to our PTA President, Linly Harris. Linly wears so many hats around our school campus and does it with love and kindness. She volunteers countless hours attending ME, district and EUSD President meetings. She creatively oversees our PTA calendar, interacts with each PTA committee and steps in whenever an extra hand is needed. She is a great liaison between Ms. McColl, our ME teachers and our parent community. Linly, you are truly appreciated. Thank you for all you do!
We would also like to thank our PTA Nominating Committee: Courtney Bustillos, Shawna Coleman and Breanne Alshin. They are working hard to fill open PTA Board positions for the 2019-2020 school year and are dedicated to making next years Board the best yet. Thank you ladies!
Week of 2/10/19
We would also like to thank our Teachers and amazing ME Families for a great Open House!
Week of 2/03/19
As we finish out Kindness Week, we have the following amazing volunteers to thank: Shawna Coleman, Courtney Evenskaas, Megan Nelson, Nirali Patel and Bridget Hope. Thank you for showing the students that being kind should be a lifestyle and not just something we do during this one week at school.
We would also like to recognize Bridget Hope for her time spent organizing our ME Running Club and also Margie Spitzmiller for her efforts and time with this weeks canned food drive. Thank you all so much!
Week of 1/27/19
Thank you so much to the following ladies who worked hard at making Wellness Week so awesome for our ME community: Amy Pleickhardt, Val Wallace, Cristina Lima, Bridget Hope, Holly DeFalco, Nirali Patel and Megan Nelson. We would also like to recognize the help of our Student Ambassador Health and Wellness Committee. Thank you for your dedication in making this event fun for our students while also continuing their education of health and wellness.
Week of 1/20/19
This week we have many amazing ME volunteers that we would like to thank! First off, a huge thanks goes to Jen Rohr for being such an incredible, organized and diligent secretary on the PTA board. You can also always find Jen somewhere on our campus as she generously gives wherever is needed. Thank you so much Jen for all you do!
Next, we would like to thank Shawna Coleman and Courtney Evanskaas for planning and executing Wellness Week and the Great Kindness Challenge, which will take place over the next couple weeks. These two have put in countless volunteer hours and we are incredibly appreciative of all they do.
We would also like to thank Rachel Griffin for her dedicated work on the SSC committee and for working with Ms. Cynthia in the library to build upon the already amazing “Library at Lunch” program.
Week of 1/13/19
A huge ‘Wildcat roar’ goes out to Nicole Fowler for rocking her PTA hospitality position for the third year in a row. She quietly takes care of things and is always so thoughtful. We would also like to thank Jamie Burnett for her continued dedication to the ME garden and for handling the completion of the murals on campus. We don’t know what we’d do without them! Thank you ladies!
Week of 1/6/19
A special ‘Wildcat roar’ goes to Cierra Balodis for managing the messages on our school marquee. Cierra has done the marquee for a few years and we are so thankful for all the time and effort she puts into making sure messages and information are updated each week. We would also like to thank all of the parents who donated their time to help at our ME’s Book Fair. It has been a huge success!
Week of 12/09/18
We would like to recognize and give a huge thanks to Amy Brown, Amanda Martin and Kim Ertwine for planning this year’s Book Fair. These ladies have been working very hard behind the scenes to make sure next week is fun and successful. Thank you ladies! We would also like to thank everyone who ‘adopted a family’ and brought in gifts to their classroom. We appreciate all of the generosity that our ME community continues to deliver!
Week of 12/02/18
This week we would like to recognize two amazing PTA volunteers for all of their endless ‘behind the scene’ hours that they have donated to Mission Estancia. Michelle Hannah, our PTA treasurer, has put in countless hours ensuring the PTA budget process is running smoothly. She is always organized and on top of the endless work that flows her way. We would also like to thank Courtney Bustillos, our PTA Vice President. She spends endless hours every week managing the Wildcat Weekly, school emails and our website. Thank you so much for all you do Michelle and Courtney!
Week of 11/25/18
A ‘Wildcat shoutout’ goes to Amy Pleickhardt and Jamie Burnett for organizing and putting all the quote decals in the student bathrooms throughout campus. Jamie also arranged to have the wall ball courts painted! A big thank you to these ladies for helping make our campus shine!
Week of 11/18/18
We would like to recognize Shawna Coleman and Courtney Evanskaas for their continued dedication to the health and wellness of our ME community. This week they rolled out ME’s Inclusion in Action Program. Thank you ladies for your efforts in reinforcing the importance of inclusion toward all students and for supporting the creation of a more empathetic learning environment.
Another ‘Wildcat shoutout’ goes to Amy Pleickhardt and Val Wallace for hosting last weeks restaurant night at Chipotle and Menchie’s and also for their continued procurement of sponsorships for ME’s programs and events.
Another amazing parent volunteer ‘shoutout’ goes to Jen Bazzel for all she did in organizing the PTA Reflections Art contest. Thank you Jen!
Week of 11/11/18
A special recognition goes to Amanda Goad, Megan Nelson and Courtney Evanskaas for all their help with our Shoebox Drive! They packed over 80 boxes for children in need. Because of them and the rest of our ME community, children who need it most will have a brighter holiday season.
Week of 10/14/18
A special recognition goes to Stella Shaw and her committee for their countless hours planning and organizing our ME Fall Festival. The following volunteers helped in so many ways to the success of this day: Amy Brown, Kim Ertwine, Shadae Talebi, Bonnie Durnil, Angie Collins, Robyn Platt, Jen Styn, Courtney Evanskaas, Jennifer Rohr, Jodi Hai, Amie Sullivan, Elyssa Lamoureux, Amy Pleickhardt and Val Wallace. We appreciate all of the hard work you dedicated to Mission Estancia so that our students, families and community can enjoy food, games, dancing and many laughs together.
We would also like to thank everyone who came to the event and the individuals who volunteered to work a class booth. Thank you for supporting Mission Estancia!
Another ‘Wildcat shoutout’ goes to Shawna Coleman and Courtney Evanskaas for their efforts in arranging next week’s Red Ribbon activities. Thank you ladies for supporting the wellness of our students and reinforcing the education of making lifetime healthy choices.
Week of 10/07/18
A big ‘Wildcat shoutout’ goes to Jerry Archbold for running the Dad’s Club Campout. He organized an amazing event that our community continues to love! Also, thank you to his team: Greg Newton for his insight and data, Craig Schneider for errands and securing raffle items, John Gitlin for being the first to arrive and help out wherever was needed, Chris Minard for supplying labor and experience, Crispin and Nora Luna for helping with the grill and front gate, Ryan Wickman for front gate ticket sales, Drake and Casey Archbold for assisting with ticket sales and set up, Antonio Fuentes for running the glow stick project, Steve Martin for nonstop grilling, Stewart Gordon for picking up the bagels for breakfast and Jarkko Kaislasaari and Jeff Fioresi for setting up the lemonade and popcorn. More thanks to Carlos Andreiu, Jason Hilsenroth, Matthew Dukleth and Jory Culbreath for grilling and taking on any job where needed. You all rock!
Another ‘Wildcat shoutout’ goes to The Sporrer Family for organizing our ME bike/walk/roll week. We loved seeing all the students and families bike/walk/roll onto campus! Thank you so much for your continued hard work in planning this event, placing route signs, purchasing giveaways, and arranging raffle prizes. We appreciate all of your hard work
Week of 9/30/18
As we finished out our ME PTA/EEF Pledge Drive for the year, we owe a special thank you to Amy Brown and Shital Bhakta, Co VP’s of Membership. Thank you Amy for your role in the pledge drive and for always stepping up to help in all PTA activities. Shital, thank you for helping manage the pledge drive and all of the small details. Lastly, we owe a huge ‘Wildcat roar’ to all the families who donated. We appreciate it!
Week of 9/23/18
A huge Wildcat ‘shoutout’ goes to Amy Durkin, KC Cullum, Jamie Burnett, Sarah Tolmay, Jen Bazzel and Jen Styn for hosting in-class volunteer meetings and helping our amazing volunteers get started on their work. Thank you so much to all the parents who stepped up to volunteer as room parents, garden parents, art parents and photographers in their classrooms. We appreciate all of the support you are offering to the teachers and students of Mission Estancia.
Week of 9/16/18
A huge ‘Wildcat Shoutout’ goes to Amy Brown, Shawna Coleman, and Kim Ertwinefor helping restock PE equipment for all of our Wildcat classrooms! They spent a full morning inflating playground balls, footballs, and basketballs to deliver to each teacher, along with some new jump ropes. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedules to refresh the playground equipment for our kids!
Week of 9/9/18
A huge ‘Wildcat Shoutout’ goes to Chelsea Koehnen for organizing this years ME Pancake breakfast. Thank you so much for putting on such a fun community event where our families can gather to enjoy conversation and yummy breakfast! We would also like to thank Mika Barber, Jim Styn, our ME Dads Club, Andrea Hilsenroth (event sponsor) and all the other volunteers who helped decorate, set up, clean up and contributed to the success our this event.
Week of 9/2/18
A huge ‘Wildcat Shoutout‘ to our amazing teachers for making this years Back to School night a huge success! From their decorated classrooms and organized presentations, our teachers worked hard as a team and individually to prepare for this night. We hope you all had a great night mingling with your teacher and learning what to expect in his or her class during this school year at ME. It takes a village to put on an event and we appreciate every parent volunteer who helped on Wednesday night. In particular, we would like to thank Nicole Fowler, Mika Barber and Amy Brown for all their ‘behind the scenes’ effort with decorations, food prep and organizing such a fun gathering for our school community!
Week of 8/26/18
A huge ‘Wildcat Shoutout‘ to our amazing teachers for making this years Back to School night a huge success! From their decorated classrooms and organized presentations, our teachers worked hard as a team and individually to prepare for this night. We hope you all had a great night mingling with your teacher and learning what to expect in his or her class during this school year at ME. It takes a village to put on an event and we appreciate every parent volunteer who helped on Wednesday night. In particular, we would like to thank Nicole Fowler, Mika Barber and Amy Brown for all their ‘behind the scenes’ effort with decorations, food prep and organizing such a fun gathering for our school community.