While walking around our school and enjoying the great environment and community, some may wonder who helped create it all. SchoolPower is a parent volunteer-based non-profit education foundation that has been raising money to enhance the educational experience of Laguna Beach students since 1981. Among the many programs it supports are music, STEM, performing and visual arts, athletics and student wellness and support.  

The Wave of Giving is SchoolPower’s current community campaign. The Wave of Giving’s aim is to inspire $500,000 of donations by the end of the year; to date, it has reached 34% of this goal, with 292 supporters providing $170,428 of support to our schools.

In 2017-18, SchoolPower raised $760,000 for the Laguna Beach District to enhance education for students.

“SchoolPower has provided a grant for drumline to purchase a laptop for our competition needs. In addition, SchoolPower helps out many other subjects on campus, and we are so grateful for their generous support,” said music teacher Jeremy Chung.

Among many past accomplishments, SchoolPower has facilitated small class sizes to improve education for students, so teachers can focus on students who need help. Additionally, teacher grants and donor-designated funds have been used to improve classroom experiences, PTAS, athletics and boosters.

“SchoolPower has provided us with a grant to bring technology into the dance studios. This includes an LCD projector screen and an Apple TV. SchoolPower donations have supported buying dance program apparel for all classes,” said dance teacher Estee Fratzke.

In addition, SchoolPower has supported the mental health programs at our schools. The Laguna Beach School District and many parents have realized that students are in need in the area of social-emotional learning. A group called SEL (social-emotional learning services) supports students and engages teachers and staff to more effectively serve students’ needs, provide crisis support and make community connections. Last year, SchoolPower gave a grant to the district to launch the SEL initiative.

“SchoolPower generously supported the financial kick-start for the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) services to fund a Director of Social Emotional Support and two Student Support Specialists in the 2017-2018 school year, which are now funded through the District’s general fund,” said Student Support Specialist Alex Aronson.

SchoolPower organizes fundraising events every year like the Dodgeball tournament, an annual dinner dance, the Chef Challenge dinner and the Barefoot Golf Classic. If one donates to SchoolPower, there are rewards. A donor of $100 receives two Laguna Locals cards that give discounts to 130 participating stores; a donor of $1,500 receives two tickets to SchoolPower dinner dance.

If you would like to donate, please go to https://give.lbschoolpower.org, or if you want to know more about SchoolPower, visit https://www.lbschoolpower.org.SchoolPower supports programs by funding them like SEL ( Social Emotional Learning services). Sara Jacobs, Alex Aronson, Grace LaMontagne worked towards improving social-emotional learning.