Lakeview PTSA

Every year the Lakeview PTSA presents a Golden Acorn award to a volunteer or volunteers in recognition of his/her dedication and service to children and youth at Lakeview. A contribution in the name of the recipient(s) is made by the Lakeview PTSA to the Washington State PTA Scholarship Program.

Lakeview is blessed with over 480 district-approved volunteers so there are many amazing nominees! For the past 11 years the Golden Acorn has gone to a single person. That streak was broken this year as two Golden Acorns were handed out at Volunteer Tea on Thursday, May 23 to Cate Emerick and Andrea Mosa. On behalf of all Lakeview students we thank these two volunteers and all Lakeview volunteers for their time, talents and caring!

Golden Acorns for 2019

NOMINATION DEADLINE EXTENDED to MONDAY, MAY 6.

Each year Lakeview PTSA gives out the Golden Acorn Award to recognize a volunteer who has given outstanding service to ALL children in the school community. See the list of past Golden Acorn Recipients at Lakeview. The Golden Acorn Award winner receives a gold pin and a special certificate. A contribution is made to the Washington State PTA Financial Grant Program in their name. This program provides grants to Washington State high school graduates entering their freshman year in college or vocational school.

There is no better way to thank a favorite volunteer than to nominate them for our annual PTSA award. We welcome nominations from students, parents, teachers and any members of the community. It may seem like a small thing but just being nominated is a huge honor. This year’s recipient will be honored at the Volunteer Tea on May 23, 2019.

Please submit your nominations by Monday, May 6, 2019.

If you have any questions please contact Sarah Rock.

Gia started volunteering at Lakeview when her daughter was in Mrs. Gahnberg’s kindergarten class. Veronica is now a fourth grader in Mrs. Adams class and Lorenzo is a third grader in Mrs. Llanes and Mrs. Douma’s class.

Gia began volunteering by stopping by to help with parties and special events in Mrs. Gahnberg’s class. The next year she volunteered to lead the Reflections art contest and she hasn’t looked back. This year she lead the PTSA’s art docent program, co-chaired the Art Walk with Malia McCabe, organized the PTSA’s science fair, and worked with Brad Schmidt on Lakeview Beautification projects. This year she also served on the PTSA nominating committee and continues to volunteer in the classroom.

Outside of volunteering at Lakeview Gia is on the administrative board of a nonprofit community garden. She is also a master gardener and volunteers with WSU extension. Some of her hobbies include gardening, sewing and cooking. You’ll find Gia and her family at almost all the PTSA and school events from the back to school ice cream social to the end of the year assembly.

When asked about her favorite Lakeview events she mentioned the volunteer tea and the Martin Luther King assembly.  Though it was hard to pick just one memory and said, “I have a lots of favorite memories of my past five years at the school, I’ve loved helping kids and being an active art docent, for my kids classes and other classes as well.” She is often recognized by students at school and off-campus and said, “Lots of kids come up to me at Metropolitan market and ask me if it’s OK that they’re not doing a science fair experiment!”

Thank you Gia for all you’ve done to enrich Lakeview with art, science and more.

And congratulations on being chosen as the 2017 Golden Acorn Recipient!

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Nina and her family joined the Lakeview community last winter when they relocated to the Pacific Northwest from Scottsdale, Arizona, to be closer to family and friends in Vancouver and Calgary. Her daughter Adriana is in Mr. Johnson’s 2nd grade class. Nina says her family “loved Lakeview at first site – the administration, staff, Ms. Ferries and Mr. Johnson have all been nothing short of amazing!”

Nina jumped right in helping with the Lakeview PTSA. She is currently our Membership Co-Chair with Beatriz Soriano. As Membership Co-Chair she helped create the back-to-school packets to orient parents, organized a kindergarten playdate last August, grew our PTSA membership over the previous year, improved our room parent program and brought back the paper Lakeview Student Directory. (If you don’t have a student directory, they are free for PTSA members or $10 for non-members. Send an email to [email protected]) Nina also volunteers in the classroom whenever possible!

In addition to her current PTSA volunteering, she is a Co-Leader for the Girl Scouts Brownies Troop 44372. Coincidentally there are now five Brownies from this Troop in Mr. Johnson’s class. If you were at the Veterans Day Assembly, you saw the troop – they absolutely loved taking part in the Veterans Day flag presentation! Her past volunteer experiences include volunteering for the Canadian Red Cross Crisis Response and Preparedness Program in Calgary, and tutoring ESL for immigrant serving agencies in Vancouver.

When Nina isn’t volunteering at Lakeview or with the Girl Scouts, she works for Arizona State University as a Program Coordinator at the College of Nursing and Health Innovation. Being new to the Seattle area, she loves getting to know it with her family and spending time with her friends on both sides of the border. She has quickly adapted to the Pacific Northwest and says “I think I have fallen in love with the lake forever.”

Her favorite Lakeview memories range from endless hours spent on the friendly playground last spring to all the school and PTSA-organized events. But if she had to choose one especially memorable event, it would be the Back-to-School Ice Cream Social last September. She states, “I was so grateful and proud to be part of such a great community of kids, parents, teachers, and administrators!”

Thinking about Lakeview’s future she hopes it will continue to grow and be a safe, diverse, welcoming, and ambitious community her family has come to love. She says “I also hope we will continue to grow our PTSA membership and increase member involvement in the many amazing and invaluable activities that make our children’s experience of school an exceptional one.”

Thank you Nina for all that you do for Lakeview!

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Coleen, a member of the PTSA, since 2011, and a board member since 2014, has fulfilled many volunteer positions at Lakeview Elementary. She has been classroom volunteer, room parent, party parent and art docent over the years her now 4th grade daughter, Eliana, has been at Lakeview. Additionally, she has donated time to events such as Family Dance Night, Art Walk, Science Fair and Back to School BBQ. She is a familiar face at the Marathon, as the coordinator of this fabulous event. Finally, Coleen has given hundreds of hours to her work as PTSA treasurer. When not volunteering at Lakeview, Coleen enjoys gardening and reading.

In thinking about the future of Lakeview PTSA, and reflecting on her time as a volunteer and parent, Coleen hopes that parents would “understand all that the PTSA does and that the fundraising is needed to support all of the day to day, not just special big ticket items. She would like people to recognize the importance of volunteering not just in the classroom but for the school in PTSA positions and support roles. In conjunction with this, Coleen states that her pet peeve is “asking the same group of volunteers to do more and more.”

A favorite memory for Coleen is seeing kids persevere and complete the marathon. The staff, volunteers, parents, and kids all appreciate Coleen persevering in her many volunteer roles at Lakeview. Her time, expertise, and commitment are invaluable. Thank you Coleen!

Alison Sheffer has been volunteering at Lakeview since the day her oldest son Brady, now a fifth grader, entered Kindergarten. Even after her younger son Blake, currently in second grade, entered school, she was a room parent for both boys’ classrooms, was in charge of the Back to School BBQ and the Birthday BBQ, and worked often in the classrooms. Alison has held PTSA board positions formally for three years but worked in PTSA volunteer positions since 2010. She is currently serving as fundraising chair and will be sorely missed when she “retires” this spring. Alison acted in a supporting role for Lakeview’s first jogathon 3 years ago, and in subsequent years continued as the owner of this successful event which, in the three years since its inception, has almost solely funded the PTSA budget and special purchases, raising over $225,000.

In her “spare” time Alison loves spending time with her family – husband Matt, 2 boys and their dog. She enjoys being active, particularly water skiing, gardening, boating, as well as cooking and entertaining. Alison also like watching sports – both her boys and college/professional. Conversely, her pet peeve is social media.

Alison has valued her time volunteering at Lakeview and has a particularly fond memory of the first Jogathon. She states “We really didn’t know how it would go or how our parent community would respond. We were so nervous the kids wouldn’t have fun or it would be a total flop. But instead the kids/teachers/principal and volunteers had a blast and the fundraising was a success.” On a personal level, it is hard to match the memory of each of her boys’ first day at Lakeview.

Moving forward, Alison would like to see continued increase in parent involvement through volunteering and financial support for the PTSA. States Alison, “parents have a chance to make the biggest impact on their child’s education by supporting the PTSA as this is the body that provides what the teachers feel they need to improve student learning and experience. The programs, supplies, teacher support, scholarships, activities and equipment provided to each child only happens because of the donations and efforts from the PTSA.”

On behalf of the current PTSA board, Lakeview teachers, students and administration, a heartfelt thank you to Alison for her tireless and continued efforts over the years. She has made an impact on the community and we are lucky to have her.