Letter of Appreciation Dear SJCS Community, Welcome to our 11th Annual Auction! This event is one of the most important and most anticipated of each school year, and our prayer is that you will experience a great deal of joy and fellowship this evening as you also benefit our students and teachers. For 2012-13, we chose the school-wide theme, “Rise Up.” All year we have been talking with our students about what it means to live out fully who God has created them to be. We want them to rise up to that calling in every aspect of their lives, and that same message goes for all of us. Those are high expectations that stretch us to grow. By “stepping out” tonight, you have the opportunity to “step up” and help us accomplish our mission all the more effectively in the lives of our students. We want our students and teachers to have access to the kind of technology that is shaping our experiences with the world, and we want to make sure that our intentional integration of that technology into our classes also helps reinforce the values and practices of the community of believers. Technology can help us learn to listen well and communicate appropriately with each other. It can provide unique ways to tell our stories and celebrate the wondrous diversity of God’s creation, and it can help us spark students engagement and inquiry that will drive their learning for years to come. We are ready to take on the challenges and opportunities before us, and we can’t wait to get started! The money raised tonight will be used for technology projects that include: • Updating the remaining laptops in our mobile labs and installing the final mounted projectors • Providing document cameras, Apple TVs, and sound bars for our classrooms • Purchasing a dedicated iPad lab for our Learning Center The projects listed above, in addition to our normal technology maintenance and updates, will require about $50,000 to accomplish, but that is not all we hope to achieve from the 2013 auction. This summer, we will be renovating our auditorium (walls, windows, carpet, sound booth, lighting, wiring, and stage), and we would like to contribute $10,000 toward that effort from this event as well. We have met all of our auction goals in years past, so we pray that once again our school supporters will step up to bless the work of San Jose Christian School. Finally, we realize that our educational efforts cannot solely focus on the present but must look to the future and secure a sustainable vision for SJCS in the years to come. With that mindset, 10% of the net auction income (excluding fund-a-need items or items tagged for a specific cause) will be used to help build our Endowment. The Endowment is an investment fund that, when large enough, will provide income to support missioncentric aspects of our work. Currently, the Endowment is valued at just over $400,000, and the goal is to take it to $1 million so that it contributes a significant sum each year. With all of these causes in mind, you can see why the Annual Auction is so important to San Jose Christian School. We thank you for stepping out this evening and for stepping up to partner with us in the education of our students. With much gratitude,
Dan Meester
Betsy Phillips
Superintendent
Community Development
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