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Mar Vista Students Raise Funds for Paradise Elementary

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The students at Mar Vista Elementary School recently held a special Winter Benefit Concert to raise funds to help the children and families of Paradise Elementary School, which burned to the ground in 2018 during the devastating Camp fire.

Students in grades TK (Transitional Kindergarten) through 4th performed a wide range of songs, starting with It’s a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong and finishing up with I’ll be There by Bruno Mars.  The first of two performances  was held on a Thursday morning at 8:30 AM, but the hall was packed with parents excited to see their kids perform.

Students from the 5th and 6th grades ran the coffee and bake sale, which was the fundraising portion of the event.  They had an ambitious goal of raising $4,000-$5,000 for the victims of the fire.  The students of Mar Vista Elementary School ask you to please donate to the Camp Fire Relief Fund!

Schools is all about learning, and by putting on this benefit concert, the students have learned a very important lesson.  They’ve learned that we’re all in this together, and that when people need help it’s important to step up and lend a hand to those in need.

Mar Vista Elementary Winter Benefit Concert Video

Mar Vista Elementary Winter Benefit Concert Photo Gallery

 

The school also put together a video showing how the idea of this special benefit concert came about, and can be seen below:

Move for Mar Vista is Back in 2018

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Move for Mar Vista is Back in 2018!

For the past several years, the Mar Vista Elementary School Parent’s Club has been putting on a 5K race through the beautiful forest of Nisene Marks State Park.  The race begins in Aptos Village Park and goes up through the Nisene Marks for a couple of kilometers before runners head on back to the finish line. The race will be held Sunday, April 29th, starting at 9:00 AM.

This year, it’s got a 1980’s theme!  Runners are encouraged to dig deep into their closets to pull out their finest 1980’s attire to wear during the race.  It’s a great opportunity to get outdoors with your family and pass on the love of running to the next generation.  The event is open to the whole community, and all ages and abilities are welcome.

All proceeds go to benefit Mar Vista Elementary School and their efforts to build a running track on the lower field.  They’ll be awarding prizes for the best dressed runners.  You can sign up using this link:  https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/Aptos/MoveforMarVista5k. Registration is $25 for kids 12 and under and $35 for everyone else.

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Mar Vista Harvest Festival Sunday, October 29

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Mar Vista Harvest Festival: Sunday, October 29, 12-4 PM

With the blistering temperatures we’ve been getting these past few days in Aptos, you’d be excused for missing the fact that it’s harvest season! That means it’s time again for the Mar Vista Harvest Festival, which will be held this coming Sunday, October 29th from 12 PM to 4 PM. As always, the festival will be held at Mar Vista Elementary School, and the general public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

One of the great things about the Mar Vista Harvest Festival are the food trucks.  The food trucks are coming back this year, and offer amazingly great food, sure to please even the pickiest foodies.  This year’s food trucks are:

  • Ate3one
  • Saucey’z
  • Aptos Street BBQ
  • Pono
  • El Buen Taco

After you fill up at the food trucks, you won’t want to miss the Sugar Shack, featuring tables groaning under the weight of cookies, cakes, and countless other sweat treats.

In addition to all the great food, a number of fun and family-friendly activities will be available, including:

Wristband & Ticket Activities

  • Witch’s Tooth Toss
  • Witch’s Hat Ring Toss
  • Halloween Ducky Derby
  • Pumpkin Pong
  • Boo Ball
  • Bounce House
  • Vertical Slide
  • Petting Zoo
  • Glitter Tattoos/Hair Spray
  • Face Painting
  • Cake Walk

Ticket-only Activities

  • Rock Wall
  • Bungee Swings
  • Frisbee Spin Art
  • Balloon Art
  • Carmel Apple Creation
  • Dunk Tank
  • Pumpkins purchased at The Pumpkin Patch

There will be plenty of activities which require no tickets or wrist band at all, including performances by the dancers of the Santa Cruz Pacific Arts Complex (PAC), the Surfing magician, Valley Elite Cheer, and Kristy’s School of Dance, the CHP Race Car, and more!

Wrist bands and tickets can be purchased in advance online – and if you buy your wrist band by Friday October 27th, wrist bands cost only $15 instead of $20.

The weather is supposed to be a bit cooler than we’ve seen for the past few days – so come on out and enjoy some beautiful Aptos weather and celebrate the season with your friends, family, and the whole Aptos community.  We hope to see you there!

Fun for Kids of All Ages!

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Marching in the 4th of July Parade

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Marching in the World's Shortest Parade
Marching in the World’s Shortest Parade

The 4th of July has come and gone, and the 55th Anniversary Edition of the World’s Shortest parade is one for the history books. I’ve watched many of these parades roll by over the years, but I’d never actually been in the parade until this year – and many of you never have, either! So I’m sharing with you my experience of marching in the 4th of July parade.

I marched with the crew from Mar Vista Elementary School. We started the morning with the pancake breakfast – I’d never done that, either. It was about what you’d expect from a pancake breakfast, but with notably good orange juice, coffee, and lots of friendly smiling faces – some familiar, many not.

After breakfast, we headed up to the Wells Fargo bank parking lot to join up with the folks marching for Mar Vista. On the way up there, I ran into Steve Bennett who quickly gave me the low-down on the Mar Vista Cheer. One of our contingent – Gigi, who will be in 6th grade this year at Mar Vista, her last year – has quite a set of pipes on her, so she led us in the cheer, I recorded it with my iPhone, check it out:

Video of Mar Vista Marching in the 4th of July Parade

After we marched all the way down the parade route, we headed down to the Party at Aptos Village Park, and checked that out for a bit. Lots of great food, entertainment, and even a petting zoo for the kids.

It turns out that marching in the parade is a lot like watching the parade from the sidelines, except of course you don’t get to see much of the parade itself. But the experience is similar – it’s all about connecting with the community and being part of the whole. I expect I’ll be marching in the parade in the future, but next year, I think I’ll do something else I’ve never done before – set my chair out the day before in a prime spot to watch the Aptos world roll by, in all its kitschy glory. 🙂

Photos of Mar Vista Marching in the 4th of July Parade

Marching in the World’s Shortest Parade

Aptos Cares

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Comcast Cares Day Cleanup Plan
Comcast Cares Day Cleanup Plan

A couple of weekends ago, Comcast Cares Day came to Mar Vista Elementary School, where my son is currently enrolled in first grade. Each year, the good folks at Comcast sponsor community service events throughout the country, enlisting thousands of volunteers to help make their communities a better place. Comcast provides tools and materials, and actually also donates $10 per volunteer who shows up to help.

Orlando Calderon, Mar Vista Student Parent and Comcast Employee
Orlando Calderon, Mar Vista Student Parent and Comcast Employee

Mar Vista Elementary School was very fortunate to have been chosen this year, and we owe it to a Mar Vista Elementary school parent, Orlando Calderon, a Comcast employee, who nominated Mar Vista Elementary for the program this year. As it happens, Orlando came to my house and fixed an issue I was having with my high-speed Internet (the first issue I’d had in over 2 years of service) – and he doggedly stuck with it until the issue was resolved. It’s clear that Orlando really cares, about Comcast’s customers and our community as well.

It was great to see so many families from Mar Vista come out to participate in the event. Things got rolling around 7:30 AM, and a whole bunch of folks stayed for the entire day, with a break for lunch provided by Aptos Street BBQ. Lots of kids were out there working too. In an era of omnipresent iPads and other digital distractions, it was really refreshing to see so many kids happily and enthusiastically helping make their school a better place.

Comcast even got Supervisor Zach Friend out of bed early on a Saturday morning, leaving his wife and toddler son back at home, to come and give Principal Rich Determan a certificate from state senator Bill Monning, who, unsurprisingly, could not actually attend in person. I shot a little video of Zach’s remarks, which you can see below.

Zach Friend’s Remarks at Comcast Cares Day

This morning at the gym, I finished watching President Obama’s commencement speech for the 2016 class at Howard University. Say what you like about Obama’s politics, but the guy gives a good speech. What I took away from it is that your personal involvement in the community is really important. It’s not enough to sit and complain and refuse to participate because it’s futile or because the whole system is corrupt.

And I think this is what makes Aptos the amazing place that it is. People are engaged. People care. And you really saw that a couple of weeks ago at Comcast Cares Day. So thanks to Orlando Calderon, to Comcast, and to everyone who came out to help spiff up our school. You’ve helped make the world a better place, one shovel full of mulch and paint brush stroke at a time.

Painting
Preparing the Slope
Supervisor Zach Friend and Aiden Frey
Kids at Work
Repainting the Stage
Spreading the Mulch
Tree Trimming on Lower Field
Lunch from Aptos Street BBQ
Preparing the Slope
Lunch from Aptos Street BBQ
Refreshing the Paint
Organizing the Storage Shed
New Paint

Comcast Cares Day comes to Mar Vista

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Comcast Cares
Comcast Cares

Mar Vista Elementary School has been selected as one of the recipients of the Comcast Cares Day program. Comcast Cares Day, which takes place each April during National Volunteer Month, is now in its 15th year.  On Saturday, April 30th, Comcast will be sponsoring a school clean up day and fundraiser, starting at 7:30 AM and running until 2 PM. For every community member that shows up to help clean up Mar Vista, the school will receive a $10 donation from Comcast, and the gift of each volunteer’s service.

Mar Vista Elementary School owes its selection to Orlando Calderon, a Mar Vista parent and Comcast employee. He submitted the school to the program and is the site coordinator for the project.

Comcast Cares Day is a celebration of our company’s year-round commitment to service, and has grown to become the nation’s largest single-day corporate volunteer event. In 2015, more than 100,000 volunteers improved more than 900 parks, schools, beaches, senior centers and other vital community sites.

Comcast will be providing cleaning supplies and food for the volunteers, along with a free t-shirt. If you are interested in helping out, please sign up!  There are two ways to register, either online using this link or by downloading and printing a PDF form and turning in a volunteer form to the Mar Vista office.

The deadline for signup was officially April 15th but volunteers are still be accepted, and the more the merrier and the sooner the better.

Comcast expects more than 100,000 volunteers to participate in more than 800 projects worldwide, and the school hoping to have a hundred or more volunteers at Mar Vista on Saturday.  Please come out and show your support for Mar Vista and our community!

See also: Comcast Cares on Twitter, Comcast in the Community, Mar Vista Project Page

Run the Mar Vista 5K Race!

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Mar Vista 5k Run-2
Support Mar Vista Elementary School!

Yo yo!  Mar Vista Elementary School is throwing it all the way back to the 1980’s for its Inaugural 5K race! The proceeds from this new fun-raiser will go to help construct a running track for Mar Vista, to help our kids stay physically fit. So grab everyone you can and join them, dressed in your headbands, leg warmers and brightest neon colors for what is sure to be a fun and exciting morning.

The race will be run on Sunday, April 17th at 9:00 AM. It begins at Aptos Village Park, and proceeds into the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. Participants will receive a race day shirt and an experience they are sure to remember – and of course, the satisfaction of helping improve Mar Vista School, a pillar of our community for over fifty (50!) years.

The 5k race will be professionally chip timed, and awards will be given to the overall male and female winners and medals for the top 3 winners from each gender/age group.

The entrance fee is $40 for individuals $150 for a family 4 pack. To sign up, visit http://www.fleetfeetaptos.com/racing/move-for-mar-vista-5k

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE! If you’d like to sponsor the race, please contact moveformarvista5k@yahoo.com for information.

Mar Vista School Auction This Saturday!

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Mar Vista 2016 Auction
Mar Vista 2016 Auction

Spring is in the air, and it’s fundraising time! Mark your calendars everyone – the Mar Vista School Auction is this Saturday, March 5th, from 2:00 PM until 6:00 PM. The event will be held at Cantine Wine Pub in Aptos Village. Last year’s auction was also held at Cantine, which is a wonderful place to gather with friends and share a cup or two of the good stuff. The theme this year is Black and White – formal or informal, no ties or heels required. Tickets are $35 at the door, and worth every penny as it includes some delicious food and wine – and goes to support the Mar Vista Parent + School Club.

And don’t just think this fun community event is just for families with kids at Mar Vista Elementary – it’s for everyone! Check it out: this year’s auction grand prize is a 3-day stay at an awesome North Shore Tahoe Home situated on Old Brockway Golf Course, valued at $1300! This home has an AMAZING rating on AirBNB! The home features 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 6-person hot tub, sleeps 9, and is 10 minutes from Northstar, 8 minutes to casinos, and 5 minutes to North Tahoe Beach.

So come on out to Cantine Wine Pub this Saturday – lots of your friends and neighbors will be there, and it’s for sure that a good time will be had by all.

Mar Vista School Needs Your Support!

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Read-a-Thon Logo
Sponsor the Mar Vista Read-a-thon!

Mar Vista School Needs Your Support with their 2015 Read-a-thon! This is the second year that Mar Vista Elementary School in Aptos is running a read-a-thon fundraiser. With only a few days left to go, the school is well short of it’s $35,000 fundraising goal.

Mar Vista is a California Distinguished School and is renown in the community for its amazing community – just like Aptos itself. Hundreds of Aptos kids attend the school, and thousands of Aptosians themselves attended Mar Vista Elementary school at some time in their lives.

If you know a child at Mar Vista Elementary School, you can go to this web page to look them up and make a donation and become that child’s supporter in the fundraiser.

Even if you don’t have a child currently enrolled at Mar Vista, won’t you consider making a donation to the read-a-thon, to help them reach their fundraising goal? You can make a donation either as an individual, or make a donation as a business to have your business featured on the fundraising page! It’s a great way to log in a tax-deductible expense before the end of the year.

We thank you for your support!

Mar Vista Harvest Festival this Sunday!

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Mar Vista 2015 Harvest Festival
Mar Vista 2015 Harvest Festival

Come one, come all to the Mar Vista Harvest Festival this Sunday! The event will be held from 12 to 4 PM at Mar Vista Elementary School, and all members of the public are welcome and invited to attend this free event!

The organizers have really gone over the top this year – look what they have planned:

  • Dancers from the Performing Arts Center
  • El Cuarto Verde Band
  • SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics)
  • Fire Truck
  • Sheriff’s Canine Demonstration
  • Magician

There will be a number of food trucks at the festival too – including from Zameen, Carmona’s and Lucy’s Hot Dogs!, so come hungry!

While the event is free, attendees can purchase a $20 wrist band using this link which gives you:

  • Unlimited Bounce House Rides
  • Unlimited Games
  • Choice of 1 time visit to 5 of the following:
    • Cookie Lab
    • Glitter Tattoo
    • PumpkinCupcake Walk
    • Bracelet Making
    • Frisbee Spin Art
    • Face Painting

New this year is a special Wipeout styled bounce house – check it out:

Wipeout Style Bounce House
Wipeout Style Bounce House

This is going to be an amazing event and a great deal of fun for everyone – so please come on down and support Mar Vista Elementary School and our community!

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