IT’S NOT TOO EARLY TO THINK ABOUT GOLF!!

It may be the season of winter with snow and ice surrounding us, but it’s not too early to start thinking about GOLF! The 20^th Annual Bonneville Bucket Golf Tournament will be held on Monday, June 6^th, at 7:30 a.m. at the Sleepy Ridge Golf Course at 700 Sleepy Ridge Drive in Orem, Utah. For a $60 charge, participants pay for their entry fee, green fee, cart, hole, prizes, luncheon, and Kids Cause Foundation donation. Educators can receive a discounted rate by calling 801-224-2055. Registration forms will be posted on this Bonneville Blog site in the near future, so keep reading all of the articles featured here to stay informed about the upcoming Bonneville Bucket Golf Tournament!

Greenwood Elementary (Alpine School District) Open House

A public open house will be held at Alpine School District's Greenwood Elementary in American Fork at at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 26, to showcase the school's new additions. Recent renovations resulted in three offices, eleven new classrooms, a conference room, faculty room, work room, nurse's office, and a custodial storage room. All of the students, staff, parents, and community members are very excited about the positive results of the new construction at Greenwood Elementary. Principal Cathy Matheson expressed the feelings of everyone affected by these changes by saying, "It is beautiful. The community, school, teachers, staff - everyone was excited. It doesn't look like a 1950s school. We got a nice face lift."

Construction on the added school facilities began last spring, and the majority of the renovations were completed just before Thanksgiving. A few projects are still being completed, including a kitchen and a tile mural. The mural is a mosaic displaying 125 tiles made from student drawings that portray their favorite books. Students were selected from each grade level to participate in this valuable project that encourages and rewards reading.

An Eagle Scout candidate and former Greenwood Elementary student, Taylor Chadwick, helped to coordinate the November 23 move into the new school addition area. Taylor's mother, Tresa, is an aide at the school, and they called between 50 and 70 people the day before the move to organize the gigantic event. District personnel, neighbors, and friends of the school rallied together to make the transition in about two and a half hours during extremely cold weather. Students had even gotten involved in the moving process before that by moving their own desks into the new area. The feeling of community collaboration and service to others provided satisfaction and school pride to everyone involved in the move.

Anyone interested in admiring the beautiful new facilities and student work at Greenwood Elementary is welcome to visit the school during the open house at 5:30 on Wednesday, January 26, at 50 East 200 South in American Fork.

Information for this article was taken from a January 20, 2011, Daily Herald article written by Barbara Christiansen. The accompanying photo was taken by Jason Olson of the Daily Herald.

Local UEA / NEA Members Attend Western Regional Leadership Conference

Local UEA / NEA members in the Bonneville UniServ area attended the recent NEA Western Regional Leadership Conference held at the Hilton in Salt Lake City. Participants attending the conference were from the states of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. This year's WRLC was hosted by the Utah Education Association. UEA President Sharon Gallagher-Fishbaugh, UEA Vice-President Tom Nedreberg, and UEA Executive Director Mark Mickelsen coordinated all of the events of the three-day conference.

Attendees participated in focus area sessions in Political Action, Member Concerns & Representation, Funding Public Education in a Difficult Economy, Education Policy, and Membership & Organizing Campaigns. NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.delivered the keynote speech at the Friday opening session dinner to inspire conference participants, and set a positive tone for the weekend activities. Utahan Lily Eskelsen, NEA Vice-President and featured speaker at Saturday's lunch, spoke out against "one-size fits all" standardized tests.in American schools.

Sunday's conference session was closed with remarks by NEA Secretary-Treasurer Becky Pringle, who urged teachers to "Lift up your heads, and be proud to be leaders in America!" WRLC participants were left with feelings of optimism and confidence that they were making a positive difference in the lives of American students.

Kids Cause Recognizes Volunteers For Their Support

Kids Cause helps serve public school students who are not assisted by any other community agencies. Today Kids Cause has 81 pilot schools in Utah to help provide clothing, school supplies, eyeglasses, hearing aids and dental services to students who have needs and are identified by their teachers. With the support of United Way, K-Marts in Utah County and Target in American Fork, Kids Cause has contributed to provide clothing and school supplies to students. Kids Cause has also partnered with optometrists and dentists. Because of wide public exposure, more and more money is allocated to Kids Cause from state and federal sources each year.

Kids Cause relies completely on volunteer help. Employees of Alpine, Nebo and Provo School Districts are invited to contribute each year to contribute to Kids Cause through United Way. Donations also come from community 

Every year Kids Cause awards volunteers from each district in recognition for their efforts and support. This year awards have been given to the following volunteers:

Alpine:

Nancy Christiansen- KC Coordinator at Aspen Elementary

Jill Atkinson- KC Coordinator at Mt. Mahogany Elementary

Karma Swain- KC Board Member

Nebo:

Monica Hullinger- KC Coordinator Brockbank Elementary

Mar Jean Strong- KC Coordinator Cherry Creek Elementary

Provo:

Rosanna Ungerman- Principal- Dixon Middle School

Merlin McEntire- Optometrist

Annual Shop With A Cop Event

Sirens were heard throughout Spanish Fork as 159 police officers from city departments and the Utah County Sheriff's department gathered at Kmart on Saturday, December 11th to participate in the annual Shop With A Cop event. The event is in its 22nd year and pairs children with police officers to 
participate in Christmas shopping.

 
Kids Cause works with each participating school Coordinators in finding the children that are in need of this experience. Children are presented with a $100.00 gift card which is provided through many fundraisers and donations from members of the community. These children can buy Christmas presents for their family and themselves. 

Shop With A Cop turned out really well this year. It is a program that wouldn't turn out without the help of Kids Cause volunteers, officers, and the community. We appreciate everyone's efforts!