Los Gatos Education Foundation

LGEF Education Week fundraising is in full swing with signs going up all over Los Gatos!

November 14-18 is LGEF Education Week! This is the week the volunteer parents of the Los Gatos Education Foundation visit our schools, hang banners, put up posters and signs, make calls and more -- all in an effort to raise funds, build parent and community involvement, and help ensure the best district possible. If you see a volunteer please say hi.  And please support LGEF!

And in the "our volunteers will do ANYTHING for LGEF" category, check out this following video put together by our outstanding Blossom Hill Campus Captains, Kate Hatton and Eric Dunstan.

Successful tech entrepreneurs seem to have a surprising “secret” to their accomplishments - studying art, music, and hands-on creative activities (such as wood or metal working).
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A study published in the journal Economic Development Quarterly (1) found that participation in artistic activities boosts the chance of entrepreneurial success in technical fields.

Researchers followed a group of Michigan State University honors college graduates from 1990 to 1994 who majored in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).

​Graduates who were successful entrepreneurs — those who went on to found companies or produce patents — were significantly more likely to have had participation in art, music and hands-on creative activities than those who did not.

And its not just entrepreneurs who benefit from the arts; a strong link was found with STEM graduates overall. In fact the STEM practitioners in this study were 62% more likely to have had classes in visual arts than the general population, 59% more likely to have been taught music, 39% more likely to have had dance instruction, and 38% more likely to have taken acting lessons.

So how does their music, arts, and hands-on creative experience help these engineers and scientists in the real world? It seems artistic thinking is crucial to their work.

​The study asked participants to identify the types of tools they used for problem solving and found, “as one would expect of science and engineering professionals, the vast majority reported using logic while doing their work…[but] an overwhelming majority also reported using ‘artistic’ styles of thinking: 95.3% reported using exploratory play as a method of problem solving; 80% reported using either intuition, imagination, or both; and about 80% reported using analogies. In other words, these successful STEM professionals use ‘artistic’ types of thinking at work just as often as they use stereotypical ‘scientific’ modes of thinking.”
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In summary, researchers determined that “participation in various arts and crafts positively correlates with the production of patentable inventions and the founding of new companies, and can differentiate the entrepreneurs from less innovative individuals, even among a group of highly successful individuals such as Honors College STEM professionals.”

(1) Arts and Crafts: Critical to Economic Innovation
LaMore et al., Economic Development Quarterly, August 2013, 27 (3), p. 221

LGEF is off to a fantastic start with $125,000 raised in the first two weeks of school.  This is 33% higher than the first two weeks of last year!  LGEF funds help to ensure a high quality education for our children.  Our heartfelt thanks go to all those who have contributed so far.

There is still a long way to go to fund all programs so we hope all Los Gatos families will consider supporting LGEF.

One of the strongest slates of LGEF campus captains ever is headlined by three new captains and four veterans.  View more about the individual captains here.

LGEF campus captains are parents with children at the 5 schools in Los Gatos Union district.  Their passion is communicating with families at their schools to raise awareness of LGEF programs, answer questions, and raise funds. 

We are fortunate in 2016-2017 to have a slate of "super volunteers".  All are dedicated parents who  engaged in their schools and their community.  All are great communicators who love talking to other parents. All care about a high quality education for their children and the children of the district.

Captains have a wide range of backgrounds but seems to overlap in some things -- a passion for improving education, a commitment to volunteering, and a love of the outdoors (especially biking and hiking).

Plus they are fun people! Say hi next time you see them -- probably out on the Los Gatos Creek trail.

Earlier this year Sereno Group Real Estate selected LGEF for it's "1% for Good" program, where local agents generously contribute 1% of their gross commissions to LGEF. Well the contributions are now in and they amount to a major, $20,000 donation to the education of the children of Los Gatos. Thank you Sereno Group!

In the photo below Kim Richman, Sales Manager/Realtor for Sereno Group, hands the check to LGEF Executive Director Deborah Weinstein and 2015-2016 LGEF President Nick Goddard. I notice Nick has quite a solid grip on that check!

​We are super thrilled to announce that Sereno Group Real Estate and its Los Gatos agents have selected LGEF as the recipient of the agency's "1% for Good" program. During the months of May through August 2016, Sereno Group's local agents will contribute 1% of their gross commissions to LGEF.

These funds will support LGEF K-8 programs and resources for science, music, art and social-emotional learning--all critical for ensuring a well-rounded, competitive education for the students of Los Gatos.

We thank Sereno Group and its agents for supporting Los Gatos students through LGEF. Business programs like "1% for Good" are incredibly significant in the amount of funds we can raise for the education of district children. This is a real life demonstration of our motto, "Let's be Great! Together, We Educate." It takes a community with businesses like Sereno Group to support great schools.

Look for the ad above in Los Gatos Weekly newspaper and online during the promotional period. And thanks to district mom and photographer Janette Canare, who took the ad photo and to the district students who gave their time to appear in it.