FOUNDATION NEWS
WHSAF Board visits Staff’s Back-to-School Meeting
After a successful 2024-25 school year, members of the Alumni Foundation Board were excited to again attend the WHS Teacher’s Back-to-School meeting and share the impact the Foundation had in the last year. Coming off the successful year, it was wonderful to be greeted warmly as staff are now more familiar with the Foundation and the work we are doing.. Again this year we offered a back to school gift card opportunity drawing, upping the number of gift cards distributed to 20! Already these gift cards are having a positive impact and kicking the school year off on the right foot.
Dear WHS Alumni Foundation,
I am writing to thank you for your generous donation to our classroom. With the Amazon gift card I was able to purchase glue sticks, fine tip markers, printer ink, mechanical pencils, stamps, notebooks for students who needed them, and stickers for incentives. Myself and the students greatly appreciate it!
With gratitude,
Alexis Nevarez, Ethnic Studies, World History, US History
Good Morning,
I just wanted to thank you for the gift card, it is a great help to start the year with some fresh supplies. I was able to purchase a new class set of colored pencils, some regular #2 pencils, a pack of painters tape (we use this in video production a lot to label things as well as to create marks on the floor) and some color gels to add to our video production lighting room. Thanks again! I know my students will appreciate it.
Best,
Jesse McGrath, English Dept. Chair
Hey, I won one!! Thanks so much you guys!!Stephen Fish, English 9 and ERWC
---
I am writing to thank you for the $100 gift card from your Foundation. I really appreciate your generosity & continued support for our Huskies.Sincerely,Nelson Boseh, M A E - Teaching & Learning
Thank you so much for the $100 teacher support lottery award! I'll be using this generous gift to buy Geometry manipulatives for 2D and 3D shapes, protractors, highlighters and Laminating sheets for my classroom, which will be a huge help, I truly appreciate your foundation's support for teachers.
Thanks,Manjinder Nagra, Mathematics Teacher
---
Dear Alumni,
We are appreciative of this amazing gift from Alumni. Mrs. Edwards and I have used our gift cards to buy 2 orders of Teamhand Balls (6 balls in each order) and 5 pairs of Barbell Clips for our weight room. Each of these items will help in our PE classes and after school programs.
Thank you so much!
Ashley Nahale, Department Chair - Physical Education
___
Thank you very much for the $100 Amazon gift card to support my classroom needs. I purchased the following items - HP 62 Black/Tri-color Ink Cartridges for HP Printers (2-pack) & EXPO Dry Erase Markers, Low Odor Ink, Black, Fine Tip, 40 Count.
Thank you again,
Iris Ackerson, WHS Mathematics Department
Ohlone Humane Society Therapy Dogs Spring Campus Visit
On Friday, May 23, the Ohlone Humane Society (OHS) provided 5 Therapy Dog teams to the WHS students during their lunch period. This program was to provide students with a calm time out before their finals began the next week. Over 100 students came in to spend time with the dogs, while the dog parents explained their dog's breed and nature. All dogs were lovely creatures and seemed to enjoy the attention.
Dogs present were: Walker - a Newfoundland, Haruki - a Shiba Inu, Clay - a Bichae Poodle mix, Fiona - a Poodle mix, and Cody - a Husky/Shepard mix.
As the OHS Dog teams were leaving, they were informed that WHSAF would be making a donation to OHS. There was a collective "... that's so great!" response from everyone!
Paula Lorenz Campbell, WHSAF Board Member, brought the opportunity for the visit to Malia Yado, WHS Wellness Center - Parent Outreach Coordinator, who then took the reins to organize the event on campus. Malia was on hand to monitor the flow of students into the MPR. Paula overheard one student ask "How do I sign up to volunteer at OHS?"
WHS Alumni Foundation in the News
Tri-City Voice
Thank you from Teacher that received $100 in Fall Teacher Lottery
March 2025
Dear Alumni Foundation, Thank you so much for your donation to my Spanish 1 & 2 classes. We share our materials, so your generous gift of$100 benefits our entire Spanish program. We were able to purchase 35dictionaries. When we write in class and take writing assessments, our students are grateful for them. World Language Department Department Chair Julianna Danner-Vera
Update on the Microscopes for the Natural Science Class Rooms
March 2025
Megan Thaler, WHS Science Teacher, came to the Alumni Foundation in the fall with the wild hope of replacing 1960 era microscopes that were still in use. The Foundation began with an initial donation that allowed her to purchase 22 student microscopes. Additionally, one was purchased with a donation from an individual alumnus, one microscope was purchased with the science department budget, twelve came from monies from the Venture Foundation and another 23 came from money provided by the Fremont Elks Lodge #2121. The Alumni Foundation is now working to purchase the last 13 microscopes to make up the total of 72 microscopes, her original ask, enough for 4 classrooms to use concurrently. Even more exciting is that every student at WHS will use these microscopes at some point in their education. The department and Foundation also were able to purchase four teacher microscopes that have additional capabilities to project so teachers can use them while teaching.
Teacher Lottery
November 2024
In August, Board members Charmaine Stroud, Gail Pagan and Doug Rogers gave a short presentation to the WHS staff at their beginning of the year training. They provided a short history of the Foundation and promoted the Classroom Grant Program. They also introduced our latest way we support the WHS staff – a gift card lottery, which the staff entered by sending an email to the Foundation. At the September Board meeting, 15 teachers names were drawn and awarded $100 gift cards to help with classroom expenses. Staff could chose between Amazon, Staples or Target. This new program was well received by staff. Lottery Awardees Madeline Ewers, Science Mlisa Kelley, Culinary Arts Shikha Sharma, Science Nina Lim, Special Education Juliana Danner-Vera, World Languages Lisa Duncan, PE Ruth Bauer, Health Education Kevin Bermudez, English Salvador Lopez, World Language Dolores Vera-Valdez, Counseling Laura Amador, Art Garima Mittal, Math Mariah McClellan, English Matthew Hagmann, English Steven Hwang, Science An assortment of the responses we received from the staff. Laura Amador, Art – “Since we'll be making clay dominoes, your gift card covered 8 sets of example dominoes (1 for each group), Special ceramic tools for pressing round indents, XL sponges for clay cleanup, and a longer projector cord for demonstration display. They worked on these collaboratively in groups, incorporated math along with ceramics techniques, then had fun playing with their custom sets at the end of the project. Thank you again.” Shika Sharma; Science – “Thank you so much for the $100 Amazon gift card. I purchased a spiral binding machine to bind the AP Biology review books that consist of all past released questions.” Mlisa Kelley, Culinary Arts – “I have used it in Culinary Arts to purchase this amazing chocolate to make chocolate croissants this year!”
WHSAF Helps Science Department purchase new microscopes
November 2024
18-year veteran teacher (2nd year at WHS) Megan Thaler came to the September WHSAF Board meeting and made a presentation related to the purchase of new microscopes. She brought with her a microscope currently being used that has been in the classrooms of WHS since the 1960’s! Each year, there are four science classrooms each with 36 students per period and at some point every student at WHS will take a science class requiring the use of a microscope so effectively this request impacts every student at Washington. The request was for help to begin replacing the microscopes with new models, 18 for each classroom. The Board allocated $2,400 to begin purchasing new scopes. Three alumni heard of the request and each pledged $1,000 to add to the purchase. Our funding provided 3 teacher’s projection microscopes (the Science purchased an additional one) and 22 student microscopes. Ms. Thaler was able to obtain additional support from the Fremont Elks Lodge #2121 and a from a scientific philanthropic group. The WHS Alumni Foundation is very happy to have helped the Science Department make great strides towards their goal.
ALUMNI NEWS
Cyndy Mozzetti, Class of 1969
Cyndy Mozzetti, Class of 1969, was recently honored by the Fremont Educational Foundation for her years of service to the Fremont community as a Board Member of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce and a former City of Fremont Planning Commissioner. Cyndy has also made additional contributions to the community through her work with multiple non-profits.
Tony Gemignani, WHS Class of 1991
November 2024
Tony Gemignani is adding locations to his branded Slice Houses by Tony Gemignani. The pizza restaurant which currently has 19 locations throughout California and Nevada, is looking to expand beyond the current footprint with the first of the new locations to open in Salt Lake City in December. Tony’s pizza is a staple in San Francisco’s historic Italian neighborhood of North Beach, where the original Slice House is known for its award-winning New York, Sicilian, Grandma, Detroit, and California-style pizzas.
