Hickory PTA Roundup
February 2024
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From the PTA President
Hello Hickory Hounds!
January was a busy month for our PTA and I’m still recovering from the Winter Festival. It was great to see so many happy faces and I loved getting to talk to everyone that stopped by the sled run. I still can’t believe we brought snow to Hickory on the first day of a January heat wave! The PTA is very lucky to have such great volunteers and support volunteers from Madrona Middle School and Torrance High to help us with every event. We have over 850 students at Hickory Elementary so every volunteer hour and donation helps the PTA to make sure we are able to equally serve all of our students and their families.
With gratitude,
Amy Brownstone
Calendar at a Glance
February 8, 2024: PTA Board Meeting, 4:30pm at Hickory
February 12, 2024: No school
February 19, 2024: No school
February 27-28, 2024: The Habit restaurant fundraiser
March 2-6, 2024: Read Across America Week
March 29, 2024: Jog-a-Thon
Yearbook
Yearbooks continue to be on sale for $19 until the end of February. Then the price will go up! So get your yearbooks now at https://link.entourageyearbooks.com/my/HickoryYearbook2024. You can also use this link to upload photos for a chance to be featured in the yearbook. Accepting pictures now for Winter Festival, Classroom Holiday Parties, Sports, and more! **Please no more than 2 photos per category** Contact yearbook@hickorypta.net if you have any issues or questions.
Nominating Committee
The PTA has begun their search for volunteers to fill vital roles for the 2024-2025 school year.
We believe that every parent has unique talents and skills to contribute and we encourage you to think about serving in a leadership position on the PTA Board or as a program chairperson. If you would like to know more or if you have questions, please reach out to Sunny Joo at sunnyhickorypta@gmail.com.
Jog-a-Thon
The Hickory PTA will be holding the school’s annual Jog-a-thon on Friday, March 29th, 2024. This is the PTA’s biggest fundraiser of the year and will help us to fund PTA expenses for the rest of this school year and carry us through the start of next school year. With over 850 students we’re always looking for volunteers to help us with all aspects of Jog-a-thon. Volunteers are needed for event planning, prize distribution, and day of set up and clean up. Interested volunteers can email: volunteers@hickorypta.net.
Read Across America Week
National Read Across America Week will take place from March 2 - 6, 2024. The PTA is looking for special guest readers for our Hickory Hounds during the week of March 4th - 8th. If you are interested in helping plan the activities or becoming a guest reader, please contact president@hickorypta.net.
Winter Fest 2024 Gratitude
The Winter Festival was a huge success and we would not have been able to achieve an event of this scale without all the help and donations from our Hickory community! Every contribution in volunteer time or items donated meant a lot to us, so we would like to thank everyone who played a part. We apologize if we accidentally left your name off of this list; please know we appreciate you too.
Planning Committee
Leads:
Yelli Alacantara- Decorations
Lina Awshee- Business Vendors, Live Entertainment, Spiritwear
Amy Brownstone- Co-chair, Games
Nicole Carlson- Decorations
Keri Kaba-Dien- Webpage, Marketing
Sunny Joo- Fundraisers
Mrs. Leach- Facilities
Nichol Leone- Student Volunteers
Clarence Ma- Food Trucks
Crystal Takeda- Arts and Crafts
Cathy Uechi -Food Trucks
Stacey Wong- Chair, Parent Volunteers, Snow Sled Run
Committee Members:
Tricia Cole- Fundraisers
Sawa Funai- Spiritwear
Mary Ishida- Fundraisers
Brownstone Family- Games
Festival Volunteers
Special Thanks to Cheyenne de Bruyne for helping us with First Aid and Travis White for set up and towing of the light tower
Thank to all of these volunteers for helping with set up, clean up and working shifts during the Festival:
Nabilath Akimey
Yelli Alcantara
Brandi Arcuri
Lina Awshee
Amy Brownstone
Anastacia Buerger
Atziri Camarena
Nicole Carlson
Alicia Cave Poots
Enie Chae
Tricia Cole
Alexa Davis
Marissa Engoy
Brittany Fraser Resendez
Julie Gerszewski (free art booth)
Miki Inoue
Mary Ishida
Sudha Joga
Sunny Joo
Keri Kaba-Dien
Alice Kao
Tirheas Kirflezghie
Beate Kirschke
Eunkyeong Lee
Nichol Leone
Carmen Lupercio
Clarence Ma
Jayani Manikkage
Michelle Maya
Mindy McKoin
Melissa Miura
Winnie Nguyen
Aya Ota
Melissa Para
Sreejitha Rajan
Allyson Coats Savala
Aiko Smith
Crystal Takeda
Kari Tani
Sarah Traughber
Li Tsai
Robyn Tsik
Cathy Uechi
Stacey Wong
Student groups: We had about 80 students volunteer at our event! Special thanks to Seth from Tartar Knights for being our Hickory Hound.
Madrona CJSF
Madrona Leadership
Torrance High Kiwanis
Torrance High Tartar Knights and Tartar Ladies
Silent Auction, Raffle, and Other Donations
Special thanks to the grade level silent auction basket organizers!
Contributors:
Nicole Carlson
Yerie Sun
Rosie Cruz
Adriana Wianecki
Patty Wu
Marissa Huang
Sunny Joo
Lina Awshee
Lanah Kim
Marcus Romero
Maxwell Kim
Ms. Wand
Mari Nasagawa
Mindy McKoin
Everette Baskett
Kylie Tani
Sienna Hsu
Emily Noto
Lara Guba
Ms. Michaelian
Joanna Lee
Nichol Leone
Mary Ishida
2nd grade room reps
Stacey Wong
Yelli Alcantara
Felicia Chen
Rosie Cruz
Keri Kaba-Dien
Amanda Kirsch
Melissa Para
Darlenne Tartaglione
Amy Brownstone
Tricia Cole
Aileen Su
Vanessa Leal/Fogo de Chão
Business Donors:
Game Chest
Planet Escape
Trader Joe’s
Stonefire Grill
Shake Shack
Wahoo’s
Lazy Dog
Ganahl Lumber
Harbor Freight Tools
My Gym
AR Workshop Torrance
Sender One
Planet Escape Room
Annika Alexandra Photography
Fund Photos
Local Kitchen
Musical Treats Donations:
Stacey Wong
Sunny Joo
Winnie Nguyen
Valentino Munaro
Bradley Boyd
Munzzah Lathief
Tricia Cole
Keri Kaba-Dien
Angelica Velazquez
Carol Shin
Seungwoo Han
Jenny Ogasawara
Seungjae Han
Eugene Choi
Mary Ishida
Nicole Carlson
Cathy Uechi
Aileen Su
Paul Holland
Kim Koo
Laurie Lee
Kaycee Kaba-Yee
Other Contributors:
Thank you for lending us your equipment for the Festival!
Brittany Fraser Resendez
Sunny Joo
Nino Guba
Julie Gerszewski
Melissa Para
Tara Abbott
Eunkyeong Lee
Maya Sandoval
Dulee Ro
Valentino Munaro
Nicole Carlson
Yoolee Park
Alicia Cave Poots
Cheri Moriwaki
Sunny Joo
Paul Tran
Mrs. Watanuki
Anya Juvasvat
Keri Kaba-Dien
Art supply donations:
Amy Brownstone
Jo Ann Kaba
Paul Tran
Donovan Tran
Winter Holiday Posters
Thank you to these students and families for sharing their traditions! The posters will be displayed in the library for all the students to enjoy.
Zuri Ma
Eliana Ko
Schuyler Ho
Beatrice Brownstone
Ishaan Bhattacharjee
Rutam Odhekar
Donovan Tran
Tessa Awshee and Hope Learning Center
Lost and Found
The Lost and Found cart is located in Room 31 at the front of campus. Volunteers are working hard to reunite lost items with their owners but we need your help. Please write your child's name and room number on items brought to school. This will allow our volunteers to bring lost items to the classroom instead of into Room 31.
Please see the Hickory PTA Calendar for the Lost and Found cart rollout dates at the Front and Park Gates.
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