VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AT FREESTYLE

Freestyle aims to make learning more engaging through hands on projects that involve the students in our community. The success of the program depends in large part on parent or community volunteers. Below is a list of volunteer opportunities for Freestyle family members, friends and community members. If you can help in any way, please contact Gordon Jack at gordon.jack@mvla.net or (650) 940-4680.

 

GUEST SPEAKERS	FIELD TRIPS
Are you a professional writer, designer, photographer, web designer, recording engineer, filmmaker, editor or animator? If not, do you know anyone who is? Help us bring working professionals into the classroom to enhance the students’ educational experience and show them the relevance of what they’re learning. Time frame: August-May	Field trips provide our students with a unique opportunity to observe working professionals and learn more about a field of interest. If you can help connect us with a company in a field related to Freestyle’s subject areas, please let us know. We also need volunteers to chaperone on these trips or drive students. Time frame: August -May
SENIOR PROJECT MENTORS	SCHOOL TOURS
Every senior at Freestyle participates in a year-long research project related to an area of interest. Our goal is to connect each senior with a mentor related to his/her senior project. These mentors meet with the student regularly and help make this a unique learning experience. In 2007-2008, our mentors included professionals in such diverse fields as sports photography, stand up comedy, inventing, video game design, and graphic design. Time frame: September-October	Periodically, educators, parents, and students visit Freestyle to learn more about the program. Since these tours happen during school hours, we need volunteers to walk visitors through the classes and provide information about the school. This is a great opportunity for 2nd year parents who are familiar with the program and want to explain its benefits to others. Time frame: February-April
CONTESTS / AWARDS / PUBLICATION / SCHOLARSHIPS	EXHIBITION PLANNING
Another way for us to find an audience for our students’ work is to submit it for contests, awards, publication, or scholarships. If you can help us find these opportunities, we can encourage students to work at an even higher level. Time frame: September-May	If you have good organizational skills, we could use them to help us plan and execute our two major exhibitions of student work. The January exhibition takes place at one of the high school campuses. Our May exhibition is held at an off campus venue (In 2007 it was at Microsoft. In 2008 it was at Nvidia.) Time frame 1st >Exhibition: January Time frame 2nd >Exhibition: March-May
RECRUITING	FUNDING
In January, we go into classrooms to recruit our junior class for the following year. We need help preparing recruiting materials, communicating with parents via district newsletters, and organizing the list of accepted and wait listed students. Time frame: January -March	If you have experience writing grants or have corporate giving contacts that may benefit Freestyle, please let us know. Our goal is to maintain a professional a work environment for our students with state of the art technology. We’ve been lucky to receive corporate gifts from sponsors such as Microsoft, Adobe, and Hewlett Packard. We need to continue to raise funds to provide this unique opportunity for our students.

 

September 28, 2008 Parent Volunteer Notes (.pdf)

 

We appreciate you taking the time to volunteer your time and energy to help build this wonderful program for our students.
Gordon Jack Program Coordinator / English Instructor
Elizabeth Pedinotti - Design Instructor
Sue Kefauver - Film Instructor
Leo Florendo - Web Production / Audio Engineering Instructor