MAY PTO NEWS 2013

MAY PTO NEWS 2013
PRESIDENT’S REPORT, Molly VanDeRiet
As the countdown to the last day of school begins, my days as PTO President come to an end.
Since my youngest child is "graduating" from Pine Ridge, I am feeling rather nostalgic as my
time at Pine Ridge also draws to a close. Oh, how I will miss this place and its people! It has
been a pleasure for me to serve on the board and to see firsthand how exceptional the school
year has been. I want to take the opportunity to sincerely thank YOU, our parent volunteers,
chairpersons, committee members, teachers, and staff for such a wonderful year! We could
not have been successful without the cooperation and dedication of our awesome Pine Ridge
community. You have my gratitude for donating your time, talent and sweat; for attending our
events, fundraisers and activities; for your help behind the scenes, on the front lines, or from
home. Your efforts, no matter the size, did not go unnoticed. The winners in all of this are our
kids! I extend a big thanks to my fantastic fellow board members who also helped to make this
year so enjoyable for me.
OK, enough of the mushy stuff. We still have some exciting things planned in the weeks to
come, so it's not too late to join the fun. You won't want to miss: the annual Field Day, and the
family picnic afterward, to be held on May 22 (rain date is May 23); Celebrate Literacy Day
(which replaces our Young Author's Day) on June 3; and the Pine Ridge Whitecaps Game on
June 7 to finish off the year. Finally, I hope many of you will join us on May 16 for our PTO
Spring Luncheon at Chloe Elan. This is our last meeting of the year where we will also recognize
our "graduating volunteers" as well as elect and introduce the new PTO Board for 2013-2014.

Thank you again for the honor of serving you. I wish all my best to the next PTO Presidentelect,
Jackie Rogne, and her board. I am confident that under their leadership, the PTO will
continue to thrive. In addition, with Mr. Lareau at the helm as Principal, Pine Ridge’s success
will reach new heights. Please remember to stay committed, stay passionate, and stay involved!
Enjoy the remainder of the school year and have a ball this summer!
Sincerely,
Molly VanDeRiet, mojovdr@msn.com, 682-9434
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT, Jacqueline Rogne
It is hard to believe that this is the final PTO News of this school year. It certainly is true that
time flies when you’re having fun!
I would like to extend a big bouquet of thanks to all of our hardworking Committee
Chairpersons, Co-chairs and Committee Members, all of our numerous classroom volunteers
who work with the children daily and support our teachers, and the wonderful front office staff
(Darcy Hartley and Trisha Bonds), who devote so much of themselves and their time to the
well-being of our children at Pine Ridge. They are truly what make Pine Ridge special and such a
wonderful place!
A special thanks goes out to Laurie Guikema (Cultural Arts Chair) who put together a great
inaugural Spring Art Show: “Art is Blooming at Pine Ridge.” Thank yous also go out to Art
Teacher Tim Donohoe, our 4 th grade wait staff, and the Committee Members who helped put
together a bloomin’ good show!
Staff Appreciation Week was a tremendous success, thanks to Co-Chairs Kerri Smith and Katie
Schwarze, their amazing Committee Members, and the Head Room Parents. It was fun to see
the reactions of teachers and staff to each special event that was so carefully planned for them.
Their transformations back into the giddy schoolchildren that they teach every day was
priceless! Thanks once again, Teachers and Staff at Pine Ridge, for all you do!
I would like to acknowledge our outgoing PTO President, Molly VanDeRiet, for her unwavering
dedication throughout the years to Pine Ridge and the PTO. Her wealth of knowledge,
generosity and fun-loving spirit will be greatly missed next year. Best wishes, Molly! Those
same wishes are also going out to all of the 4 th grade parents and children who are moving on
as well.
And lastly, I would like to thank and congratulate Mr. Lareau for making the huge leap from
Interim Principal to Principal Extraordinaire. I am optimistic that Pine Ridge will continue its
tradition of excellence and flourish under his leadership.

It has truly been a joy and a privilege to work with and serve the Pine Ridge community as your
Vice President this year. I am looking forward to working with vintage and new faces again next
year to accomplish even more fantastic things! I will see many of you at our last meeting -- the
Spring Luncheon -- this Thursday, May 16 th .
Jacqueline Rogne, 954-0285; jackson_stubner@yahoo.com
TREASURER’S REPORT, Jen Bunke
Here are the expenditures for the month of April.
Ipads (10 pack) - $5,070
Itunes Apps - $150
100 th Day pizza winners-$85
Music Props-$65
Art Show Night - $614
Printing - $75.61
Gift for the Greer Family-$100
MI Sales Tax-$202
Grant for Kindle cases & apps - $416
We received a check for $153 from D&W School Rewards and $1,214.69 for Box Tops.
We will be approving next year’s budget at our May PTO meeting, so if you have any questions
or concerns about the PTO finances, please join us at the Chloe Elan on May 16 th !
Jennifer Bunke, Treasurer, jennifer_bunke@comcast.net
Nicole Tilton, Assistant Treasurer, spinalman17@aol.com
This year we had an amazing group of women who stepped up and volunteered to be head
room parents for their children’s classroom. These women spent countless hours using their
creativity to plan and assist with four classroom parties over the course of the school year.
They also took on additional tasks for their individual classes as well as PTO requests. Head
Room Parents work quietly and do not do what they do for the recognition. They take on this
volunteer opportunity because they deeply care for all the children and teachers at Pine Ridge.
Thank you for your hard work and dedication!

Thank you to all those families who donated food items for Staff Appreciation Week. The staff
loved the breakfast on Monday and was very grateful. On Tuesday they enjoyed a lounge full of
healthy snacks, and on Wednesday were treated to coffee, tea and smoothies made to order.
Jam-N-Bean, a local coffee shop, was generous enough to provide the fixings for this special
treat. On Thursday, teachers and staff enjoyed a wonderful lunch provided by you, our precious
volunteers. On Friday, they had a multitude of delicious desserts to enjoy in the teacher’s
lounge.
Thank you Kerri Smith and Katie Schwarze for your creativity, time and generous efforts for
planning the events of the week. It was a huge success. Also, thanks to all the head room
parents for decorating the classroom doors for the teachers. They were all so unique. One last
thank you to those who helped with set-up and clean up for the various events; you are very
much appreciated!
The last Box Tops and Labels for Education collection of the school year is scheduled for
Thursday May 23rd. So far this year Pine Ridge has earned $2,937 thru the Box Tops for
Education program. Our goal for the year is $3,500 - so we are almost there! We've also
collected 40,218 Labels for Education points. These points will be used to support the Art
Program at Pine Ridge this year. Thank you to all students, parents and teachers for clipping
and saving Box Tops and Label for Education. It's amazing to see how collectively we can all
make a difference!

April Showers definitely brought May flowers. I hope you were able to see all the daffodils in
bloom around the school. Mulch has been spread. Thanks to all the classes that have helped
spruce up the gardens. Come bring a lunch and spend some time in the Outdoor Classroom
area. Birds and butterflies will be spending their summers in the gardens. Hopefully the
milkweed will bring the Monarchs to our gardens. Stop by and look for the caterpillars. They
only eat the milkweed plant. Pine Ridge is a busy place even in the summer.
And it's a wrap! We've had a great year of fun, cultural events up at Pine Ridge. Our year was
full of unique and fun groups: Reptile Rick, Paleo Joe, Mackinac Historic Troupe, a poet, an
illustrator, a trip to Art Prize and finally, the Brainstormers returning. Five of our students get to
see their very own stories come to life on Tuesday, May 14 when the Brainstormers come to
perform. Congrats to them and to all the students who submitted such fantastic stories. It was
hard to pick the best out of such great writings. I would like to thank the PTO for funding and
allowing me the unique opportunity to help further our kids' education through different
cultural events. It has been my pleasure to serve as the committee chair for the past two years.
A new job and my family's busy schedule is forcing me to step down from this position. I
promise to set up next year's schedule with GREAT opportunities for your children. If you could
then help run it - awesome! I would love to talk with anyone who wants to get involved in this
great committee. Enjoy your summer everyone.

May 12: Heather Dood
May 14: Sara Allen
May 19: Mark Mainero
IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS
May 16 : PTO Spring Luncheon
May 17: 4 th grade Camp Manitou-Lin
May 22: Field Day (23 rd Rain Date)
June 3: Celebrate Literacy Day
June 6: Last day of school
June 7: White Caps Game