Alumni & Grandparent Highlights

The CEE Alumni Council enjoyed a full virtual calendar this year with regular meetings and special events designed for and open to the alumni community. Several alumni and alumni parents led various virtual events throughout the year, including speaking at the Community Engagement and Education series, teaching classes for faculty and staff, and leading sessions on mental health.

The Council and its four committees (Events, Networking, Community Service, and Fundraising) worked together to foster Center ties even while remote due to the pandemic. Social events for alumni included a virtual mixology class and a Zoom reunion for the class of 2015. With more events taking place on virtual platforms, including the Community Engagement and Education series and CNL80 Gala, alumni from different parts of the country were able to attend CEE community events in greater numbers.

Alumni Community Service Award

The Alumni Council grants its Annual CEE Alumni Community Service Award (a $1,000 stipend) to support a young CEE alum’s summer community service project.

Landon Lewis ‘16, the 2020 Alumni Community Service Award recipient, developed the SmartPacks Backpack Drive to support low-income students preparing for back-to-school at Ninety-Ninth Street Elementary. Landon put together hundreds of backpacks full of supplies like pencils, glue sticks, paper, and more.

Landon shared, “I feel that it is important that all students feel confident and prepared to start the year with the necessary tools to succeed. With high unemployment rates during the Covid-19 pandemic, many parents are unable to provide adequate supplies for their children. Studies have shown that students often disconnect in class when they don’t have adequate supplies for school. My goal was to play a pivotal role in supporting students on their journey towards building strong educational foundations; I also hoped to help teachers with limited classroom budgets. This project relates to two of the Center’s core values of responsibility and caring: I feel a responsibility to help other students who may not have the same resources that I have, and it is with a caring spirit that I have the potential to help send children back to school with backpacks, supplies, and smiles!”

Summer 2021 Projects

FRIENDS IN NEED Carly & Aaron Platt ‘17, Alex Hahn ‘17, and EJ Chavez ‘17 Working with foster children over the summer, including cooking classes, sports, and more

FIX THE BEEP Dylan Foley ‘18 Working with A Sense of Home to provide fire alarm kits to individuals moving into their own housing once they age out of foster care and provide fire prevention training to families

OUTSIDE THE BOX Jade Villapando ‘17 Working to create boxes of art supplies and other materials requested by teachers for deaf children who have experienced increased challenges with remote instruction

Tuning in to Hear from Community Service Award Recipient, Landon Lewis ‘16

Virtual Art Class with Penny

Alumni Council Meeting Kicking Off the Year with Reveta

Grandparents’ Council Stays Connected

CEE Grandparents remained connected to The Center on Zoom all year long. Regular virtual Grandparents’ Council meetings included wellattended sessions on CPR & First Aid Training, Reading Aloud to Your Grandchildren with Early Childhood Librarian Stephanie Steelman, and meetings with CEE administrators about the school’s planning for student reentry. Grandparents enjoyed the opportunity to join Council meetings from all over the world this year, a silver lining of the all-virtual format.

At the end of the 2020-21 school year, Sandy Pressman steps down from her post as Chair of the CEE Grandparents’ Council—a role she has held for two decades since she started helping welcome grandparents to the community in the early 2000s. Sandy has four Center grandchildren: Ethan ‘08 and Louis Kunin ‘14, and Leo ‘17 and a rising sixth grader. She shares that she has made ‘extraordinary, lifelong friends’ over the years of being involved at The Center and how special it is that grandparents are ‘always welcome’ to participate in the daily life of the school. Thank you, Sandy!

Colette Ament, parent of two CEE alumni and grandparent of two current students, and Edna Gordon, grandparent of a CEE alumna and a current student, will serve as Co-Chairs of the Grandparents’ Council for the 2021-22 school year!

A helpful session on reading to grandchildren using virtual platforms took place in the fall with CEE’s Early Childhood Librarian, Stephanie.

Grandparents’ Day 2021

Center grandparents came together for a Virtual Grandparents’ and Grandfriends’ Day program on Friday, May 7. Grandparents heard about the latest campus updates from Interim Head of School and CEE Grandparent Reveta Bowers before remarks from keynote speaker, CEE alumni grandparent, educator, and activist Ericka Huggins. Ericka shared reflections on our collective experience of the last year and the double pandemics of Covid-19 and systemic racism.

One of the highlights of the program was hearing directly from Center sixth graders who shared memories and reflections from their years at CEE as they look ahead to their graduation. Thanks to everyone who helped make the first Virtual Grandparents’ Day a meaningful day from a distance.

Ericka Huggins

Sandy Pressman