14th Annual Taste of the Triangle to Benefit Community Schools with VIP Event Guest Speaker Dr. Irwin Jacobs, co-founder of QUALCOMM Incorporated.

EdUCate's “New Night, New Venue” for it's 14 th Annual Taste of the Triangle was a smashing success. Sixteen of the area's finest restaurants provided mouth watering tastes of their specialties at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps on Friday night, November 16th for approximately 650 guests, including over 100 of our local teachers. After a delightful introduction by University City High School 's sophomore class President, Keith Watts , Dr. Irwin Jacobs provided an inspirational talk about his life, and the need for American students to be able to compete in the global market.

Musical entertainment including the Standley Middle School Marching Band, directed by Evan Walsh , Standley middle School String Quintet with Lydia Chim, Cassie Berta, Marina Castelo, Amanda Laborete, Tyler Maskiewicz , and jazz musician Mark Bacilla , husband of Curie teacher Marianna Bacilla , provided the perfect ambience for guests to sample gourmet food while enjoying the world class aquarium and idealistic setting.

In addition to the ever popular silent auction, Auctioneer Bill Menish , News Anchor from NBC 7/39 provided a renewed sense of energy with EdUCate's first-ever live auction and Fund-an-Item event. The live auction was exciting and entertaining, and along with the silent auction and individual donations raised approximately $49,000.00 for the University City Public Schools. According to Brook Feerick , event chair, “The venue was a huge hit! Everyone loved being there and the food was fabulous and plentiful. We also moved the event to a Friday night, making attendance easier for teachers and parents. It was a tremendous accomplishment to know we were able to reach out to parents of younger families, raise the awareness of the EdUCate! Foundation, and have good fun all at the same time.”

Here are just a few of the many pictures taken at the Taste of the Triangle 2007 by Matt Risi of Minuteman Press.

Friendraiser 2007
EdUCate!'s Sixth Friendraiser and Awards Ceremony was held on Saturday, April 28, 2007, at the UCHS gymnasium. The event was a fantastic showcase of the five UC public schools and provided a venue for interaction amongst the faculty, students and parents of the schools and an opportunity for the community to see group performances from every school.  The crowd of over 1,000 enjoyed watching the excellent representation from all the schools, including performances from elementary school dancers, the Standley Marching Band, the UCHS Dance, Drill, Cheer and Flag Teams, and the fabulous singing from a finalist of the Standley Idols who awed the crowd with her talent.  A musical performance by the principals of the UC schools who this year sang and danced to “Catching the Fire for Learning” was the highlight of the event. 

The performances were interspersed between the awards ceremony honoring this year's winners of EdUCate! grants, document camera/projector presentation systems, and the Honor-A- Teacher program.  The celebration began with honoring the EdUCate! grant awardees. Winning teachers from all the schools attended and the principals were presented with checks for their respective schools.  This year, EdUCate! was proud to give away $59,000 in grants in all the various disciplines.  During the next part of the awards ceremony, 60 teachers who are recipients of EdUCate!'s document camera/projector presentation systems were recognized.  A demo of this system was on hand for all to see.  An impressive $100,000 worth of equipment raised by EdUCate! and its ongoing Dollar A Day program was donated to the five UC schools.  In the last part of the awards ceremony, over 100 teachers who are recipients of this year’s Honor- A-Teacher program were recognized.  These teachers were chosen by parents and students who contributed money to EdUCate! to honor their selected educators.

The two and a half hour event was enjoyed by all who attended.  It more than lived up to its Friendraiser name by making many new "friends" for EdUCate!  Thanks go to the administrators, staff and students from all the five UC schools who helped us successfully showcase our schools, and also to our friends and families who helped make this event truly a community celebration.