- [Announcer] The 2022 Foundation @ FCOE Honors Gala and the following program are made possible by the generous contributions of our sponsors.

Educational Employees Credit Union, Chevron, Valley Children's Healthcare, Solitary Cellars, and by our media sponsors, Valley PBS and The Business Journal.

- Over 10 years ago, we saw the need to have a nonprofit fundraising arm for the office of the Fresno County Superintendent schools, to provide in some ways gap funding, flexibility in funding, but most importantly, the opportunity to engage the community in the shared responsibility of public education.

- At that time, government entities, especially school districts, were having difficulty getting funding to do extracurricular activities.

So superintendent Larry Powell said, "We need to start a foundation so that way people can give, because it's harder to give to government entities, but if you give to a foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) or nonprofit, we can give specifically to, let's say, Academic Decathlon or a science fair."

- I think traditional funding streams for schools fund the basics.

We get to be creative.

We get to be responsive to the community.

We get to look into the future and try to meet the needs of our students in ways that are creative and unique.

And that's what the Foundation helps us do.

- Foundations aren't just simply about, "Oh, we need more money."

No, we need more community partners to help us support programs.

May mean financially, but it also might mean, "Oh, we have a better partnership with a state center community college partner," or, "We have with our hospitals."

Things that we can provide resources to our families.

That's what a foundation really provides.

(indistinct chatter) - To announce the recipient of our benefit (inaudible).

- EECC had been a partner with FCOE for a number of years.

We recently celebrated our 30th Excellence in Education program that we do when we partner with the county office.

Teachers were integral in helping EECU get our start.

And we think it's really important we continue to provide services for teachers and the educational community, and so we think it's extremely important that we provide support to them as well.

As an employer, we all know how important it is to have engaged employees.

And I think it's the same concept for students, right?

If you have somebody who enjoys what they're doing and they're excited about what they're doing, they wanna come to school or to work every day.

Whether a kid is involved in athletics or FAA or robotics or chess club, right?

If we help provide those opportunities, then the kids can find what they enjoy, and then they're engaged.

And at the end of the day, I think we all, as citizens, want people to be engaged in a positive manner in our society and our communities, but we have to help provide those opportunities.

And I think this is a way to help provide those opportunities.

The Scripps Spelling Bee is pretty cool.

We've been sponsoring that for several years, and we were super excited when a young woman from the Fresno area took first place nationally.

So that was super exciting.

And then on a personal basis, my son has been involved in Science Olympia.

He's a student at Fresno Unified, and he was involved in Science Olympia for several years.

I think it helps the kids find a place to plug in, right, to engage.

They need something exciting that allows them to see what they're being taught in school, how it works in reality.

(indistinct chatter) - I've always had a passion for science.

It's pretty much been my favorite subject in school.

I enjoy reading and writing.

Math is a little bit more difficult for me.

But I've always really enjoyed science.

Fresno County has a very, very large science fair program, and they are graced with the opportunity to send four contestants onwards to the International Science and Engineering Fair, also known as ISEF.

And here contestants compete against people from all over the world.

Having the opportunity to finally be there was amazing.

And I walked in thinking that I wouldn't place.

I expected it to be a once in a lifetime experience, and then when they called my name up and I got to walk across that stage, I still have trouble convincing myself it is real.

It's unbelievable.

I believe every person should have the opportunity to do science fair, and I understand that science is not something that everybody loves, that everybody has a passion for.

But it's not just about the science of it, it's about the experience of conducting a project.

It teaches you to have pride in your work, pride in presenting your work to someone else.

It is a tool that everybody should have the opportunity of having at their disposal.

And so I believe it is invaluable.

- I'm a deaf and hard of hearing teacher.

I'm an itinerant teacher, so I work out in our districts with hard of hearing kids that don't go to our county sign language programs, but need extra support in the districts that they live in.

I visit some of our most rural districts out in Tranquility and Huron and Coalinga, and visit students in those districts with hearing loss.

(class intoning lesson indistinctly) The Foundation offers supports and programs that our rural districts wouldn't have access to otherwise.

So additional clubs or field trips or equipment that they would love to provide their students with and can't, the Foundation can step in and offer innovation grants and other grants and materials that they wouldn't be able to otherwise have access to.

The fact that we are able to, as a county, step in and fill that gap and provide them with additional support and services through programs like the Foundation, makes me feel great.

I get to be a part of something bigger than just the county office.

We reach beyond just what our job does and reach into those districts to help them beyond the school day.

(indistinct chatter) - Scout Island is an outdoor education center that provides a wonderful experience for our students to come out, interact with nature, look around our own world, and see how the science interacts with them, how the science interacts within itself.

So here in this biome, we have the trees, the plants, we have the river, the insects that are around here.

There's some animals around here, a deer occasionally seen.

The teachers can also come out with the docents guiding those lessons, so the the teachers are able to also learn about these things and then take lessons back to their classroom to continue this.

- [Student] I go over?

- Being here at Scout Island is a wonderful example of how learning does not always take place within four walls.

Sometimes we think, "I'm going to school," and we picture what that looks like.

We think about a desk or a table that we sit at.

And this is a great location, to be at Scout Island and realize that there doesn't have to be walls around us, that it can be open.

So we appreciate how the Foundation supports this time to be out here and these times to interact.

So when we do workshops, when we have interactions with schools and districts, they can come out here and learn and grow based off of what's just naturally available, whether it's an urban school or a rural school.

This is a unique place to come out and learn and grow beyond just the typical setting that occurs for so many of our students.

The Foundation @ FCOE is such an important piece of what we do here.

We're able to connect with people in the community, so that they can not just support us, but learn about what we do.

They have partnered with the AIMS Educational Foundation here in town, so we're able to work together with AIMS, to bring together a great experience for our students.

We want to really bring out the engineering piece here because we know that when students are engineering things, they're doing math and they're doing science and they're learning how everything works together.

Our Foundation also partners with Chevron to sponsor our science fair.

That's one of our biggest events that takes place.

Chevron is able to provide support for these students who take place in our science fair.

They're able to interact so much and building their science fair boards and what that looks like.

And then we're able to showcase that, not just for the judges and parents who come in, but we have it open to the public where they can come and see the great work that these students are doing.

(audience clapping and cheering) - The partnership with The Foundation @ FCOE is such a important and critical partnership for Chevron.

And I think it's because both organizations really have a shared vision for the youth and for educating students in Fresno County.

And I really think that starts with ensuring that the students here have access to good-quality education, not only in the classroom, but as well as after-school programs.

For us, education is critically important, right?

You can draw a direct line, there's a direct correlation between ensuring that students have access to good quality education and ensuring that they are prepared for the workforce in the future.

(indistinct chatter) STEM is such a big part of what we do at Chevron, and it's kind of a bedrock of a lot of employees.

It's incumbent and important for us to make sure that the younger generation, that youth, that students as early as kindergarten, first, second grade, elementary school, have the tools necessary in the area of STEM so that eventually they'll be ready to be an engineer and that they're aspiring to be an engineer.

- [Class Together] Three, two, one.

- Okay, now hold it out and it fits on over.

- [Robbie] There are numerous programs that Chevron supports through the Foundation that we are excited every year to be a part of, particularly the STEM for Girls Conference, right, which exposes girls, I believe around middle school and high school, to engineering professionals, and it gives them opportunity to network with women who are current engineers, so that these young girls can aspire to one day be in their position.

(drone whirring) One other program that we love to be a part of is the Migrant STEM Education Program, and that really gives access and exposure to kids in the areas of STEM that live in more remote and rural areas.

- M-A-N-T-A.

Manta.

- The FCOE Spelling Bee is also another educational opportunity that Chevron is so happy and proud to be a part of.

The Chevron Soccer Academy is a program that was launched several years ago to give students and young kids an opportunity to practice their soccer skills, to learn from soccer professionals in a safe and healthy environment.

We had to pivot a little bit with the Covid pandemic.

So we got a little creative and we created a Chevron soccer kit, right?

And so this is a soccer kit with a soccer ball inside, a soccer pump, agility ladders.

There's a QR code that parents and kids can scan with their phone, and that introduces them to a whole nother level of soccer professional learning and lessons.

And so that was really an opportunity for us to give back to the community.

This year it was in the community of Mendota, which has a lot of passion and a lot of love and excitement for the game of soccer.

So that was a logical fit for Chevron.

It's a personal satisfaction that I have when I see kids excelling and really using the resources that Chevron is contributing.

That makes me happy, and it's something I know that makes Chevron very proud.

And it's part of our DNA.

It's part of something that we have to do.

As a responsible corporate community partner, we have to give back to the communities that constantly empower us, that constantly support us, and that provide us with the social license to operate.

It is absolutely imperative for us to give back to those communities.

There is a direct correlation between investing in a community often and early, and the results that you see from that.

(water shooting from hose) - My role on the board is to be aware of the programs that the Foundation is offering for the students of Fresno County, to be supportive of the programs, and to ask questions about how the programs will impact the students here in Fresno County.

So it's a privilege to be able to see these programs come to fruition, to be a part of seeing the young students come to the board meetings and explain how the programs affect them and impact their lives.

So the being on the board really allows me to have a bird's eye view, as you will, of seeing the success of the students who benefit from these very programs that are being offered.

There's so many.

There's the African American Leadership Conference.

There's the Decathlon.

There's, I believe, the STEM program.

But also the arts.

I know that by having that exposure to that type of culture of our own culture for our own backgrounds, whether it's Hispanic or African American or Italian or whatever, that it enriches our lives.

It can make a huge difference.

As a former deputy district attorney in Fresno County working at Juvenile Hall, it was really unfortunate to see these children not have the exposure to programs that probably could have made a difference between them being in Juvenile Hall and them investing in their own lives.

And I find that when a child invests in him or herself, in something that they like, they're less likely to get into the juvenile justice system.

They're less likely to be disconnected from their community.

And they're more likely to want to keep seeking ways to better themselves and to become more involved with their community and with society in general.

- When you help a child, like I was helped, because I grew up poor and it was public schools and it was public grants and it was families who helped us.

When you are able to help a family, lift them out of poverty because you gave them educational excellence or attainment, you saved potentially future generations.

And when you see what the Foundation, its core was, let's give children these opportunities, one that may be for example the arts or something we really supported, something in which they excelled in but there were no funding for, it may lead to them finding a career where they can sustain or support themselves and then support their families.

So that's why it's so important.

(upbeat mariachi music) (audience clapping) - We actually went to an event where these modern-day mariachis were playing, Omar and Patrick.

And they performed, we were so thrilled.

we drove all the way back home talking about how we could participate with presenting them, do something with them.

And so we ended up funding them going to the outlying schools and performing and talking to the kids.

- How you guys doing it this morning?

- [Children] Good.

- We went to one school that Patrick had gone to, an elementary school.

And when he told those kids that he had gone there, it was a thrill for them.

You could just see it in their eyes.

And so we knew we had done the right thing.

- We've all been aware that arts have struggled to be fully funded.

And I really do believe that the arts matter.

What better way to support it than supporting these two really terrific musicians and exposing our community at a young age to them, something they may never have a chance to do.

- [Teri] The idea of opening their world just a little bit by introducing them to performers that they may never have seen.

That's a thrill.

That's just a thrill to see their eyes light up and you always hope that they've seen something in the world that they didn't know existed, and why couldn't they do that as well.

- We've always looked for something in our community where we can contribute.

And so you look for things that you can contribute that means something personal to you and to us.

It reach reached a group of students and a group of our population that I saw myself as a young person.

I mean, what really interested you?

What was the spark that led you in one way or another?

And that we thought we could make a difference.

And so making a difference to the better for our community was important to us.

- Not every child has the ability, the means, to be able to pay for certain things.

The Foundation is that arm and that avenue, so that we can tap into that those dollars and support those families.

Without it, we couldn't exist and operate the way that we do.

When we put on big signature events from this office, big events, like Academic Decathlon or Educator of the Year, or College Night or the CTE Expo, and I mean, I can go on and on and on, all of those things are very costly.

And if it weren't for our partners in the Foundation who were supporting us financially, we could never do it.

(audience clapping and cheering) (folkloric Mexican music) (audience clapping and cheering) - The Honors Gala is the highlight of the year for the Foundation @ FCOE.

(audience clapping and cheering) Every year, the Foundation @ FCOE gathers the community to celebrate four really deserving folks in the community who've contributed to education in the areas of academics, agriculture, athletics, and the arts.

We craft a special tribute performance that we hope is really meaningful and unique to them, whether it's bringing in students and performers from their community or their area of influence, or it may be a song that really we know means something to them and their life.

(quartet vocalizing) (audience clapping and cheering) We find so many individuals who are so incredibly humble who don't go out there and brag about their stories.

They're not seeking that credit.

They're just working really hard behind the scenes for kids in their community.

And so it's really amazing to capture the history of their life and be able to share it with folks here, and give them that moment that they never really asked for.

This is the largest fundraiser that the Foundation @ FCOE does every year.

Money brought in through this gala event is going out directly to students in schools throughout the county, through innovation grants, through other grants for arts, athletics, academics, agriculture, in the same arenas that we are honoring folks in, the Foundation is giving those funds directly out to students in the community.

We want attendees at the gala to be inspired, to see students in our county the way that so many others do as a worthwhile investment, because they always return on that investment.

Because they do so much more when given opportunities.

When given the the chance, our kids will blow us away every time.

(folkloric Mexican music) (audience clapping and cheering) (soft ambient music) - The Foundation is a sound investment.

We operate with an overhead of about 3%, and so the average gift that's made to the Foundation, 100% of that dollar amount goes directly to the program or service that it was intended to reach.

- The Foundation has been an amazing steward of Chevron's contributions.

The programs that they put on are absolutely amazing.

They're diverse.

They provide access to students that historically have been left out or have not had access to resources.

And so for a company like Chevron, it's important for us to give back to the community, for us to give back to organizations like the Foundation @ FCOE, because they are a critical educational pillar of the Fresno County community.

- We, the staff at the office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, believe so much in the Foundation that we give, in many cases through a monthly contribution, to support the innovation fund.

We believe in giving back to our school's districts in the county, and it makes us very, very proud to be one of the major contributors to the Foundation @ FCOE.

- Sometimes boundaries, city boundaries, school boundaries, it puts us into silos.

And so we become protective of, "I'm Clovis, or Fresno."

"Oh, this is Fresno County not (indistinct)."

But we forget that the boundaries are there only because government set them up.

And what the Foundation does, at least it kind of goes, "We don't care about the different school districts.

We're helping all children in Fresno County.

Every child who wants to benefit from the programs and the monies that we've raised can benefit from it, regardless of your background, regardless of your address that you're coming from."

And that's important.

The philosophy of helping children, I think, has to be something important in all our lives because they are the future.

And some of us say it and we don't know what that means.

And if you help a child, like for example, you help me, I feel good.

If you help my child, I'm gonna help you for life.

Because it moves you, it makes you go, "You cared enough to to take care of my child and assist me to get there."

And that moves people, or that moves families, and the child to continue to go.

That's so important.

We gotta do that as a community.

- I think it's really up to the community to make the Foundation its own and to claim it, so that by claiming the Foundation, we also are claiming our children, and we're putting our children first so that they can succeed.

I'm so passionate about this.

I feel I just really get into knowing that we have an opportunity to change lives, and this Foundation to see these kids come through and to see their lives actually changed, it's a bomb.

I mean, it's just extraordinary.

- We're part of the community, as many other organizations are.

And so I think it's really important for all of us to invest in our future.

And students and schools are an extremely important part of our community.

So I think investing in schools and our students is really investing in our future.

- I think the time is now.

We've just emerged from a really historic time in our lives, and our children are poised and ready.

They need our support.

Our school districts need our support.

And we have all of the systems in place to really make good use of an investment in our schools.

And it's just a very, very exciting time.

(soft dramatic music)