IMAGINE PARENT ORGANIZATION NEWS
June 2024
It’s hard to believe the 23-24 school year is coming to a close. Thank you families for engaging with our school, supporting IC Imagine, and volunteering throughout the year. We are looking forward to a relaxing summer and a wonderful 24-25 school year.
Please make sure to read the entirety of this newsletter as there is a lot of important information regarding updates and events occurring during the 24-25 school year and ways to stay connected and involved with the IPO.
IPO & Parent University Meeting - 24/25 School Year
*SAVE THE DATE* - The first IPO Meeting/Parent University of the 24/25 school year will take place on Monday, September 9th at 5:30 pm in the IPAC (date subject to change).
IPO Updates
After careful thought over the last 18 months, we have decided to restructure the IPO to best reflect our K-12 school by updating the IPO Officer positions and adding additional representatives. Below is the new IPO structure:
Communications Coordinator - Kinsey Bevilacqua
Lower School Parent Representatives - Laura Austin & Emily Erb
Given the size of the LS, we are looking for one more IPO LS Parent Representative. Please email ipo@icimagine.org if you are interested.
Middle School Parent Representatives - Brooke Jack & Winslow Dean
High School Parent Representatives - Kimberly Wall & Kathy McElreath
We are excited to welcome Emily Erb and Brooke Jack as IPO Parent Representatives. By creating school representatives, we hope to better assist with the needs of each school, engage families in school specific opportunities, and create a stronger sense of community. Since we have IPO school specific representatives, we will be creating Lower, Middle, and Upper School Committees for the 24-25 school year. Each committee will focus on assisting with the needs of the respective school. If you are interested in being a part of the LS, MS, and/or US committee(s) please complete this form, and an IPO representative will contact you.
Volunteer Information
Participation through volunteering allows you to be "hands-on" with your children’s education while simultaneously getting to know school staff, your children’s teachers, and other families. We encourage families to volunteer a minimum of 5 hours throughout the school year. The level of involvement is up to you! Whether your involvement is chairing or participating on a committee, volunteering at events or in the classroom, supporting fundraisers, canvassing for donations, covering lunch for a teacher, or reading a book in the classroom, you play an essential role at our school. Whether you have one hour per month or more to give, any amount of time is greatly appreciated! As families, we are an important source of volunteers for the school and would love your help in whatever way you can serve – no contribution is too small! If you haven’t done so already, click here to become a registered volunteer.
Did you know some companies/employers offer volunteer matching programs or paid volunteer hours? For example, HCA offers a volunteer matching program for its employees; employees log their volunteer time and then for every 10 hours of volunteer time, the employee gets $200 to donate to a charity of their choosing (and IC Imagine is on the list of organizations to donate to). It's a great way to doubly help the school with both time and money. If you have any questions about how to look into this, feel free to reach out to Kathy McElreath (knovella110@gmail.com).
Please check with your employers to see if they have any kind of volunteer matching programs or offer paid volunteer hours.
Kingfisher Kickoff and Kingfisher Krush Release Event
*SAVE THE DATE* for this event on Saturday, August 10th from 3-8 pm at The Mule at Devil’s Foot Beverage Company (131 Sweeten Creek Rd., Asheville). Stop by and help us kickoff the 24-25 school year and the launch of our very own Kingfisher soda! We are grateful to have the unique opportunity to collaborate with Asheville-based Devil's Foot Beverage Company to design our own custom can and beverage. All proceeds from the sale of these sodas directly benefit IC Imagine. This Kingfisher Krush event is a wonderful way to build community with fellow IC Imagine families while supporting a local business who will be donating a percentage of in-house sales from the event back to ICl. Invite your family and friends as everyone is welcome to attend!
COMMITTEE UPDATES:
Kingfisher Fun Run Committee
Thank you for making our first ever Kingfisher Fun Run a huge success! We were able to raise more than $44,000. We celebrated our community coming together, created unforgettable memories and the best part - our students had a blast participating!
Staff Appreciation Committee
The Staff Appreciation Committee is committed to hosting events, meals, and/or experiences for all Staff every other month throughout the school year, with our biggest event being Staff Appreciation Week the first week in May.
During the 2023-2024 school year the committee:
Organized two separate Stock the Workroom donation events
Hosted 5 different staff events/lunches on Teacher Workdays
Organized and canvassed for donations for Staff Appreciation Week which included snacks, s'mores, treats, food, coffee/tea truck, muffins and drinks, and a catered lunch
Wrapped the LS, MS, US, and Pantry workroom doors twice with notes of appreciation from families for the Staff
For the 2024-2025 school year the committee will have:
An August Welcome Back lunch for the staff before school starts
A Stock the Workrooms push when we return August 7th
A continued cadence of events for staff every other month
We also hope to expand our scope to include staff and teacher birthday recognition and even more fun stuff!
We rely heavily on donations from families (food/drinks, monetary and volunteer hours) and are so appreciative of all the help ICI families gave us this year!
Band Committee
Be on the lookout for volunteering and fundraising activities in the fall for both High School and Middle School bands
If you have any questions please reach out to Kathy McElreath knovella110@gmail.com or Winslow Dean winslow.clarke.dean@gmail.com.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email ipo@icimagine.org. Have a wonderful summer break!
~Imagine Parent Organization