Volunteer Appreciation

Every year we like to give a warm THANK YOU to all our volunteers who make Cherry Crest Elementary a truly special place. There are so many wonderful volunteers who make a difference day in and day out, from seasoned veterans to enthusiastic newcomers. No matter your role, big or small, all of you make a HUGE DIFFERENCE in our community.

Below are a few volunteer highlights from the first half of the school year. You can nominate
people for the volunteer shoutouts here at any time and join in the spirit of volunteerism by raising your hand for new volunteer opportunities here.

🦸Everyday Heroes: those who do so much for Cherry Crest, everyday. Capes not required.
- Shilpa Makineni, Angel Pang, Lauren Helmers
👏New Kids on the Block: volunteers who have stepped up in a new capacity this year.
- Lynette Zhong, Svitlana Lebedieva, Shan Ou, Navaz Nekoo
🪨Steadfast Rocks: those who consistently have been helping at Cherry Crest, year after year.
- Mozhgan Torabifard, Emily Crahan, Katie McClintock, Amy Amsden, Summer Jubelirer, Mengye Guo, Christina Nemeth
🍎Teacher & School Shoutouts: volunteers who our teachers & school staff appreciate.
- Sarit Egozi, Kathy Hotchkies, Jessica Wang, Christina Nemeth, Shilpa Makineni, and Robert Schaudt

Everyday Heroes

Shilpa Makineni
Mira Gali (G3)

🌟Shilpa came into the Co-President role and has been a tireless leader and advocate for the PTSA. She jumps in to help with everything from setting up payment systems, running Board meetings, to organizing baseball night. The PTSA has benefited tremendously from her voice and leadership.

~Grateful Parent

Lauren Helmers
Libby (G2), Tyler (G4)

🌟Lauren makes every event & experience she runs or co-leads standout. From the Carnival to the School Dance, Variety Show, and Teacher Appreciation she puts extra effort into elevating how Cherry Crest comes together by making the events fun, engaging, beautiful, and well-organized. She also puts in extra effort to help market and advertise PTSA events she’s not directly involved in with her amazing design skills.

I’m not sure what the PTSA would do without her!

~Grateful Parent

Angel Pang
Parker Schaudt (G5)

🌟Angel has been our dedicated webmaster for years. Despite her busy schedule balancing work and caring for her son, she has generously devoted countless hours to building and updating our PTSA website. Her expertise and commitment have been invaluable, and I deeply appreciate all the time and effort she has contributed to keeping our pages running smoothly.

~Jia Yan, PTSA VP Comms

New Kids on the Block

Lynette Zhong

Alexis (G4) & Jasper (G1) Chan

🌟Camille brought back the Passport Club this year, which has reached over 70 students. As an activity where students get to learn on their own and have a monthly check-in to verify their geography knowledge, it’s a fun way to engage students and supplement their learning.~Grateful Parent

🌟Thanks Camille for bringing such a fun club back to our students!

~Grateful Parent

Svitlana Lebedieva

Dima (G2) &Valentina (K) Nesterenko

🌟Svitlana has a great design eye and always goes above and beyond to make sure the website and newsletter look great. She tries out new layouts, has great ideas on how to enhance the communications overall, and is such a wonderfully nice person to work with.

Thank you Svitlana for bringing your skills, warmth, & expertise to Cherry Crest – we’re all benefiting from it!

~Grateful Parent

🌟Svitlana joined our Communications team this year, and we are so grateful for her dedication! She consistently goes the extra mile to make our PTSA website even better.

~Jia Yan, PTSA VP Comms

Shan Ou
Cloe Cao(K)

🌟Shan is a fantastic new addition to Communications Team and has already taken on creating a few Chatters like a pro! Your enthusiasm and willingness to dive in have made a big impact, and we truly appreciate your efforts in keeping everyone informed and connected. Thank you, Shan, for your hard work and for being such a great team player!

~Jia Yan, PTSA VP Comms

Navaz Nekoo

Zia (G5) & Zoey (G2) Gheewala

🌟Navaz has stepped into the Treasurer role and has contributed to make a difference on the Board.

We love her enthusiasm!

~Grateful Parent

Steadfast Rock Stars

Mozhgan Torabifard
Kaveh Aminfar (G2)

🌟Mozhgan has been helping with the chatters for years. She is incredibly reliable, always ensuring the chatters go out on time, even after a long vacation or a busy work week. I truly appreciate all her help!

~Jia Yan, PTSA VP Comms

🌟Mozhgan is a wonderful Chatter co-editor and she also always lends a helping hand at big events. THANK YOU!

~Grateful Parent

Emily Crahan
Jupiter (G3) & Mackenzie (G5)

🌟Emily does it all! She makes herself available to be at school to help, spends countless hours working behind the scenes to make the big and small events happen. She’s so fun and easy to work with.

~Grateful Parent

🌟Thanks for all your efforts in making fun events like Carnival, class parties, field trips, etc. all possible! (to: emily crahan & katie whitley)

~Jennifer Provine

Katie McClintock
Wyatt (G4)

🌟A huge thank you to Katie for organizing such a fantastic STEM Night! From engaging activities to inspiring curiosity, you created a fun and educational experience for everyone. Your dedication truly made a difference, and we appreciate all the time and effort you put into making this night so special for our students and families.

~Jia Yan, PTSA VP Comms

Amy Amsden
Paisley (G1) & Brecken (G2)

Summer Jubelirer
Chase (G2) & Reece (G5)

🌟Picture day always runs smoothly because of the dedication and care that Summer and Amy put into it.

The Yearbook is a treasure that the kids look back on fondly. It takes a ton of time, organization, emails, and resourcefulness for this to come together.

Thank you to this team who has been doing it for years – for making Picture Day and the Yearbook really shine at Cherry Crest!

~Grateful Parent

Mengye Guo
Selina (G4) & Seraphina (G2)

🌟Mengye pioneered many new initiatives at Cherry Crest – from the Spelling Bee to the Used Book Fair. She has a ton of great ideas, is always enthusiastic, helpful, and really cares about the school, students, and community.

This year she’s been serving as the Board Secretary and helps our meetings stay on track. She’s also trying to help document all the large initiatives so future leaders can learn from past event leads. Thank you Mengye for caring so deeply!

~Grateful Parent

Christina Nemeth
Graham (G3) & Vivienne (G5)

🌟Christina has been a wealth of knowledge of PTSA finances and Treasurer duties!

~Navaz Nekoo, PTSA Treasurer

🌟Not only is Christina a Treasurer extraordinaire, but she has a passion for fun, free, family events and activities! She works hard to provide opportunities for our community to come together and have fun, building family and school memories together!

Thanks for all you do.

Your dedication, volunteerism, and creative, practical ideas help everyone!

~Grateful Parent

School Appreciation for our Volunteers & Teachers

Sarit Egozi
Itamar (G5)

🌟Sarit’s planning and communication for CE events is proactive and timely. She’s so helpful and always prepared. I really appreciate that she even drafts a sample message that we can use to send out to families regarding upcoming events.

~🍎Whitney Hemker (G5 Teacher)

🌟Sarit’s always so helpful and has been a great partner at the school – as a CE rep, a past Co-President, and as the Lead for Festival of Cultures. We’re so grateful to have her volunteering at Cherry Crest.

~🍎School Staff

Kathy Hotchkies
Sarit Egozi
Jessica Wang
Christina Nemeth
Shilpa Makineni
Robert Schaudt

🌟Shout Out to you all for your tireless efforts and commitment to build our community and host fun events for all of our students and families!

~🍎Kathy Bessler