The Mountain View-Los Altos Challenge Team, a gathering of school, law enforcement and community leaders, is hosting the 37th annual Champions for Youth fundraising luncheon, set for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 9 at Michael’s at Shoreline restaurant in Mountain View.
This is the first year the event has moved to a lunchtime gathering. The event was held as a breakfast in prior years.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, representing Los Altos and Mountain View in District 5, will be the keynote speaker.
The event will celebrate “champions” William Blair, wellness coordinator for the Mountain View Los Altos High School District (MVLA), and Sadie Gracon, MVLA senior.
Gracon is the MVLA student board representative from Los Altos High School, where she facilitates communication between ASB at Los Altos and the district and advocates for students during board meetings. In addition to serving as secretary of ASB at Los Altos, she is the chairperson of the MVLA superintendent’s advisory council, where she works to strengthen student voices in district policies and increase student advocacy at the district level. As secretary, she leads fundraising for student government and heads the finance committee.
Gracon is the captain of the varsity field hockey team and member of speech and debate, where she competed at CHSSA, the statewide speech contest last spring. As a member of Green Team, LAHS’s environmental club, and the former green commissioner of ASB, she works to make sustainable changes on campus and provide students opportunities to learn more about environmentalism and take actions in their communities.
As wellness coordinator, Blair supports student services such as school-based mental health and wellness services, attendance, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and restorative practices.
Blair has been with MVLA since 2004, where he has served as a site administrator, activities director and English, Leadership and Psychology teacher. Over the years, Blair has designed and coordinated a multitude of student and staff activities, diversity retreats, and student-focused programming and support services. In his role as an administrator, Blair is committed to creating a more inclusive, equitable, supportive and loving culture in all spheres of the MVLA community through honest communication, social-emotional skill-building, identity safety, connectedness and human-centered systems. In 2009, Blair was honored as the MVLA teacher of the year.
The MVLA challenge team, founded in 1987, builds meaningful community partnerships to support the success of children, youth and families in the cities of Mountain View, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. The challenge team brings together leaders from school districts, city and county services, parent and student groups and other nonprofit organizations to serve youth and strengthen our community.
For more information, visit challengeteam.org. To attend the event, visit tinyurl.com/luncheonlink. For questions or more information, email Martha Rubin at [email protected].
