SOMIS : State Group Honors School Foundation

The Mesa Educational Foundation Board has been awarded the 1990 California Teachers Assn.’s Friend of Education Award for exemplifying the ideals of educational support.

Nominated by the Mesa Union Teachers’ Assn., which represents teachers in the Mesa Union Elementary School District, the foundation topped a field of 16 nominees from school districts statewide. The district consists of a single school in Somis of 340 kindergarten through eight-grade students.

“We couldn’t get along without them,” Mesa teacher Corinne Hangen said of the foundation. “Even if they didn’t win, we still wanted to honor them with a nomination.”

Since its creation in 1983, the board has raised more than $86,000 through community solicitations to help purchase books, computers, athletic and video equipment, as well as basic school supplies for teachers.

“Winning could possibly help generate more money for us,” said Tim Kuehnel, board president. “But I think just the recognition itself and keeping education in the forefront of peoples’ minds is most important. When kids come home and chatter through dinner about a computer program they learned at school, that to me is the biggest payoff.”