Clearwater Chinese School Building Fund

 

The Clearwater Chinese School is trying to raise $150,000 to pay off a balloon building loan. Your generous contribution to our fund will ensure that our school will be placed on a sound financial basis for the future. We will save more money in interest payments in the future. We will also save $5000 per year for each of  the next seven years, or $35,000. The sooner we can pay off this debt, the more money we will have available for more youth programs as well as needed repairs and building improvements.

 

Those who donate will be listed in our brochures and other publications and the school web site MyChinese.org as a sponsor. This will provide free public relations advertising for you and/or your business. Business donors will also receive a special ad on the website Infopinellas.com along with special information on the business.

 

The Clearwater Chinese School has provided an invaluable service to the community since 1990 by providing a Sunday afternoon activity for children and youth of Pinellas County. Our students learn Chinese language and culture, ethics and moral values, educational values, and aspire to greater self-esteem by participating in the many community events where going up on stage is required. Greater self-esteem and higher educational aspirations is proven to be a determinant of lifelong success and avoiding problems such as drug and alcohol use, delinquency, early sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy. Chinese School students are encouraged and supported in higher academic programs in high school, such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program. Most of our graduates have gone on to higher education such as Georgia Tech, The University of Florida and the US Coast Guard Academy.

 

The programs of the Clearwater Chinese School are open to all without regard to ethnicity, race or sex. We have many students of non-Chinese ancestry, including many students from home schooled families as well as others who have adopted girls from China. Our program provides needed social support for everyone who has the vision and willingness to participate. It is also extremely low cost because of our volunteer administrative staff, as well as other community volunteers, such as carpenters and computer experts.

 

What makes the Clearwater Chinese School unique as a model of success for Pinellas County Youth is that it encourages parental participation, such as in volunteering and learning. We also offer adult Chinese classes, classes in dance, and offer other areas for parents and community volunteers to work in, such as in the SPIFFS folk fair and New Year’s celebration, community dances etc. We also provide a place for other community events and groups, such as SACA and the Evergreen Club. We also assist others in forming Chinese Schools in their communities, such as the Sarasota Chinese School. Parents from our school have been on the advisory committee of Saint Petersburg High School. In other words, participation in our school benefits students in their regular educational activities during the week.

 

One of the keep ways that Chinese School helps youth is by providing a stable set of Sunday friends with high educational aspirations and parental involvement. Parental involvement in the school, such as volunteering, is a key aspect to student success. Our students attend Chinese School on a continuing basis, so it provides a continuum of positive experience, even as students more from one part of the public educational system to another, which can often be a shock, starting a new school. Our school counselors provide guidance and help to our students in higher educational public school programs.

 

Some people look at the relative success of the Asian community in education without realizing that it is the parents themselves that start community weekend school programs for their children. For example, in Atlanta, there are eleven Chinese schools. The larger a community grows, the greater is the demand for community weekend or after school programs. Chinese schools are primarily a weekend program because our parents encourage their children to do their regular school homework during the week. Chinese school offers an extra curriculum, not available in local schools. We also offer fun intellectual activities such as Chinese brush painting and Chinese Chess, as well as International Chess. One of our students, who first learned Chinese Chess in our school, went on to become an International Chess Master, playing in international tournaments.

 

Future Programs

 

It is important to see the Clearwater Chinese School as an example of a successful community educational program. It is successful not so much because of what is taught but how, by positive atmosphere and good peer interaction, by the involvement of both parents and students in a routine but fun activity, going to Chinese School every Sunday afternoon.

 

Thus, based on your support, we are planning to organize other activities that can involve both parents and their children of an educational nature that reach beyond Chinese language and culture but which is of interest to the larger community. The idea is to offer higher specialty courses that are not provided in the local school system rather than a focus on remedial education. Thus, we have in mind certain computer classes, such as Java and Web development. We want our children to excel. Participation in such  programs should require a certain number of volunteer community hours by parents, or joint enrollment in some cases.

 

Thank You for Your Support!

 

Your support for the Clearwater Chinese School is supporting the development community based education that reaches out to all who want to learn and excel, all those who care about real education, to put America back in a leadership position for the 21rst century. We are not a remedial education program but an advanced program that anyone can join. All that is required is interest and commitment. Involvement of students in such community based education depends on parents taking it as an important thing. Parents have to drive their children to school every week and make sure that they come. It is not something that is just left up to the child, as in that case, everyone may have something better to do than to study. But the unique atmosphere of our school provides for once a week friends so that the children soon want to come every week to seek and play with their friends. So we provide breaks and other activities of a fun nature, along with learning Chinese, which is not the easiest language in the world to learn. Of course, the challenge of learning something out of the ordinary provides an incentive to be special, to achieve something difficult.

 

Thank you very much.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Thomas R. Lacey, Ph.D.         

Vice-Principal                                                                                                              

Chair Fundraising Committee

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I would like to Contribute   ____$100    ___$250  ___$300  ____$500  ____$1000 ____$2000 ____$5000 ____$10,000 ____Other

 

Name_________________________________       Business Name (if applicable) ___________________________________________

 

Address_________________________________________________  City_________________ ST_____  ZIP ___________

 

Your Website (if any) __________________________   Your Email (if any) _______________________

 

The Clearwater Chinese Language School is a 501(c)3 Not For Profit Organization and your contribution is fully deductible for federal income tax purposes. A receipt will be sent to you for your donation.


The Clearwater Chinese Language School admits students of any race, color, national or ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded to all students at the School. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin in administration and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs.

 

Mail Check to: Clearwater Chinese School                                  Phone: (727) 585-1311          

                           4600 78th Ave., N.

                           Pinellas Park, FL 33781