Aragon’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program hosted its second Paint Nite on Nov. 5, inviting faculty and the public to an evening of food, wine and art. Led by a professional painter, Carlene Sliva, participants dined and created masterpieces they could bring home in order to raise money for the AVID program’s annual trip to southern California.
AVID Department Head Donald Bush organized the fundraiser with Paint Nite. The company arranges restaurants and studios to host events at certain times, sells tickets on their website, makes planning convenient for Bush. Other AVID teachers helped to promote the event by sending emails and handing out fliers to Aragon faculty and parents.
“All I had to do is find a date and a location,” Bush said. “I emailed the Paint Nite people, and asked if they had a date open, and they set it up. So then once they set it up, then [advertising is] on me and our AVID teachers just need to get the word out so we send it to the PTSO and the faculty.”
In addition to school faculty, the online sign-up also allowed the general public to attend the event and help fundraise for the AVID program, even those with no affiliation to Aragon High School. Twenty-eight people attended, including teachers, administrators and the community members. The instructor walked the participants through each step, creating a painting that they could take home.
“I wanted to learn how to draw. I’ve taken a drawing class and that was a complete disaster. [AVID paint night] was different,” said Spanish teacher Amelia Salis. “it was just really fun to build on a new skill and… have it led by an instructor.”
Because the event was organized as a fundraiser, tickets to the AVID Paint Night cost $45, raising $15 for the AVID program per ticket. The funds raised by the event will go towards budgeting the AVID Southern California field trip, where students in the program visit colleges and learn more about the path to higher education.
“[The ticket] was a little expensive, I think, for teachers,” Salis said. “But that’s a given and I was happy to be able to pay the money so $15 could go to AVID.”
Bush explains the need to fundraise for the AVID trip.
“To visit colleges, it’s expensive,” Bush said. “And I know some students need a little help. So [the paint night] is one of the things that we use… as a fundraiser, so kids can go visit some colleges.”
In addition to funding the AVID field trip, the Paint Night also served as a bonding experience for some faculty members, including AVID advisor and Spanish teacher Alejandra Cheever.
“There were a lot of staff members from Aragon that went so that was a really fun experience to see our staffulty outside of school hanging out together doing something fun,” Cheever said.
For Salis, the paint night’s informal setting opened up opportunities to meet their colleagues.
“I didn’t know the person who I was sitting next to so I got to meet [them],” Salis said. “[They] were also staff members, and we had fun together, painting.”
Bush also hopes to include students in similar events in the future, as an opportunity to build community and raise money for the AVID program.
“We have people who are interested [and] are not adults,” Bush said. [Paint Nite] serve[s] wine and their rule is that it’s only for adults. The [company] said, ‘Well, you could do one on your side.’ And we thought about that, but then we don’t have food, and that’s part of the thing, you want to eat and have a good time and [build] a community.”
Although this is only the second year of AVID’s paint night, its success as a fundraiser and bonding experience between the participants has encouraged Bush and the other AVID advisors to continue this new tradition.
