Old generation funds new technology

Inside Todd Eversgerd’s seventh-grade world history class at TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa, the meeker, softer spoken students occasionally use microphones to express their ideas. Other times, Eversgerd does all the talking — through a wireless microphone he hangs around his neck.

And if that’s not high tech enough, there’s also the “surround sound” system for the super cool presentations — like the recent one given by Claudia Moise on the history of the Aztecs and their human sacrifices to their gods.

It was downloaded from YouTube and called up on the Smart Board, a computer operated by Eversgerd’s fingertips from the front of the classroom.

In the old days, teachers were lucky if their slide show projector worked or if the reels from the film were up to par.

While Smart Board technology is nothing new, there’s a good chance it never would have seen the light of day, or, for that matter, the front of a classroom, had it not been for the Estancia and TeWinkle Schools Foundation.

The foundation, formed in 2003, has been doling out thousands of dollars to Estancia High School and TeWinkle for technological improvements since C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, the owner of the South Coast Plaza, gave the district $1 million for offsetting development in the area of Harbor Boulevard and Sunflower Avenue, where IKEA is.

And since then, the $1 million was immediately invested, with the foundation earning as much as $50,000 a year in interest, which it spends inside myriad classrooms at both schools.

Development, it turns out, does pay — in more than one way.

And yet, in this age of budget cuts and state fiscal setbacks, the foundation can always use a little extra help, which is why its holding its annual Gala Dinner and Auction May 15 at the Wyndham Hotel in Costa Mesa.

The event, which begins at 5:30 p.m., costs $100 a person or $1,200 for a table of 12. The dinner includes cocktails, live and silent auctions, dancing and a presentation by distinguished alumni from Estancia and TeWinkle.

Although the alumni never benefited from the foundation because it was before their time, they didn’t do too badly, all things considered.

Wing Lam, a 1979 Estancia graduate, went on to co-found Wahoo’s Fish Tacos.

Kevin Sloat, a 1977 Estancia graduate, is the principal and founder of Sloat Higgins Jensen and Associates, a lobbying firm based in Sacramento.

The gala was started two years ago and has raised $20,000, which goes toward benefiting various programs and projects at the school level, such as tutoring programs at Estancia or bringing more technology to TeWinkle.

“Our goal is to encourage the business, parent, neighborhood and alumni communities to support and contribute to the foundation, with the goal of growing our endowment,” said foundation President Jennifer Knapp. “The gala is a wonderful opportunity to bring those communities together and allow them to show their support.”

As for Mario Salas, a seventh-grader at TeWinkle and a student in Eversgerd’s class, he doesn’t know much about galas or fundraisers, but he certainly loves using the microphone and watching the report on Aztec culture.

“I can’t believe they actually sacrificed people,” he said. “That’s crazy.”

For more information on the gala, call (714) 754-5451 or (714) 292-2662. Or visit www.ETSFoundation.org.