Dear Families and Friends,
Please join us on Friday, April 28 from 5-9 pm at Brickworks to celebrate the Spring Street community at our annual spring auction fundraiser dinner. The spring auction is our biggest fundraiser of the year. This event is not simply a dinner with an auction. It is a time to come together, share a delicious meal, and listen to powerful student stories while supporting scholarships and school programs.
28 years ago, after months of planning, a new family was born in the San Juan Islands - The Spring Street Family. The islands have served as both our literal home as well as a metaphor for our journey over the years. Stormy seas, fog, wind, ice, and snow are juxtaposed with sunny skies, warm winds, and leisurely sailing. A recession, a pandemic, a war, and broken ferries are juxtaposed with hope, kindness, beauty, and the continued growth of a community that prepares our children for a future that is predictable in its unpredictability.
The isolation of our islands has helped us weather the pandemic of the last three years better than most. We learned how to take care of the health of our small families, and our larger Spring Street family. As a world, we are more connected with each other than at any time in our history and yet, we may never have been more isolated from each other. How we, in our own families and our school family, reconnect, rebuild, and rejuvenate is the challenge we face as we move forward.
I watch our kids go off to college, to graduate school, to work, and to start new families. I follow them to Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Canada, Scotland, Morocco, Austria, Portugal, India, Syria, Ukraine, Rwanda, and Nepal. I miss our kids when they leave, but I also know that as teachers and parents we teach them to be thoughtful, wise, skilled, and resilient so that they can sail beyond our shores and become essential members of our larger global family.
Spring Street’s classes, programs, campus, and faculty continue to evolve and continue to prepare each generation to be the humanitarians, scientists, artists, writers, mathematicians, and mechanics that our world so clearly needs. This is an imperative mission, and my bet is you believe this as well because you have become members of our Spring Street community and you see the impact we make together, on our kids, and in the world. Thank you for your support in helping make this dream which began nearly three decades ago, a reality.
Let's raise a glass to what we have accomplished and what we look forward to in new friendships, new hopes, and new dreams.
Spring Street’s Index
# of students are accepted into college: 100%
# of students who receive tuition assistance: 40%
# of faculty with advanced degrees: 70%
# of countries visited in the last 10 years: 15, including Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, India, Nepal, Ethiopia, Morocco, and Thailand
Amount of tuition assistance granted over the last 10 years: $5 million
Highest elevation reached on a MayTerm expedition: 16,138 feet three years ago at Lake Tilicho, Nepal
Total number of different colleges the class of 2023 accepted to: 56
Total number of supplemental college essays written this year: Thousands!
Tuition revenue makes up 90% of our budget, with the 10% balance coming from fundraising events like our auction. All proceeds of this exciting event go to tuition assistance and a specific fund-a-need for classroom chairs. Spring Street believes in community and each year over $400,000 in tuition assistance is provided for local families, and close to 40% of island families at Spring Street receive financial assistance.
On Friday, April 28, 2023, from 5-9 pm at Brickworks, islanders and their friends will gather to show their support for Spring Street International School. The evening’s activities will include a dinner, silent and live auctions, presentations, and a chance to meet Spring Street International School students, teachers, alumni, and friends.
Below you will find a list of ways you can be part of the fun and become a supporter of Spring Street! My deepest thanks for your wonderful support of our community and school.
I hope to see you at the auction!
Louis Prussack
Head of School
lprussack@springstreet.org
Ways You Can Support the 2023 Annual Auction
Attend the Gala
What better way to celebrate both the school and our entire community by coming together for an evening of festivities and good food masterfully created by the chefs of Coho restaurant. Invite your friends to join us as well and reconnect while also supporting the students of Spring Street. The evening will also include a silent and live auction. Our professional auctioneer is a Spring Street International School alumna from the class of 2000! You can RSVP and buy your tickets at https://springstreet.ejoinme.org/attend.
Raise Your Paddle
Bidding on silent and live auction items is a great way to support the school and enjoy something special for yourself. In addition, you can raise your paddle during the Fund-A-Need paddle call to make a straight financial donation to support two very important programs at the school: tuition assistance and purchasing new chairs for all of our classrooms. During the event, you can raise your paddle when the auctioneer calls out the dollar amount you are comfortable giving. Your donation is fully tax-deductible!
Make a Donation to Support Tuition Assistance or New Chairs for the Entire School
If you are unable to attend the event but would like to support the school, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the fund-a-need campaigns by clicking here.
Become a Sponsor
Spring Street International School values the businesses of San Juan County that help sustain our community each and every day and wishes to offer you the opportunity to showcase your business at our auction through a sponsorship of the auction event. See sponsorship options and secure your sponsorship by clicking here.