BOOSTERS

Fiery Arts

Paly Fiery Arts Boosters is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Paly’s unique glass blowing program. We help fund the glass program through our fundraising sales, workshops and donations. Anyone is welcome to join us!

HELP ENSURE THIS UNIQUE PROGRAM CONTINUES!

Palo Alto is one of few high schools in the nation to have glass blowing at the secondary level. This unique opportunity allows students to explore many different areas of glass making such as traditional glass blowing and sculpting methods, working out of a 2000º furnace, and flameworking using torches to make small sculptures and components for jewelry.

Paly Fiery Arts Boosters makes it possible for Paly to offer its unique glass and ceramics program by raising funds to support:

An experienced glass artist as a classroom aide.
Expensive materials such as the different types of glass used like nuggets for the furnace, sheet glass for fusing and slumping, glass billets for casting, and borosilicate for flameworking.
Proper hand tools and safety equipment for students.
Ongoing maintenance for the extensive equipment used in glassblowing.
New and replacement equipment.

We are excited to welcome to Paly the new glass and ceramic teacher Mike da Ponte, an accomplished glass artist and experienced high school teacher! And welcome back the glass classroom aide Eli Hansen (also an experienced glass artist and teacher)! Your donations will help Mike and Eli provide students with a creative, safe and welcoming studio!

Please make a tax-deductible donation to Fiery Arts Boosters today!
Our federal tax ID # is 46-3071251.

A donation of $350 per participating student is suggested, however, donations of any size are welcome and appreciated.

Please join us for our Fiery Arts Fall Sale November 8-9, 2024 at Paly.

Friends of the Palo Alto High School Choir

The Friends of the Palo Alto High School Choir is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting PALY’s outstanding choral program. We fund choir activities and volunteer at choir events. Anyone is welcome to join.

HELP KEEP THE MUSIC ALIVE!

Over 100 students participate in PALY’s award-winning choral program each year. In addition to the Beginning and Concert Choir classes, the program includes two Advanced Vocals courses, the Madrigals and Spectrum Singers, as well as various student-led a cappella groups and the Men’s Choir. The choirs perform four concerts each year in addition to performing at our annual Madrigal Feaste and in a number of choral festivals throughout the state. A variety of visiting guest artists and conductors expose the students to new and exciting music and techniques.

The Friends of the Palo Alto High School Choir (FOPC) are proud to support PALY choir’s award-winning choral program with over 100 students. In addition to providing volunteers to organize and chaperones, FOPC pays for most of the choral program’s non-salaried expenses. Such costs include:

• Accompanist and arrangement fees
• Guest artist stipends
• Travel to choral competitions
• Purchases of concert attire
• Upkeep and refurbishments of Madrigal Feaste costumes
• Underwriting of parent and student social events
• Purchases of enhanced recording and sound equipment

In addition, FOPC provides scholarships for the choirs’ bi-annual international tours and other overnight trips. These activities all help the directors, Mr. Michael Najar and Ms. Brittney Kerby, create such an outstanding program. Please consider a donation to FOPC so we can help keep the music alive!

Your donations pay for the majority of our expenses.

Please make a tax-deductible donation to FOPC today!

Our federal tax ID # is 77-0382876.

A donation of $300 per participating student is suggested, however,

donations of any size are welcome and appreciated.

Friends of the Palo Alto High School Library

Be a friend to the Paly Library

The 2023/24 school year saw the Paly Library grow the diversity of our non-fiction collection and support many research projects across disciplines. We love being the heart of campus and enjoy our library full of students as much as ever. Along with our subscriptions to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal available to staff and students, we returned to the collection of print books to support our students, many of whom were tired of looking at screens. Our digital collections continue to include a wide range of ebooks, newspapers, magazines, databases, and audiobooks that are perfect for high school reading and research. Thanks (for once) to social media influence, reading has gained a new popularity and we have enjoyed collecting new titles that students learn about from each other and online!

For more information about our library services and resource collections please contact Teacher Librarian Sima Thomas and check out the library home page.

Write a tax-deductible check to our 501c3 Friends of the Palo Alto High School Library to support resource development or donate online. Any amount is welcome!

For information about major donations or to find out about corporate matching opportunities please contact Teacher Librarian Sima Thomas at sthomas@pausd.org.

PAHS Instrumental Music

♬ SUPPORT PALY INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC BOOSTERS 2023-24 ♬

The Palo Alto High School Instrumental Music Department is over 140 students strong. Our talented students make up two full Concert Bands, an Orchestra, two Jazz Bands and small group ensembles. Each group meets as a class and performs at Paly concerts and community functions. The Band classes also serve as the spirited Viking Pep Band.

WHAT do the Paly Music Boosters support?

District funding for the program covers a music-rich classroom learning environment and an instrument for each student. To maintain the robust musical experience for each musician, additional funding is required to provide student uniforms, guest clinicians, festival participation, and some new items to help create great distance learning experience. It costs a minimum of $25,000 per year to fund these aspects of the Instrumental Program. The Boosters cover the majority of the budget to help meet that financial goal, ensuring all musicians have access to all opportunities of the department. The Music Department is then able to maintain its high standard of excellence.

You can support us by doing one or all of these:

• Attending concerts
• Watching the performances online
• Attending Music Boosters meetings
• Making a tax-deductible donation to the Paly Music Boosters organization

We ask that you consider a voluntary donation of at least $150 per musician to support the exceptional musical experience at Paly. This voluntary donation is in no way required for your student to participate in Paly Instrumental classes.

Music Boosters Meetings are the 1st Thursday of the month, from 4-5pm in Room #109. Any parent or guardian of a Paly instrumental music student is a Music Boosters member, but all are welcome!

Palo Alto High School Instrumental Music Boosters - Tax ID #: 84-2452621
328 Byron Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301

Media Arts

COMMUNITY & CONNECTION as we return to school
PLEASE SUPPORT PALY MEDIA ARTS

Our award-winning and nationally-recognized publications and broadcast programs will create community and connections that will be a critical part of our students' back to in-person school experience.

Here is YOUR opportunity to support our program to be robust and nimble and innovate on behalf of our students. Please donate to Paly Media Arts Boosters — we are the financial support for ALL Paly Media Arts Center programs, impacting over 600 students in our program, but truly the whole student body.

Here are some ways that you can consider supporting these initiatives:

$100.00 Donation Funds:

Our radio station SoundCloud subscription
Our magazine photographers' consumable needs (i.e. batteries, memory cards, lens filters)

$350.00 Donation Funds:

Our submissions for five student contest entries
Our membership and contest entries for National Scholastic Press Association or Columbia Scholastic Press Association

$500.00 Donation Funds:

Our website hosting fees for one of the publications
Part of our royalty music subscription fee for all broadcast and video production needs
Cameras, graphics tablets, and broadcast/podcast equipment

Please note that the suggested donation amount for

parents of students in MAC classes is $350.00.

Paly Media Arts Boosters is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization Tax ID# 46-2866404.

Performing Arts

Be a part of the Paly Performing Arts Boosters!

Paly’s Performing Arts Center has proudly hosted dozens of events and hundreds of students in its state-of-the-art 25,100 square foot theatre. The PAC provides performance space for the three performing arts groups at Paly - theatre, choir and instrumental music - and the nearly 500 students per year who participate in them. It also hosts assemblies, parent's meetings, and presentations thus serving the entire Paly community.

This amazing building has a wish list of needs to help make the Performing Arts Center as high quality as it can possibly be. Some of the unmet needs include line sets, recording capabilities, projection abilities and storage. We need your help to continue to fulfill these needs. The Paly Performing Arts Center Boosters (tax ID# 47-5054443) is a joint booster group created to unify the acquisition of equipment that will serve all performing arts students as well as everyone else who uses the facility.

Your donation will help make the Performing Arts Center a higher quality learning experience our students.

How can you help?

Adopt a theatre seat! Add a personalized brass plate to a seat in the Performing Arts Center. You can also use this distinctive opportunity to honor or memorialize a friend or loved one, ensuring that they too will be a permanent and visible part of this dynamic facility.

Email pacseats@palytheatre.com for a current map of available seats. Donations are fully tax-deductible. Contribution levels are as follows:

Orchestra Center Seat: $1000
Orchestra Side Seat: $500
Parterre Seat: $250

The Brass Plate is 1 x 3 inches and will hold up to two rows; each row can hold 30 characters (including spaces). Examples:

Stephanie Spector

Class of 2011

Scott Spector and Holly Ward

Paly Robotics

WHAT IS PALY ROBOTICS?

Paly Robotics is a student-led organization that has been embedded in the Palo Alto Community since 1996. We are a part of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition where, every year, we design, build, and program a 120 lbs robot from scratch in 6 weeks. However, our team is a lot more than robots. Our student-led structure means that all of our operations are planned and executed by the students, instilling responsibility and leadership in our members. Our team provides students with real-world STEAM learning experience and opportunities to develop collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, preparing our students well for college and beyond. Our team is a platform for students with a variety of interests to succeed through our different subteams. Students in our Build, Design, Software, and Strategy & Scouting subteams learn and develop many technical skills. Students in our Business subteam apply entrepreneurial skills to apply for grants and sponsorships and our Art subteam creates animations, graphic designs, and team merchandise.

Paly Robotics Boosters is a non profit 501 (c) (3) organization that operates exclusively for charitable and educational support for the Palo Alto High School Robotics Team (a.k.a. Paly Robotics Team 8).

Paly Robotics Boosters helps fund the financial aspects of the team from building the robot to scholarships for competitions. We rely on parent donors and corporate sponsors to maintian the excellence of this progam. Some of these activities include: robot parts and materials, competition registration, outreach activities in PAUSD and greater Palo Alto community, and management of our machines. We truly appreciate your support.

Paly Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad is one of the nation’s most prestigious and well-established science competitions. Founded over 40 years ago, the various regional, state and national level tournaments attract over 7,000 teams from across the 50 states annually. We are a student-run group that strives to bolster interest for the sciences through cooperative exploration and team competition. Our team is founded upon mutual care, curiosity, and a common desire to give back to the community.

Each year, our student-run team requires extensive funding to support our engineering projects, transportation, and tournament registration.

Click here to find out how you can support us.

Paly Sports

The Boosters play a key role in augmenting funding for the more than 60 separate sports teams at Paly. The Boosters is a non-profit organization focused on funding large, often much-needed capital projects related to athletics that are not covered by funds provided by the school district or by contributions made to specific athletic teams by players and their families.

Parent donations fund most “required to play” athletics items, such as team uniforms and equipment. The district funds some of these items as well as other overhead expenses, including coaches/trainers, software, league dues/fees, tournament fees, some transportation and the rising cost of fees for game officials. However, more funding is necessary for many sports, and the Boosters strives to fill that gap to give Paly students athletes the most complete and equitable experience possible.

In recent years, some of the large projects funded by the Boosters include bleachers for the Paly pool deck, to seat spectators at swimming and water polo events, and a new netting system on the soccer field. The Boosters also partners with Paly Athletics to support outreach programs to drive engagement for Paly sports with students, staff, parents, alumni and the broader community, including tailgate events, Senior Signing Day, and the Spring Sports Fair. The group also raises funds—and creates opportunities for teams to fundraise—through the annual holiday tree lot program, spirit-wear sales, and sporting-event concessions.

This year one of the Boosters’ initiatives is to raise enough funding to cover the individual player/family financial contribution for student-athletes for whom the donation is a hardship. This would also assist some sports teams and coaches who have difficulty raising enough funds for “required to play” items. Please consider a donation of any amount.

Paly Sports Boosters and Paly student-athletes thank you for your generous support!

Palo Alto High School Sports Boosters is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Federal tax ID #77-0218566.

Paly Theatre

Paly Theatre Boosters are parents and community members who support the outstanding Paly Theatre program and provide funds for the many student enrichment opportunities available through the program.

Under the direction of Theatre teacher Sarah Thermond, Paly Theatre will offer an exciting 2024-25 theatre program open to all Paly students.

Paly Theatre produces 2-3 plays a year, open to all Paly students, as well as our unique playwriting festival Play-in-a-Day and One-Acts that give interested students an opportunity to direct.

Theatre classes at Paly include a comprehensive theatre education: four years of classes culminating in a capstone project Theatre 4 Honors class, as well as a separate Stage Tech class that offers a dual enrollment option with Foothill College for Advanced students that many students have used as a stepping stone to a career in professional theater.

Paly Theatre also has a Thespian Club and an Improv Troupe. Visit etc. Visit www.PalyTheatre.com to learn more.

Start date! Save the date of Tuesday, September 10 from 7 to 8:30 pm for the annual Drama & Desserts evening to learn more about the program and upcoming season.

The Paly Theatre program is only minimally funded by PAUSD. The Boosters are crucial in funding:

Classroom enrichment workshops and guest lecturers
Purchase and rental of professional sound, lighting and projection equipment for performances
Outside experts to work directly with students on lighting, sound engineering,
carpentry and scenery painting
Stage combat and dialect coaches
Scholarships for the Annual trip to the California State Thespian Festival
Provides students the opportunity to see one Palo Alto Players production per semester
Professional development opportunities for theatre staff

Support Paly Theatre to be part of our award-winning theatre community:

Patron contributions of $500 and higher get a program acknowledgement for all shows and two free in-person tickets
Producer contributions of $250 and higher get a program acknowledgement for the first show of the school year
All donations are appreciated and put to use directly in Paly Theatre programs.

Please help our Theatre Department produce quality productions for our community and memorable experiences for our Thespian students through your donation to the Paly Theatre Boosters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID 51-0486309).

Your contributions are not required for your student’s participation in this activity in any way and are entirely voluntary. Your valuable contributions help Paly go beyond the basics in providing enhanced student experiences.

Speech & Debate

Learn more about Paly Speech & Debate at www.palysd.com. Contact Program Director, Kyle Hietala, at kylehietala@gmail.com.

The Palo Alto Speech & Debate Program is one of the most successful teams in California, boasting membership of 80+ students and a long line of accomplished, beloved coaches from top schools such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, UPenn, Harvard, and Yale. PASD offers Public Forum, Lincoln Douglas, Extemporaneous Speaking, Original Oratory, Interpretative Events, and Congressional Debate. The program is highly respected for its inclusive, supportive, and tightly-knit culture, and has been consistently recognized for excellent league citizenship, winning three District Awards in 2022.

Additionally, the program created the student-led Palo Alto Speech and Debate Camp, an intensive introduction to speech & debate for middle school students, which sells out every season and has become a model program for many other camps. Our debaters have consistently qualified for national tournaments such as the Tournament of Champions in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Additionally, team-member Ethan Boneh '23 won the National Championship in 2022 in Big Questions Debate. In 2009 and 2019, we won the California State Championships. Other awards include 60+ Speaker Awards, 20+ Tournament of Champions bids, consistent top-rankings at States across Speech, Debate, and Congress, and have qualified multiple debaters to the National Championships every year since 2010, including 4 in 2022.

TEAM

In a typical year, TEAM asks each family to make a $1500 tax-deductible voluntary contribution per student if they are able. This donation covers the cost for student programming for a week at Yosemite, including transportation, room and board. It also covers other costs to run TEAM –including transportation for day field trips, TEAM t-shirt, snacks throughout the year, meals on field trips, and the end-of-the-year party. In addition, it pays for the extra time the TEAM teachers spend on interdisciplinary curriculum development and collaboration and the hourly cost for teacher after-hours work when TEAM teachers are leading TEAM activities outside of the school day and supervising students. TEAM receives no funding from Paly to cover these costs, so your donations are essential. Over 90% of families choose to donate to TEAM, and we depend on this generosity. Some families even give more than $1500, which helps to cover the cost of families who cannot donate the full amount. No student or family will be excluded from any TEAM events or activities for financial reasons.

Thank you in advance for making the $1500 voluntary donation—our program could not run without the generosity of our parent community. You can use Paypal above, or mail in your check (payable to ‘Paly Interdisciplinary Experience’ with your child's name on the memo line), to our co-treasurer using the info below:

Paly TEAM Treasurer: Min He, 920 Dennis Dr, Palo Alto 94303

While TEAM will not exclude any student for financial reasons, we hope you understand that all these "extras" cost money and you will make a voluntary donation in support of the program. This donation is tax deductible (Tax ID #77-0454317).

No one is excluded from full participation in TEAM activities for financial reasons. Families are welcome to set up payment plans or donate any amount that is possible if the full $1500 is a burden.