Sequoia Elementary School sits in the near center of Oakland California. A fine model of an urban learning community, Sequoia reflects a richly diverse community in all ways: cultural, ethnic and socioeconomic. 43% of the student population fits the criteria required for free and reduced lunch. Friends of Sequoia School (FOSS) raises money for extra-curriculars that would be standard in other schools: art, garden, music (drumming and Sequoia Sings), librarian (1 day a week), and science. They need to raise about $350 per student in order to keep the scheduling funded. Sequoia's events are also important ways for both parents and students to build more connections with each other and the school itself. To meet and have fun outside of the busy school day.
The main fundraising event of the year is the Family Dance and (mostly) Silent Auction. It is important to generate excitement around the event as new families will not be familiar with it. Furthermore, continuing ones may see it as just a pull for money, rather than the feel-good community building event that it is.
Process
I wanted to show dancing to get across was the amount of fun that this event is. Our initial brainstorming process garnered excitement about the fact that the event takes place around Chinese new year. I decided to make reference to this and bring in the new year's animal to dance with the school mascot: the squirrel. I used this to created a continuity by changing the Chinese new year animal for the next year.
