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Stevenson Community Foundation supports special education
Greg Diethrich, executive director of the Stevenson High School Community Foundation, Napa Valley traveler and Beatle maniac. (Photo courtesy SHS Foundation)
Updated: February 25, 2013 11:27AM
Greg Diethrich has travel on his mind this winter, but he is not planning a vacation for himself.
The executive director of the Stevenson High School Community Foundation is preparing for the organization’s 20th anniversary, and one of its largest monetary commitments, with a vacation fundraiser. Participants will buy from a pool of 300 raffle tickets, and the winner will choose one of three vacation packages to go on.
The event will support SHS’s new Life Skills Lab Initiative for special education, to which the foundation is donating $30,000. Interested participants can buy tickets at d125.org/foundation/lifeskillslab.aspx or by calling 415-4465; the raffle will take place Feb. 23, during another foundation event, the American English concert.
Q: Of all the issues the foundation could focus on, why special education?
A: The foundation is always thinking about ‘Where is the need, what’s the most effective way that we can help?’ Because 2013 marks our 20th anniversary, we were looking for a larger-scale project to get behind. This was a project that the school had planned, it’s planned for construction this summer. We committed $30,000, however we were going to raise that. It was an especially good project for us — this is something where there’s a big change happening in our school.
Q: What are the three vacation locations?
A: One is called The New York Amazing Broadway Long Weekend. They’re all four-day, three-night trips. One is a V.I.P. visit to Le Cordon Bleu in Ottawa, the third is Napa Valley wine country.
Q: If you could go anywhere on vacation, not just these three, where would you go?
A: There’s a lot of great places in the world. I’m a big fan of northern California, so I’d probably take any chance to go to Napa Valley. I’ve spent a lot of time out there, and my grandparents retired there.
Q: This contest is going to culminate with the winners being picked during another of the foundation’s events, a performance by Beatles tribute group American English. Why have the Beatles proven to be so enduring and so universal?
A: I’m a musicologist by background, so I could talk about that all day long. It was a combination of three genius songwriters. I think they’re some of the most important compositions that we have. They’re poignant songs, combined with some of the most unique and special voices that we’ve had in rock and pop. The Beatles have been in a class of their own. It’s hard for kids in this day and age to understand how revolutionary that music was at that time. It’s of consistent high quality. Every album was an amazing and unique experience.
Q: What is the plan for the foundation??s next 20 years?
A: Things are continually growing for us a lot. I’m going to be going into my third year as the first executive director for the foundation. We’ll continue trying to figure out how we can connect community and school. That’s the best answer I can give.
