CineMagic, robotics competitions, more in education foundation's sights for 2009

The Pleasant Valley Education Foundation is looking forward to many events in the new year.

Rehearsals for CineMagic, one of the foundation's biggest events, will start Jan. 10. For the first time, all rehearsals will be held at the Boys & Girls Club in preparation for the three performances April 2, 3 and 4 at Pacifica High School's auditorium. The practices have been held at school sites in the past.

CineMagic is a musical performance by students from all schools in the Pleasant Valley School District and the Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education.

"Directors have auditioned kids, cast the kids and ordered costumes. Everybody's lined up and organized," said Darren Patnoe, treasurer for the education foundation. "They're basically ready to roll."

Students involved in CineMagic—this year's theme is California Dreamin'—will have rehearsals Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday every week until April.

After witnessing the ongoing successes of the robotics team— several local teams competed and placed at the First Lego League Southern California Championship Dec. 6 and 7 at Legoland in Carlsbad—the foundation wants to expand the program.

A Junior FIRST Lego League of students ages 6 to 9 will begin in 2009, Patnoe said. FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology."

The Pleasant Valley Education Foundation is also excited about the speech tournament for third-graders. The event will be held in April at Las Colinas Middle School. The school district organized the event in years past, but after a short hiatus, the foundation took over the reins in 2007.

The upcoming speech tournament is expected to be smaller than this year's event. Thirdgraders can read poetry, stories or other works for the tournament.

Although the economy has tumbled, the foundation has not struggled gleaning donations yet. Patnoe said that the foundation's annual golf tournament at Las Posas Country Club on Nov. 3 was a success, but it didn't raise as much money as 2007's event.

The foundation is brainstorming other potential fundraising events in 2009.

"We've been pretty steady, but we'd like to be able to raise more money so we can do more things," Patnoe said.