Rise and Shine Project Information

February 10, 2023

Hello Wonderful Community,

It was so nice to have everyone together for the All-School Meeting. Thank you, community, for being such amazing people! We had such a great time celebrating the important launch of the Rise and Shine Capital Campaign.

This is a very exciting time to be part of U Co-op. What we are doing with this project will benefit all of our children and the future students of U Co-op for generations to come.

Meeting Recap

Here is just a recap of all the important logistical information that came out at the All-School Meeting on Tuesday.

We are doing this project in two phases over the next two summers.
Phase One (P1) Construction begins on June 5 and should be completed by October 14.
We will be out of the building the last two weeks of school, details below.
We have rented a space large enough to accommodate our needs at University Heights for the period of time we will be out of our building.

P1 Week One, June 5-9

3rd-5th grade will have a special field trip week.
K-2nd will use the U-Heights building Monday and Tuesday and then the rest of the week they will be on their Indianola trip.
PreK will be doing field trips which will include buses, trains, museums, food, and so much more!

P1 Week Two, June 12 & 13

Monday, June 12
All School Beach Day at Carkeek Beach

Tuesday, June 13
Moving up and Graduation Ceremonies/
Last day of School

2023/2024 School Year

The school year will start as usual in the building for all grades K-5. The downstairs work will not yet be completed, but that will not affect the school upstairs.
The PreK will be at an alternative location until October 16 (details coming soon)

Moving Information

Everything needs to be moved out of the basement by May 15 (except in the PreK room).
Please look for opportunities to help through Work Parties hosted by Amara Monillas and Jessica Lord.
We will start renting a storage space on March 1.

Exciting Milestones

Did you know that when we finish this project our building will be 100 years old, our school will be 50 years old, and we will have been in this building for 25 years? We will also have completed all earthquake retrofitting and will have met all of the upcoming city of Seattle requirements for seismic safety.

Over the course of this past year, Jeanne and I have been meeting with alumni and current families. We have had some amazing conversations, good laughs, and people have been unbelievably generous. So far, we have raised just shy of 1.2 million dollars. Our goal is to raise between 1.75 to 2 million dollars.

With more than 50% of our goal pledged, we are now officially able to kick off the Rise and Shine Capital Campaign fundraising efforts.

We are excited to bring this project to fruition with all of you!

Rise and Shine Website

The Rise and Shine website is live. We hope you take a look and read all about the project, take a look at photos and schematics, and peruse the full brochure highlighted at the meeting.

Thank You for Your Support

We will be updating you all regularly – and updating the website – as the campaign moves forward, so keep checking in.

Jeanne and I will continue to reach out to folks over the next month, but our first big community event and opportunity to give to this campaign will be at the auction on March 18. Please mark your calendar and come and support these efforts at the auction!

We are grateful for your support and excited for our community to be a part of this historic time at U Co-op.

Feel free to contact us with any questions.

Sincerely,
Jim and Jeanne