A celebration of rebirth by the Renaissance Charter School was held at its second annual “Night Out” event at the Natives Restaurant in Jackson Heights.
Parents, school personnel, and community supporters gathered together to celebrate another successful year at Renaissance and to raise money to keep some of the programs open for its kindergarten through twelfth grade.
According to Peggy Heeney, development associate at the Renaissance Charter School, last year the school had a high school graduation rate of 98 percent and for the last three years have had 100 percent college acceptance.
“It takes a lot of teamwork and smart budgeting, along with creative fundraising, to continue the work that supports those statistics,” Heeney said.
Renaissance indicated it believes in the importance of maintaining a positive profile in the neighborhood, allowing high school students to be involved in many local internship programs.
“This event is a great way to get the local community interested in being involved with the school, a way of attracting potential board members, volunteers and financial supporters,” noted Heeney. “Like all New York city schools, Renaissance is feeling the budget crunch, so events like this are very important, not only to raise needed funds, but to keep up the morale for the years ahead.”
During the event, the crowd mingled, ate food and listened to music performed by the students of the school, and music teacher Everett Boyd. A raffle was included for tickets to a Broadway show and gift certificates to various Jackson Heights restaurants.
The next event held by Renaissance will be an art auction to help support the school’s art program.
“Last year, a number of graduating students went on to fine art and design colleges,” said Heeney. “A testimony to the great work being done at Renaissance.”
According to Heeney, the auction will be open to the public and feature artworks by students, staff, and professional artists from Jackson Heights to Montreal who have donated their works.
The school art auction will be held on Thursday, April 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Jewish Center of Jackson Heights located at 37th Avenue and 77th Street. Tickets will be $5.00, with wine, cheese reception, and door prize to be included.
For more information on the Renaissance Charter School, visit www.renaissancecharter.org or call 718-803-0060.
