Garden Club Volunteers Help Community

San Mateo Adult School Garden Club

The SMAS Garden Club is a volunteer group of current and former students.  They work in the school garden growing healthy, organic fruits and vegetables. They learn about sustainability.  They run the School Farmers Market.  They have fun, make friends, and make our school and world a better place!  

Volunteering to Help Others

Five volunteers from the San Mateo Adult School's Garden Club recently picked 1,500 pounds of walnuts in one day raising more than $1,300 in funds. The Garden Club donated half of the funds to the school in collaboration with the Student Council to help Adult School students who are experiencing difficulties during this pandemic. 

The remaining funds will be used in the maintenance of the garden:  installation of vegetable trellises, purchase of vegetable seeds and fruit tree fertilizer, upgrade the drip irrigation system, purchase vegetable blend soil, amend the soil of the garden beds and other planting areas,  and many other projects that are still in the works. The garden has been self-sustaining since it started eleven years ago. They feel very lucky that director Ms. Taylor is very supportive of the San Mateo Adult School Garden.

Garden Club Doesn't Stop!

Members picked and sold walnuts and pomegranates, as well as garden grown organic produce.  They donated

• $500 to Samaritan Hose from the walnut sale.
• $500 to San Mateo Adult school to buy turkeys for students (from the pomegranite sales below)
• $2,250 from the pomegranate sales. Half of the fund will go to our adult school and the other half will go to our school garden for its construction.

Learn More about Garden Club

• Follow the SMAS Garden Club on Facebook.
• Email Teacher Betty if you are interested in joining Garden Club.

Thank you, Garden Club, for the many ways you enrich our community!

A Garden Club picks nuts

A Garden Club member gathers nuts

Garden Club presenting their donation in November 2020
SMAS Administrative Assistant Stefanie Wright 
with Garden Club Members - all in masks

Garden Club Members in the Garden
holding baskets of beautiful bounty
fruits and vegetables

SMAS Garden Club Donates To SMAS Computer Fund

The San Mateo Adult School Garden Club has continued to thrive - even during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The club has cared for the garden - following rules for health and safety - and holding the Farmer's Market for our school community.  

Recently, the Garden Club donated one thousand dollars to the San Mateo Adult School computer fund to help our school ensure all our students can access our programs.  

SMAS Director Ms. Taylor wrote, "Thank you for taking such care and keeping the garden legacy alive and thriving. Also,the gardens continued generosity and support in the form of donations is truly a remarkable and gracious gesture. Thank you for all that you do and for caring about students and the community. We especially appreciate your gift to the computer fund during this very challenging time for our students and community."

Over the years, the Garden Club has donated over three thousand dollars to help our community - buying pumpkins for Halloween, sending students to conferences, hosting a barbeque for Earth Day - and many more great causes.  

You can learn more about the SMAS Garden Club by checking out their new Facebook page. 

Interested in joining?  Email Teacher Betty Chen.

See how the garden has grown in the San Mateo Adult School Garden Club photo album. 

Civic Engagement - Student Leaders Have "Coffee with Kevin" - Assembly Member Mullin

Most of the year, legislators are in Sacramento, working to make laws to serve California.  Part of the year, they are back home in their home districts.  This is a good opportunity to visit with them and share ideas, discuss needs, and ask questions.  Some legislators have special events, "Meet and Greets" to make it easy to meet with them.

Assembly Member Kevin Mullin represents our part of San Mateo County in the State Assembly.  The California is divided into two parts - just like Congress.  The Assembly is like the House of Representatives in Congress.  The other part is the State Senate - like the US Senate in Congress.  

Coffee with Kevin Mullin

On December 5th, Assembly Member Kevin Mullin held a "Coffee with Kevin" event at a cafe in Burlingame.  Taxpayers did not pay for the coffee.  He paid for it.  From 8 to 9 am, anyone could come to the cafe and talk to him and his aides. 

Shelley, Nadia, Vanessa, Haruka, Asm Mullin,
Flavia, Olena, Cynthia

A team of Student Leaders from Student Council and Green Team went to the event with English Learner Specialist Marina and Teacher Cynthia.  Their purpose was to talk about Adult Education and sustainability.

The students who came were:

• Flavia - Morning Student Council Secretary and Green Team Member
• Haruka - Garden Club and Green Team Member
• Nadia - Morning Student Council President and Green Team Member
• Olena - Morning Student Council Vice President
• Shelley - Garden Club and Green Team Member
• Vanessa - Evening Student Council Vice President 

The "Coffee with Kevin" event had two parts - open conversation and group Q & A (Question and Answer).  In the Q & A, Cynthia asked Asm. Mullin about funding for Adult Ed.  Asm Mullin said he would ask Asm Phil Ting - the chair of the Budget Committee in the Assembly.  Asm Mullin is also in the Budget Committee.  Asm Mullin said he knew there was good Adult Education in the County and good advocacy.  

A woman from Sierra Club asked about responding to Climate Change.  Asm Mullin talked about plans to deal with Climate Change on the regional level. 

Our SMAS team will follow up with Asm Mullin to find out what Asm Phil Ting has to say about Adult Education funding for the future.  We will continue to deliver the message to our elected representatives that Adult Education Matters and good funding brings good outcomes.  And we will ask about what our state government is doing to respond to Climate Change.

Our elected representatives are our voice in the lawmaking process.  For the process to work, we must share our ideas and questions with them. This is democracy in action. 

Haruka, Olena, Flavia, Nadia, Vanessa

Halloween 2019 - Carnevil!

Crazy Eye Pumpkin

Cristina, Marina, and Tia
Marina and Tia worked hard
to provide a wonderful event

Halloween 2019 was a fantastic showcase of creativity, fun, and community energy. Student Ambassadors, Garden Club and Student Council worked together to create a wonderful celebration with a CarnEVIL theme.  SMAS Staff helped with judging and Stefanie Wright was the music DJ.  Everyone agreed it was a SPOOK-tacular Halloween!

Events included the traditional Halloween Parade, the scary CarnEVIL Haunted House, and playing pin the tail on the black cat or the green leaves on the pumpkin. Classrooms competed contests for pumpkin carving, door decorating, and window decorating and students competed for scariest, most creative, and most on theme costumes.

Here are the winners of the contests

AM                                                                                           PM

Pumpkins winners:                                                                  Pumpkins winners: 

Scariest = Room 20                                                                   Scariest = Room 27                                      

Creative = Room 44                                                                   Creative = Room 40

On Theme = Room 45                                                               On Theme = 21

Best Door:                                                                                Best Window:

Room 45                                                                                   Room 27

Costumes                                                                                 Costumes 

Scariest = Armin & Debbie - Zombies                                          Scariest = Francisco - Disfigured lumberjack

Creative = Olga -                                                                       Creative = Melena - Fairy

On Theme = Francisco -                                                             On Theme = Eric - Demented Clown

Evening Halloween Parade

Four wonderful costumes - Scary Pumpkin, Beautiful Dia de Los Muertos,
Lovely Lacey, Frightening Witch

Carving a pumpkin

Spooky window display

Lively window display

Skeleton in dark hood

Three in costumes

Carving pumpkins

Marina with pin the leaf on the pumpkin

Beautiful Dia de Los Muertos Calavera

Two students with snail pumpkin

Door decorated with red and pink calavera

Door decorated with scary Pumpkin Skeleton

Hay Bale and Scarecrow Costumes