Hello Family and Friends,

I am writing to ask for help. Our school, Sierra Expeditionary Learning School (SELS) is in its final year of expansion, adding 8th grade and infilling a 4th/5th grade classroom. We need 3 portable buildings to meet the needs of the expansion. In the Fall, we started a Capital Campaign to raise funds for bringing in 3 portable classrooms and additional improvements. Attached is a brochure explaining the improvements in depth. To jumpstart our campaign, the School Board pledged $50,000 and we have raised $100,000 to date. All donations are tax deductible (SELS is a 501c3, Federal Tax ID: 27-1627347, can provide a receipt of donation). The entire SELS community asks you to donate to help grow our school. The campaign will continue in full until May when hopefully we will reach our goal of raising $300,000 for this expansion.

I have also attached some drawings of our plans. The idea is to create a middle school (6th-8th) courtyard to compliment our elementary courtyard. Our school is pretty cool: amazing teachers and curriculum, lots of fieldwork with experts and high quality student projects. While we have access to some facilities (gym, soccer field, play areas), the campus does need work. For example, part of the money raised will install running water in each classroom.

You can learn more about our school and this project at our website: www.truckeecharterschool.org. One of our top student projects, a 25 min documentary on the Geology of CA can be viewed on http://www.dougmcmains.com. The students shot, wrote, acted and edited the entire documentary. Recently, this film won 1st place at the Yosemite Film Festival in the Education Category.

If any of you have questions, feel free to contact the school director, David Manahan (dmanahan@truckeecharterschool.org or 530-414-5326). If you are able to donate, thank you! Your gift will have a direct impact.

Make checks payable to: SELS

Send to:

Sierra Expeditionary Learning School

P.O Box 2179

Truckee, CA 96160

Thank you,