Honoring the Above and Beyond

The unsung became the song on Sunday as the Pasadena Education Network (PEN) honored three longtime volunteers and their PEN Founders Award Honoree at their 14th annual Wine and Spirits Tasting at the Shakespeare Club.

As Executive Director Nancy Rose Dufford explained, PEN works directly with PUSD parents, providing them with programming information and to assist with finding the right school for their children, and then helping them engage with the school once their child is enrolled, for example. 

The organization, which was founded in 2006, also works directly with PUSD leadership to ensure that their own engagement with parents is strong, said Dufford. 

“We have more than 2,000 parents who are members,” added Dufford, who added that PEN is most engaged at “transition years,” before kindergarten, for example, or before middle school or high school.

Prior to the awards ceremony, parents, teachers and supporters, along with school board members Patrick Cahalan and Kimberly Kenne, sipped on wine and cocktails as they bid on scores of silent auction items ranging from tickets to the Pasadena Playhouse, and Broadway musicals in Hollywood to Dodger box seats.  

Kenne herself, along with her husband, was a “Champagne level” sponsor of the event. 

This year’s volunteer awardees were Maria Chavez, Victoria Knapp, and Paul Nerenberg, along with PEN Founders Award Honoree Jennifer Miyake-Trapp. Each also received official recognition from the California State Senate, the California State Assembly, LA County Supervisors, The City of Pasadena, and the Pasadena Unified School District.

Chavez first became a volunteer while a STEM Elementary Magnet parent, as the English Language Advisory Council (ELAC) rep to the District English Language Advisory Council (DELAC), and eventually became the secretary, and then the chair. As her children attended middle school, she became the school’s School Site Council secretary. She has been a district-wide ELAC/DELAC parent training and resource provider for more than ten years.

As a parent leader, Knapp has served as Altadena Arts’ PTA president, as a “Super-Member,” being involved with all of the District’s PTAs. She is also the Altadena Town Council chair as well as the Education Committee chair. She has also lobbied LA County to improve traffic issues, worked with public works to create safer drop-off zones, and collaborated with local businesses to donate, sponsor and support school fundraisers.

Nerenberg sits on the  Measure O Citizens Oversight Committee, which is responsible for monitoring the expenditures of Measure O bond funds. Those funds authorize PUSD to upgrade schools, improve access to technology, create science labs, and repair deteriorated roofs and equipment. He is also a volunteer at Longfellow school where he has been the 5th Grade Math Field Day coach for two years. He also started a math club so more students could participate in a national math competition. 

In addition, Nerenberg is the president of East Altadena Little League, the only area Little League based at a PUSD school.

“It’s such an honor to receive the Founders Award,” said Miyake -Trapp, “because so many families, parents, and public school advocates have assisted the foundation in their advocacy for public schools, and it means so much to be able to carry on that legacy and their humble hard work to promote our schools, just to elevate the work of our teachers, our students, and administrators within the community.”