On Saturday March 6, 2010, Congressional Country Club hosted an event unlike any seen even in Hollywood—it was the site of our Annual Night Owl Auction “The Woods Academy Awards.”  This event was a great opportunity to come together as a community, enjoy the atmosphere and celebrate an evening that benefits our school and our spectacular student body.  This blockbuster event netted over $140,000 for Woods!

/ Walking the red carpet... The star-studded evening began at 5:30 p.m. with a Cocktail Reception and Silent Auction followed by a seated dinner and exciting Live Auction.  Over 250 guests enjoyed bidding on the hundreds of items—many donated by parents—including dinners in private homes and at area restaurants, getaways at luxury hotels and vacation homes, tickets to sporting events, autographed sports memorabilia, items, and of course the marvelous and exciting Woods Wonders—items donated by our teachers. During the evening, our 8th grade volunteers—Augustin Basanes, Alison Branitsky, Mia Jabara, Ines Jimenez-Ontiveros, Amanda Pierce, Myles Smith, Caroline Tan and Annie Virostek, sold tickets for two raffles—one for the “Best of the Live” and the other for the chance for one of our Upper School students to join Mr. Oosterhout and other upper-school classmates on a Discovery Channel-inspired, eight-day adventure to Costa Rica!  Congratulations to Andy Bristol & Caroline Quijada for winning the “Best of the Live” Raffle and choosing The Ultimate Chef’s Table:  Dinner for 10 with Jose Andres and to Richard & Navodini Harmsen for winning the trip to Costa Rica for one of their daughters. The success of our auction is due to the hard work of our Auction Executive Committee, and especially our “Executive Producers” and Co-chairs Lisa Jobe and Michelle Rudnicki. Their resourcefulness, hard work and commitment to the Woods are amazing, and the event simply would not have been possible without them.

/ Credits... We would like to offer our thanks and sincere gratitude to all of our volunteers—this supportive group has given The Woods Academy their time and talent: Thank you to Martha Humler and Martine Bernard for their vision and creativity as co-chairs of the Decorations Committee, and to the other members of the Decorations Committee—Bonnie Carr, Jennifer Chow, Monica Darvish, Erin Donovan, Sheila Flanagan, Sheila Jones, Stefanie Morgan-Davis, Mark Polla, Anna Shariat, and Gina Talamona—who worked so hard, especially in the days leading up to the auction, to make sure that we’d all enjoy “The Woods Academy Awards.”  Thanks to Caroline Heming, for her outstanding talent in graphics and design.  Caroline was responsible for the auction invitations, the layout and design of the ads in the catalogue, and for the wonderful signage on display on auction night Lisa Henschel and Lisa Mathers were our liaisons at Congressional Country Club—we thank them for selecting such a wonderful menu—from the fabulous hors d’oeuvres during the cocktail reception to the Screen Star Chocolate Mousse for dessert!  Lynn Maloney was our “Visual Effects” chair and was responsible for the fabulous centerpieces.  We’d also like to thank Phillip and Maureen Dolan for sponsoring us at Congressional.

/ A round of applause... Thanks to Inez McCormick, for her organization and dedication as Advertising Chair; to Carey Hollensteiner, Jennifer Beebe and Kristen Hohman, our “personal shoppers” who packaged some of the wonderful baskets in our Silent Auction, and to Laura Criswell, for all of her hard work as Reservations Chair.  Thanks also to Laura Criswell, Mary O’Connor, and Laura Tan for coordinating the wine collections from our Upper School Families. Jennifer Chow, Sheila Jones and Anna Shariat did a wonderful job chairing Grandparent Greetings and Family Ads.  We all know how much the children love seeing their names and reading the greetings in the catalogue. We’d also like to thank Coach Clubbs, Gerardo and Israel for all their hard work assembling all the scooters, bike and other “some assembly required” items.

/ Take a bow.... A special thank you to Marirose Ungerman for donating countless hours photographing each and every student in a candid pose around the Woods’ campus—from the 3-year old morning children to the “Leaders of the Pack,” our 2010 8th grade class.  During the Silent Auction, our “Stars of the Show”—all 304 student photographs were showcased, and parents had the opportunity to purchase a one-of-a-kind photo of their children. The success of our auction would not have been possible without these people and the many volunteers who donated items and angel money, purchased advertising, solicited items and who did so much to make “The Woods Academy Awards” a star-studded event!