FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT

2011 Movie Night Committee (pictured): Co-Chairs- Sahara Pynes & Tammy Ratner, Amy Sommer Childress, Haley Fisher, Jennifer Friedman, Carly Landis, Carla Liber, Kirstin Meyer, Charmaine Nessel, Marsha Scimo, Cherilyn Shea, Michelle Silverman, Jody Stambouli, Adele Taylor Lederer, Lindsey Wuepper; DTS Students (pictured): Christopher, Diana O., Diana P., Gabby, Grace, Ivan, Jackie, Julietta, Kathy, Krystal, Lizardo, May, Vicky, Victoria and Yoana!

Movie Night Co-Chairs Sahara Pynes & Tammy Ratner, DTS Student-Lizardo, DTS Co-Founders- Hank Azaria & Sara Hahn

Once again, our amazing Movie Night co-chairs, Sahara Pynes and Tammy Ratner and their equally amazing team outdid themselves. They transformed our host, Cheri Morgan’s beautiful back yard into an outrageously authentic County Fair inspired by our movie classic CHARLOTTE’s WEB. Bales of hay, real and stuffed pigs, a 6 foot candy ferris wheel and down-home food overflowed at the party for the 300 plus attendees. Thank you to our corporate and individual sponsors for making the evening a smashing success with their very generous contributions. For the third year in a row attendance and fundraising records were shattered!

Many of our Determined to Succeed students attended the event and had just as much fun as some of the 5 and 6 year olds! Family Movie Night incorporates many of the ideals that Determined to Succeed cares about- family, friends, fun and above all a commitment to providing our very deserving, motivated students with the academic and enrichment services they need to be successful in middle and high school and go to college.

To view more fun pictures from Movie Night, go to

http://www.photobucket.com/movienight2011

Our Admissions Panel Lecture series continues to grow exponentially in prestige, scope and attendance. Last year, Stacy Marks, the visionary behind this series, added a new admissions lecture panel for private Middle Schools in addition to the pre-school and K-6 Admissions lectures.

Determined to Succeed benefits from this series of lectures in very significant, tangible ways:

• - financially, via the admission fees and sponsorships
• - strategically, via expanding our database and cultivating the attendees as donors and volunteers
• – practically, via building relationships with private school admissions directors

The events have also given many of our students the opportunity to speak in public for the first time as they share with the audience how Determined to Succeed has changed their lives. The impact of our students connecting with the audience at these panels has spawned countless Determined to Succeed volunteers and donors.



We are eternally grateful for the enormous effort put forth by Stacy and her team:
Melody Smolkin and Carla Liber on behalf of Determined to Succeed and our students.

Our first lecture this year was a panel of Pre-School Directors and Experts and was moderated by BABYGROUP founder, Donna Holloran. Donna is a huge supporter and is also donating the proceeds from two of her Grandparents @ BABYGROUP sessions to DTS. The February lecture was a sell out with 150 eager parents in attendance! A huge thank you to Mitchell Litt Home for their generous sponsorship and stylish stage design!
Crystal Biltz – Cassidy Preschool
Rita Ann Cornyn – Sunshine Preschool
Michele Gathrid – Circle of Children
Michelle Nitka – Preschool Guide



Our Middle School and K-6th lectures dates are as follows:
May 10th Middle School Lecture
Keith Sarkisian – Brentwood School, Moderator
Celia Lee – Crossroads
Jeanette Woo Chitjian – Marlborough School
May 25th K-6 Lecture
Celia Lee – Crossroads School, Moderator
Judy Hirsch – John Thomas Dye
Nancy Goldberg – Oakwood School
Andrea Roth – PS #1
Alice Fleming – Campbell Hall
Marla Minden – Sinai Akiba Academy
Barbara Ruth-Williams – Village School
Click HERE for more info.







Determined to Succeed and the Geffen Playhouse 2nd Annual Poker Tournament is a huge success!

Determined to Succeed Co-Founder Hank Azaria with Geffen Playhouse Producing Director, Gil Cates, at the 2nd annual Playing for Good Poker Tournament.
Our annual Poker Tournament benefit was held on May 15th at the lovely home of our co-founder, Hank Azaria. There was a record-breaking registration of 150 very competitive poker players who literally played from noon to 9:00 that night! Eighteen players made it to the final round and each of them walked away with fabulous prize packages with the winner, Nick Cassavetes, snagging a seat at the World Series of Poker and an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas for that weekend. All of the prizes were generously donated to the tournament. The players’ entry fees raised a substantial amount of money for the Geffen Playhouse’s education programs and Determined to Succeed.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to Hank Azaria and Katie Wright and our partners at the Geffen Playhouse for making this such an outstanding event.

If you have questions contact us
at aadams@dtsla.org or call 310.452.7295