PTSA Earns the Welcome Back Award

The LASA PTSA has earned the Welcome Back Award! This is a Texas PTA Membership Award given to PTAs who recruited 10 new members in January. Thank you to all of our members! You’ve strengthened our school community and set the tone for an incredible year ahead.

Help us earn our next award by joining today and/or donating a membership for a facility member. We have less than 20 facility members who needed a membership so your donation will go a long way to helping us reach our goal!

All are welcome to join us: students, teachers, grandparents, community members…we want you all to be part of our award winning PTSA!

https://www.lasaptsa.org/

Lively Alumni Scholarship – Open to AISD Seniors

Announcing the Lively PTSA Alumni Scholarship! Since 2024, Lively PTSA has offered an annual $500 scholarship to Lively Middle School Alumni.

Application deadline is April 15, 2025 and is open to all AISD High School Students who are alumni of Lively Middle School and are graduating during the 2024-2025 school year. Funds can be used for any continuing education program.

Applications and the Rubic can be found here:
https://livelyptsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/lively-scholarship-application_2025.pdf

More information can be found here:
https://livelyptsa.com/alumni-scholarship-2025/

Please reach out to president@livelymiddleschoolptsa.com if you have questions or concerns. We hope you apply!

March Master Classes

WE have four amazing Master Classes in March. You can purchase your ticket in the PFLASA Store. Thank you so much for supporting PFLASA through Master Classes.

Reminders:

  • You only need to purchase one (1) ticket per household. Adult tickets $25 / Student tickets $10
  • Ticket sales end the evening before the Master Class (typically between 9-10 pm)
  • Master Classes are 1-hour Zoom presentations that are not recorded.

Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 6:00pm | Leveling Up Your Activities with Shannon Bergeron of Core College Consulting

Colleges are very interested in what students are choosing to do outside of the classroom. They are looking for initiative and impact, intellectual curiosity, and what matters to a student (and how they are choosing to address that). Let’s talk about how activities matter in the admissions process, how to “level up” some activities, and how students can set themselves apart when so many applications start to look the same. We’ll look at some great examples together!

Hear from Shannon Bergeron, M.Ed., Certified Educational Planner, former Lead Counselor and Head XC Coach at LASA, and mom to two LASA grads (’16 and ’18). She is the Founder & CEO of Core College Consulting, and has been a college counselor for 23 years. She is a member of IECA, NACAC, and TACAC and also serves in leadership roles for these professional college admissions organizations.

Click here to purchase a ticket.

Tuesday, March 11 at 7pm | Help Build a Successful College Application Story with College Admissions Counselors Laurie Filipelli and Irena Smith

In our comparison-driven culture, applying to college can be overwhelming. As parents and guides, we can ease the pressure by reframing the narrative and helping our students shine on their own terms. Through this interactive presentation, we’ll help families cut through the frenzy —How many APs? Which extracurricular activities are the best? Should my child get a summer internship?—as well as identify their own core values and support their students in becoming their best, most authentic selves. Come find useful advice, practical application tips, and a broader view of success.

Laurie Filipelli (MA, MFA) is a certified college access counselor, writing coach, LASA parent, former high school teacher, and founder of Mighty Writing, LLC.

Irena Smith (PhD) is former Stanford admissions officer and private college admissions counselor, author, and mother of three adult children.

Click here to purchase a ticket.

Tuesday, March 25 at 7:00pm | Laws of Inspired Leadership with Andy Land

When reviewing college applications, admissions officers often look at the student’s leadership skills and experience as a way to gauge how that student may be actively engaged in campus life, lead initiatives, and inspire others. In this Master Class, you will learn key leadership laws that inspire others and lead to successful team efforts, and how you can immediately begin to apply these laws in your first leadership roles in high school.

Click here to purchase a ticket.

Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 6:30pm | Junior Year College Planning: How to set up for college success during this important year with Yvonne Espinoza of Yvonne Espinoza College Consulting

Junior year of college is a critical point in the college planning timeline for a number of reasons. Students using this year to their advantage can help them to feel more in control and confident during their Senior year. Join Yvonne Espinoza, CEP, a national leader in college admissions, to have a frank conversation around information that students and families should be aware of to make for a less stressful and more successful Senior year. This session will also include a Q&A session at the end to answer any parent & student questions.

About Yvonne: A native Austinite and graduate of Boston University, Yvonne Espinoza is a nationally recognized leader in the college counseling profession with over 22 years of experience. Yvonne worked for 19 years as a full-time college counselor in Austin ISD, significantly increasing both college acceptance and scholarship rates through her advocacy.

Managing Difficult Feelings: Practical Insights from Inside Out

Upcoming Event Reminder (slight time adjustment from prior save the date)

Wed, Feb 26th 6:15-7:30pm | Yarborough Library

PFLASA’s Raising Healthy Raptor’s Committee is so excited to invite you to join Dr. Mandy Menzer, Licensed Clinical Psychologist (and LASA Parent Alum), as she explains effective tools for handling difficult emotions using clips and concepts from the Inside Out movies. Please RSVP so we can have a rough idea how many will be in attendance to wellness@pflasa.org.

Please see the flyer for more details.

Meeting Friday & More Opportunities to Help

No meeting to recap but we are holding our joint meeting with PTSA and will welcome the Trustees. It’s really nice for them to get a sense of how involved our parents are so even if you don’t normally come, if you can, I highly encourage it. And we are stuffing acceptance envelopes afterwards! Say it with me now: Friday 2/21 @ 8:15am in the PFLASA Portable by the tennis courts.

In the spirit of transparency and inclusiveness. I’d like to highlight some other needs for next year. First, we need a Vice President for next year. The structure of the board is that the VP shadows the President and takes over the following year as President. Freshman parents I’m looking to you. You’ve had a year to acclimate to LASA and get some idea of all that PFLASA does to support your child’s education. The VP job is really fun and being President also has some unique joys. I love passing on praise that we get to our hardworking volunteers. I know it is a big commitment, but the organization will not run without a chief officer.

Did your kid love the petting zoo? Did holding a hedgehog or bunny melt their pre-finals stress away? We need two co-chairs to host this event next year. This is not a big-time commitment because it only requires being at the school the day of the event. And former chairs are still here for questions and it comes with a checklist made by past chair Geeta!

Finally, we have no takers for the PFLASA webmaster spot. This is an excellent job for a techy dad who doesn’t have the ability to make it to school. Again, expressing interest does not commit you to anything. Email me at President@pflasa.org

Again hoping everyone keeps water and power to survive the cold!
Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President