Hopkinson Elementary names Blankenstein and Kraus as 2012 Heroes of the Heart

The following information was released by Los Alamitos Unified School District. The descriptions were written by Linda Stewart, principal of Hopkinson Elementary School, who presented the awards at the March 28, 2012, school board meeting.

Theresa Blankenstein

The Hero of the Heart award was established to recognize those dedicated volunteers who spend countless hours organizing and implementing a myriad of school projects and programs, but do so without the need for accolades. They are the people who prefer to be “under the radar” because working for the children is all the reward they need. Our Heroes support our school and local community and Hopkinson is proud to honor our 2011-12 Hero of the Heart, Theresa Blankenstein.

Theresa has been a major player on our campus for five years, since her now third grade son first joined our school community in Developmental Kindergarten. She continues that role now that her daughter is in first grade. Classroom volunteer extraordinaire, she works to support both of her children’s classrooms along with supporting both the carnival and our Hukilau. A Meet the Masters instructor and Room Rep are also part of her repertoire. She is generous with her offers to purchase classroom supplies and take work home to complete. Ask Kids Korner and they will tell you she is their go-to lady, always offering to help.

As a member of our parking committee, she generously volunteered to speak to the Orange County Road and Traffic Engineering department and then became the contact person with the County to facilitate the installation of signage and a yellow “no parking” area on Gertrude. Her knowledge of how legislatures work in combination with her law experiences makes her the perfect person to be our PTA’s 3rd VP / legislative representative and analyst. Theresa abundantly shares that strength with other PTA groups as she presents unbiased initiative and state bill information at various schools district-wide. She has also taken that role at the district level and just returned this evening from Sacramento Safari, a commitment she has made for the past three years.

Theresa doesn’t limit her activities to Hopkinson; her children are the beneficiaries of her dedication to the scouting world, in both Cub Scouts and Daisy’s. We are pleased to recognize Theresa Blankenstein as our 2011-12 Hero.

Jennifer Kraus

Jennifer continues to be the ever present volunteer both on campus and off and she’s has been an active member of our school community for only two years. During that short time Jen’s been hard at work and has become our go-to girl. She is the co-coordinator for our Anti-Bully committee and has been to two OCDE Conflict Manager trainings. Last year she set up our first group of playground conflict managers and she has recently completed training our newest crew of student managers. She coordinates that same group to help teachers with morning drop-off. The PTA Reflections program was chaired by Jen for the past two years and she daily goes through our Lost and Found rack hoping to reunite the jackets and sweatshirts with their rightful owners. She even designed and had a special box constructed to facilitate lost item storage. Going above and beyond, she organizes washes and donates the unclaimed clothing items 4 times a year. Teaching art for the Meet the Masters’ program and manning a booth at the annual carnival are among her many activities. The environment is important; as a result Jen is part of our Green Team recycling group collecting plastic and cans each Wednesday. You see Jen around campus daily in her roles as media center volunteer, parent helper in two classrooms, room parent for her son’s classroom, and poster maker for the office. She also holds the position of PTA parliamentarian. Friends of Hopkinson also reap the benefits of her dedication as she serves on the business committee and will be working the silent auction at the Hukilau. Even with her busy schedule at school, she still finds time to coach both her son’s and daughters’ soccer teams and supports the Rescue Mission.

Congratulation, Jen, on being our Hopkinson Hero!

We are so very fortunate to live in a community where volunteers like you so freely give of their time and talent to support our children. From all of us at Hopkinson, thank you for helping the Husky Spirit soar.