Evan, now 26 yrs. old, lives in a group home in San Ramon, California.  His health is pretty good.  We struggle with keeping his weight down.  His expressive communication is minimal.  He understands quite a lot.  He speaks 2-3 word sentences such as “I like…” or “I want…”.  He does still have challenging behaviors at times if he gets upset with people annoying him, or too much noise/chaos.

Evan goes to a day program in Dublin.  At the day program they do morning exercise, karaoke, computer time, outings to the park, movies, bowling and play basketball too.  He enjoys his buddies at the day program.

We spend every Sunday together, and I take him to play baseball.  He plays Challenger Baseball every year from March-June.  Evan loves music and dancing, movies, video games, his iPad, and watching Power Rangers videos.  He likes his small dog “Booger” to sit in his lap, and pet him.  Evan loves to dress up!  He would love it if every day was Halloween!

Thank you so much Alice for what you did for Evan.

It was wonderful for Evan to be in a loving environment

where he was not a “special needs” child but special

just like all the other kids.

DEBBIE WILSON
JANUARY 2014

Katie went on to graduate from Georgetown University in 2008, majoring in finance and government.  Today she is working in advertising and new media at Tongal, an exciting tech startup in Santa Monica.  She tries not to stray more than eight blocks away from the beach at any given time, whether she’s in Santa Monica or visiting her hometown of Summerland.

Outside of work, she is an avid reader and occasional freelance writer.  She credits MSS with her love of reading, writing, and (of course) animals.  MSS holds a very special place in hers and her family’s hearts.

Thanks for everything you do, Alice!

Keep in touch.

Love,
Katie

KATIE NULTY, 27 yrs.
JANUARY 2014

Jack is now 18 yrs. old, graduating in June 2014. Mostly all A’s, a couple B’s here and there.

• He is Senior Captain of the SB High Dons boys basketball team.
• He is the Team’s  leading scorer and will be First Team All League again this year, he was last year as a Junior also, rare.
• He has been accepted at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.
• He is waiting to hear back from University of Oregon and Washington State University.
• He is strongly leaning towards University of Arizona, they have a strong Sports Management program which he thinks he would like to pursue.
• He is 6′ 5″ tall, ready and anxious to go off to college.

All his teachers and administrators at Santa Barbara High love him and tell us what a great kid he is…it all started at MSS.

CHRIS BAKER
JANUARY 2014

Graham Graduated from the University of Southern California in 2007, where he studied Public Policy and Real Estate with a minor in Architecture.

Based in Sydney, Australia, Graham is a Senior Consultant at Marketo, the #1 Marketing Automation Provider.  Outside of work you can find him with shrimp on the barbie and the sand between his toes.

GRAHAM T. FOX, 29yrs.
January 2014

Élan is 6 yrs. old, a competent bird watcher and can identify a wide array of edible and native plants. He loves to find animal tracks in the mud, helping acorn woodpeckers put acorns in the tree bark, digging out gopher tunnels that journey for yards and yards, and climbing trees to sit quietly. He is currently attending kindergarten at Wild Roots Forest school where he investigates our natural world daily and is very happy. Élan loves to take care of his chickens (4 hens). He likes to play piano and can play by hear, humming songs he has heard. He helps cook and bake with his family almost every night and gets much pleasure out of vacuuming the living room- mom also loves this!

Élan enjoyed My Special School and the great value of caring for himself and others, including plants and animals, which has given him confidence and enthusiasm in life. Also he has a great sense of humor and a contagious laugh!

Erin & Ethan Boehme

January 2013

Ella, now 10 yrs. old,  is at Waldorf school in the 4th grade. She is a prolific reader and writer of fiction and poetry. Her favorite place to be is in the public library or in the woods. She is very knowledgable on birds, plants, trees and weather. She has found an absolute passion for the snow and tracks conditions and temperatures all around the globe watching for snowfall. She might wish or will Santa Barbara into a white winter some day of we don’t watch out!

Ella is also playing the piano and the flute by ear and has just started the violin.

Ella is focused on becoming a farmer some day and has taken a particular interest in fruit trees, chickens and milk goats. She works with a mentor farmer milking goats and is starting to learn the art of cheesmaking.

Ella is a beginning naturalist, it is joy to be in nature with her-I always learn something new.

Erin & Ethan Boehme
January 2013

Erika Krystian, 31 yrs.
December, 2012

Jenna Tico (21 years next month!)

Jenna has grown into a beautiful, aware, compassionate young woman. I’m so very proud of her as she attends Scripps College, majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies in Culture, and will also be receiving a Dance Degree. You go girl! ♥

August, 2011

Hi Alice,

In the past year since you took this photo, I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Scripps with degrees in Humanities and Dance. In SB, I spent the summer working at Aldo’s and teaching an improvisational dance class, and also participated in AXIS Dance Company’s physically integrated dance intensive in Oakland, CA. In September, I went to Bali to volunteer as an English teacher at Slukat Learning Center, a free after-school educational program for kids in the rural village of Keramas. After that, I worked on a farm in Thailand for 2 weeks before heading back to Bali, where I’ve been working ever since as a nanny.

Good stuff! Hope to see you when I return!

Lots of love,

Jenna Tico, 22 1/2 yrs.
January 15, 2013

My son Colby Noakes attended MSS from August 1995 to August 1998.  Colby loved going to preschool.  Alice would always welcome us each morning with a smile.  Alice truly enjoyed seeing Colby every school day.  Alice not only taught academics, she also made sure that there were animals around the school.  Birds, cats, dogs and a tortoise named Yenta.  Yenta is still there!  Today Colby is a wonderful, kind and caring person.  He always made friends easily and is not afraid to try new things.  Colby loves the outdoors, the ocean and our local mountains being two of his favorites.  Colby attended Hope School, La Colina Jr. High and Dos Pueblos High School, even giving a speech at graduation.  He then moved to the big city of San Francisco to attend SFSU.  Colby is now 20 years old and studying to get his degree in Business.  Colby thrives in SF.  SF is so different from SB.  Way bigger and way colder.  Colby had to learn the bus system, not only to get to school, but to the store, Laundromat and downtown.  During the summer, Colby works at the SB Waterfront Department for our great city.  Colby is a wonderful person and we are very proud of him!

Tom Noakes
December, 2012

Colby’s Graduation Speech
June, 2011

Dylan attends Washington Elementary School and is now 9 yrs and in the 4th Grade. He  loves school and his friends and is doing great! (as of last week’s teacher-parent conference). He hasn’t forgotten all his friends and special memories of Preschool! Dylan loves baseball, baseball, baseball, and piano. He is doing very well with music!

Rita Bright
December, 2012