Hope Visits The Orange County Fair!

Allison is very happy to be on the bee ride!

Ben, Joe, Fred, Allison and Darren in the OC Fair garden.

A happy Fred on the trucks.

The Hi-Hopes performing on the OC Fair stage.

Sharon, Michelle and Chris at the Fair.

The popular 'Monster Truck' ride!

The annual Orange County Fair is in full swing and we had a wonderful opportunity through
 'friends of the fair' day to attend.  The Orange County Fair sponsors one morning for persons with disabilities to attend the fair for free.  The rides open early for them and are free as well.  Our students look forward each year for this special morning that is 'just for them'.  Hope University's very own performing musical group The Hi-Hopes, was live on stage for all to see and hear.
Some of the fair highlights were:
"I liked the horn sounds from the bumper car ride."  Ben Simendinger.
"The monster truck ride!"  Fred Mezzo.
"I really enjoyed shopping."  Michelle Emory.
"The bumper cars were the best ride."  Ana Pinedo.
"I liked the bumble bee ride."  Allison French and Bradley Clayman.
"The monster truck ride was fun!"  Jennifer Doyle.

Valentine's Day at Hope U.

Tom V. as D.J.

Ana P. and Fred M. dance the afternoon away.

Chris J. shows us a Valentine's Day card.

Three buddies having fun at the party.

Sharon M. gets her Valentine's Day cards ready to hand out.

Tina G. and April R. choose their snack.

Jenny D. is happy with her refreshments.

February 14th fell on a Tuesday so the students and staff planned a party to celebrate!  We made chocolate covered pretzels, who doesn't like salty and sweet?  We used red and pink chocolate to melt, then dipped the pretzels in it, yummy.  We also made artwork to decorate the fellowship hall, lots of hearts and happy drawings helped up get in the party mood.  Refreshments were served, punch and the chocolate covered pretzels we made were a wonderful snack.  There was also a DJ, student Tom Veltman spun the cd's that made us all want to boogie the afternoon away.  Students decorated bags to carry home all of their Valentine's Day cards and goodies.  We are sharing some photos with you of the students enjoying their Valentine's Day party.
"My favorite part of the day was the dance."
Ana Pinedo
"I liked singing to the music."
Joe Valliere
"My favorite part of the day was making the chocolate covered pretzel snacks."
April Renick
"Tom played great music, I really liked listening to it."
Lori Slikker
"I got to melt the chocolate in the microwave to cover the pretzels."
Margaret Kelley
As you can see the students had a grand time!

Mural Mosaic

Sharon M. working on the mosaic.

Darren P. enjoying the view.

Fred M. showing hands on artistry.

Darren P. Fred M. and Sharon M. all very proud of their work.

Entrance way mural in progress at Integrity House.

Earlier in this blog we showed you photos of the mural going in at Integrity House in Santa Ana California.  Well, work has not stopped on this amazing project.  Now the students have finished the painting phase and have moved on to the mosaic addition.  All of the artwork used in the mural was student and Integrity House consumer generated.  This has been a wonderful collaboration of efforts from both facilities as well as countless volunteer hours.  Here are two blog posts, one showing the mural's painting phase and the other is of only some of the volunteers who have given so much of their time in this project.  We are hoping to have the mural completed by the summer of 2011.  There will be a grand unveiling and reception to honor this artistic achievement. 
The students are so excited about the mural, seeing their artwork on this large of a scale is so validating.

Hearts and Smiles

Dena's Smile.

Christie's Smile.

Margaret and Music Therapist Minko's Smiles.

Mikki and Howard's Smiles

Kimmie's Smile

Chris' Smile.

Jenny and Jason's Smile.

Sharon's Smile.

On Monday, February 14th Hope University had a Valentine’s Day party and dance.  The students spent the morning decorating the hall with paper chains and colored hearts.  After lunch the party began.  There was dancing, fun and frolic sweetened by two beautiful Valentine’s day cakes provided by student Katie Foote’s family.  We had two student DJ’s, Tom V.and Darren P.  Tom brought his own equipment and music to thrill the crowd and Darren assisted in music choices and announcements.   They really added that special spark to the party! 
Some student highlights of the day:
“I loved seeing Katie’s mom and brother.”
Tanette T.
“Learning how to be a DJ.”
Darren P.
“Eating Valentine’s Day cake!”
Katie F.
“Making Valentines for my friends and decorating the hall.”
Margaret K.

We all hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day too.

Beau Monde Float Preparations

Hundreds of colored tubes, miles and miles of yarn and much concentration are going into the sets for our performance piece Beau Monde Float. The students of Hope University and MLuM together created a one of a kind art performance of music, dance and sculpture. We performed it on September 19th, 2009. The positive response was overwhelming so we will be having an encore performance September 25th, 2010 at the Plummer Auditorium located at 201 E. Chapman Ave, Fullerton CA, 92832. Free parking is available in the parking structure diectly across the street form the theater. We are all very excited about this opportunity to showcase the diverse talents of the students of Hope University and we hope that you can attend! General admission is $15/disabled and children under 12 are $10. Tickets will be available at the door. This project has been supported bin part by: The California Arts Council and the Department of Justice. You can call Hope University to purchase advance tickets or for more information (714)-778-4440.
In the photos you can see some of the sets being created. Lori Reyes, a woman with
Williams Syndrome, is painting a set piece.

Field Trip to the Queen Mary in Long Beach

On August 25th, 2008, Monday, we went on a field trip to the Queen Mary in Long Beach California. It was a perfect day for a field trip to the water. The boat is amazing and huge! Did you know that the Queen Mary is TWICE the size that the Titanic was? Well it's true. We were able to go on a guided tour of the ship and we learned a lot about her. One of our favorite places on the ship was the 'Winston Churchill' suite. It was very big and had great closets! The wood in the ship is just beautiful. The tour guide told us that there were over 50 different types of wood used in the interior of the ship. Here are some photos of us on our field trip. One is of Jim standing in front of the Queen Mary, another is of Cathy and Paul in front of an English phone booth and there is a wonderful photo of Jim, Cesar, Michael and Darren getting ready go up the gang way into the ship. You can see what a beautiful sunny day it was. After visiting the ship we went to a picnic area near The Aquarium of the Pacific for lunch. We were right by the water and were able to watch harbor cruise boats and pelicans come and go. It was a great day.

Something Fishey for Hope University

Frank L. and Michael M. wave to us from inside the walk-through fish tank at the Cabrillo Beach Aquarium. We went there on a field trip Tuesday, August 14th. There was so much to see we all wished that we had more time to visit the fish. There were picnic tables at the beach so we had our lunch right by the water. It was so beautiful there. Cindy H. was sea-ing stars! She could not believe how colorful they are. A whale skeleton impressed Isela E. The Cabrillo Museum is located at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro California. We had fun there and hope to go back.

Getting to the Getty

We had a wonderful time visiting the Getty museum in Los Angeles on July 26th. A big tour bus picked us up and drove us to the museum. From the parking lot we rode on a tram up the hill to the museum. There were trees and you could see the city down the hill. Here is Karen L. at the Getty with the view behind her. The students favorite thing at the Getty was the giant 'Uberorgan' by Tim Hawkinson that hangs in the main hall. It makes music/noise at the hour. It sounds like a sqeaky organ or even a bagpipe!
Marvin C., Maria D., and Cindy H. are all listening to the Uberorgan. Jim L. is happy to
have his photo taken below it.
It is a very nice place with many things to see. We wished that we had more time to spend there looking at all of the art.

Cowabunga! At The Orange County Fair

Tuesday, July 17th was 'Friends of the Fair' day. We had such a great time. Here are some Hope U students at the Orange County Fair, Chris F., Lori S., Maria D. and Ben S.
We saw animals in pens and vegetables growing, we saw performers and clowns. Our very own musical performing group, 'The Hi-Hopes' played for the crowds