After more than 3 months of donations, the $225,000 goal for a shade structure in AV’s quad has been reached. Construction is slated to start in late spring. 

The project donations were organized by a non-profit community group named We Are Pleasanton. The organization was founded by dedicated Pleasanton residents, most notably Todd Utikal, owner of Sidetrack Bar + Grill restaurant in Downtown.  

“After Measure M did not pass in early March last year, a measure intended to help with a lot of projects for our schools, I decided to help…March, April, May was just me. Then a few great people in my life started to join me and now we have an advisory board of 8 and there are approximately 40 people on the email distribution that want to be part of this and future projects,” said Utikal on starting the organization. 

Utikal began looking for a project to undertake by contacting PUSD Superintendent David Haglund. He also talked with teachers, students, and parents, not just within the Amador community, but all throughout the district. 

“I wanted the first project to be tangible, help lots of students, and get people excited,” said Utikal. 

The idea to build a shade structure in the Amador Valley quad was brought up by many of the Amador community members Utikal spoke with. After settling on the idea, funding would have to be provided for construction. 

“We partnered with [PPIE] so that we didn’t have to create a whole new entity.  I believe in KISS, keep it simple stupid, and don’t reinvent the wheel.  PPIE created a separate account just for our projects,” said Utikal. 

Utikal contacted local organizations and individuals to gather donations. One group was Amador Valley’s very own Leadership class. 

“The shade structure was definitely something that could improve student life on campus, so we jumped on the opportunity,” said ASB Executive Council member Noah Marek(‘21). 

Leadership began working on saving donations for We Are Pleasanton. 

“Our donations came from the ASB Special Projects account, which is a school account dedicated to projects that benefit the student body as a whole. When a student buys ASB at walkthrough registration, their money is divided into different accounts with different purposes. As an ASB Board, we voted on whether or not we believed this project would benefit all students and we unanimously agreed that it would,” said Marek. 

AV Leadership raised one of the largest sums of money with $27,500. Three other organizations matched the same amount; the PUSD school district, the City of Pleasanton, and the Walker Family Trust. 

“I think [this will] definitely be something that future classes can use and take advantage of,” said Marek. 

Meanwhile, Utikal and We Are Pleasanton look to the future towards other projects.

“Next up, we plan to redo the field at PMS to help more than 8,000 student athletes in the city with a shared use, and give the school back a track and field as well as baseball backstops and a cricket pitch,” said Utikal.