They’re having a ball

Marisa O’Neil

The idea started with two moms sitting in the bleachers watching

their sons play baseball.

It grew into one of the biggest fundraisers at Corona del Mar High

School -- the Black and White Ball, which raised $100,000 for

academics in its first year.

“We’d sit there in the bleachers for hours wondering why we didn’t

have something like this,” co-chair Karen Hinton said.

She and co-chair Diane Keligian decided to organize the dinner

dance last year to help give the Corona del Mar Foundation budget a

boost.

Money raised by the foundation fills in the gaps left behind by

slim education funding from the state. The foundation pays for the

big-ticket items, Hinton said, like computers, new lockers, on-site

counselors and keeping a nurse on campus four days a week rather than

the one day normally budgeted.

Their next goal is to build a new science lab, which Keligian

estimates will cost $250,000.

Those extras funded by the foundation, they said, help the school

maintain its high academic standards. In last year’s graduating class

of 270, according to the foundation’s website, 263 are attending

college, and 21 were accepted at Ivy League universities.

“This is an excellent facility,” Keligian said of the school.

“These are just things we need to make our school better.”

A silent and live auction will also be part of the dinner dance.

Items donated so far include a new Chevrolet pickup truck, race-car

driving lessons, a ride in a World War II airplane and a weekend stay

in Rancho Mirage.

One of the most popular items last year, a barbecue dinner cooked

at the winner’s home by Corona del Mar coaches, will also return.

“When you ask for donations and tell them it’s for Corona del Mar

academics, we’re pretty well received,” Keligian said. “The community

is very generous.”