A big thank you to the parents of The Bay School who celebrated our extraordinary team of teachers and instructors during Teacher Appreciation Week 2015!

In April 2015, May Institute celebrated its 60th anniversary! The Bay School students created a beautiful, multi-media art project called “Fly” made up of 60 beautiful monarch butterflies in honor of all the individuals whose lives have been impacted by May Institute over the past 60 years.

We are proud to announce that Jim Toohey has accepted the position of Vocational Coordinator at The Bay School! This new position was created to provide additional support and resources to our transition-aged students who are preparing for their future by learning a variety of employment skills.

We are extremely grateful for fine art photographer Richard Ehrlich who donated his time, materials, and talent to photograph several Bay School students as part of his “Face – The Music” portrait series. He writes, “The purpose of this photography project is to capture, through portraiture, how artists FEEL emotionally while listening to music of their choice.”

On October 30th, The Bay School held its annual Harvest Festival.  Students, parents, and staff arrived in a variety of wonderful costumes including favorite reinforcers, cartoon characters, pirates, and more.

The Bay School, a May Center School for Autism and Developmental Disabilities in Santa, Cruz, Calif., was one of 17 nonprofits chosen by local businesses to compete for prize money awarded at a chili cook off this past summer.

The Bay School Presents: PLANNING FOR THE SPECIAL NEEDS OF YOUR ADULT CHILD

April is Autism Awareness month. To commemorate this day, The Bay School students collaborated to create a mural made entirely from salvaged blue jeans. For all student exhibits, our parent volunteers strive to find art materials in the plentiful supply of discarded items already existing all around us. Families enjoy donating things that would otherwise be thrown away. It is exciting to see these items become something beautiful. This is an art movement that is growing, called up-cycling.

In July 2013, The Bay School proudly opened its doors for the first time at our new location on 1026 Capitola Road in Santa Cruz! The Bay School thanks Barry Swenson Builder for inviting us to help design a brand new state-of-the-art facility featuring five bright and spacious classrooms, two new student kitchens (including a stove top to practice cooking skills), a large central conference and training room, a recreation room to facilitate group activities and exercise programs, several ADA-accessible student bathrooms (one with a shower to help students increase independence with personal hygiene routines), and a private landscaped outside play area surrounded by majestic oak trees.

With the summer quickly approaching, The Bay School is seeking new opportunities to raise funds in order to help outfit our new school site with new supplies and equipment.