Greetings dear friends, family, and community,

We are The Academy DHH Wolfpack! Krissy and Jessica are the educators and coaches and our wolfpups are Jhony, Annie, Amy, and Madison. We are San Francisco's very own Academic Bowl team. The Academy San Francisco High School's Deaf/Hard of Hearing program is thrilled to announce that we have made into the Western Regional Academic Bowl for the 2nd year in a row. Again, we have an amazing opportunity to support our Deaf and Hard of Hearing high school students on a wonderful adventure. This year, we will be taking our team to the New Mexico School for the Deaf in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to compete against 16 other Deaf/Hard of Hearing programs from the Western part of the US, with the ultimate goal of competing in the national competition at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C., the world's only Liberal Arts University for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. Students will compete in a two-day rigorous academic competition while building lifelong friendships with other Deaf/Hard of Hearing students from programs all over the country.

While we hope to do well at the regional competition and secure a spot in the national competition, this will only happen if we can raise enough money to pay for flights, hotels, travel insurance, Lyfts and buses, and matching school swag. Students have been practicing and studying during all of their free time, they have designed their sweatshirts, and they have been fundraising every day by selling food at on-site fundraisers, but we are a very small school and it takes a lot to raise the kind of money necessary to fund this kind of adventure. We are not receiving financial support from the school or the district so we are looking to our dear friends and families to support this amazing group of students.

This year we have a traveling fan club that includes school staff and a returning college student. We would really like to help them with costs as well. It will be super exciting for our team to have such a strong support system in-person to cheer us on! Even our all-star player Jon, from last year, is making the trek from Gallaudet University in D.C. to cheer on his high school alma-mater. Jon's decision to attend Gallaudet University was in large part due to his experience in the Academic Bowl. Thank you to all who supported us last year!

Thank you in advance for rallying and sharing your resources this year with these hard-working and dedicated students. We appreciate your generosity and willingness to be part of the village that lifts up our Deaf/Hard of Hearing stars!