We had so much fun at the classic videogame-themed end of year celebration on June 18! The weather was lovely for an outdoor lunch and fun games together. Staff also enjoyed some indoor games and pixel-perfect decorations made by ESD Connects members.

For the indoor program, Player 1 (Melissa Burt) and Player 2 (Matthew Gaffney) took us on a trip through ESD and videogame history. Superintendent Tim Merlino (Super Merlino) shared highlights of program growth and student accomplishments and also some challenges facing the ESD due to state and federal cuts. Jake Ptacek gave us a glimpse at what is happening with the Horizons Initiative, and Helen Ripp and her team shared the amazing things happening at Curae Center. We also celebrated our retirees and staff who ‘leveled up’ this year through their years of service, and finally presented two Spirit of the ESD Awards.

A huge thank you to our ESD Connects committee, the facilities team, the IT team, those who hosted games, our cabinet, our amazingly generous door prize sponsors, and everyone else who helped this fun event come together!

Want to see more photos or save the high resolution version of some? You can view and save them from the photo archive here (requires ESD login).

Did you enjoy the historic photos shown in the presentation? You can find those and more that we couldn’t fit in in the photo archive here (still requires ESD login).