💜💛 Thank you to The Education Foundation of Central DeWitt who awarded our teachers our teachers over $29,000 in grants this year! The recipients were recognized at The Education Foundation Appreciation Reception, catered by Ms. Sage and her CDHS culinary students, yesterday afternoon.
These grants help our teachers enhance classroom learning and directly benefit our students in so many ways. In the last 30 years, the foundation has provided more than $829,000 in grants to Central DeWitt educators. Thank you to all of the donors who help make these grants possible and congratulations to all of the recipients:
• Kindergarten Literacy Centers ($1,074): Literacy centers engage students with tasks or activities that support them in becoming skilled readers and writers by providing activities based on various skills children need to master (prewriting skills, letter ID/sounds, blends, and digraphs).
Funded by the Max and Barbara Dull Fund, Robert & Phyllis Parrott Endowment for Language Arts and Journalism, The Education Foundation of Central DeWitt Grant Fund
Recipient: Lisa Fox, Anessa Petersen, Joanie Taylor, and Megan Wellman
• Two by Two Character Education ($800): The Kindhearted Kids Program is a research-based, social-emotional learning (SEL) program; that helps children learn to make good decisions for people, animals, and the environment. Involving all living things is a way to bring children's hearts into the learning process. Incorporating the adoption of a stuffed dog or cat as a catalyst to teach the core values of Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, Empathy, and Citizenship, immediately sparks children’s attention as they are captivated by their pet, and character instruction naturally takes root in the hearts of children.
Funded by the Carolyn J Ruggeberg Memorial Endowment
Recipient: Tanya Glennon
• 4-6 Extended Learning Program ($800) The goals of this project are to provide students with authentic experiences by developing and running a business and an opportunity to apply math, reading and 21st century skills (critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, information literacy, media literacy, technology literacy, flexibility, leadership, initiative, productivity, social skills).
Funded by Carolyn J Ruggeberg Memorial Endowment, Helen Jeanne Helble Endowment
Recipient: Tera Hahn
• InvenTABLE ($627): InvenTABLE is a kid-safe table saw that safely cuts cardboard allowing students to take projects to a new level. Currently, the 6th grade math extension group is working on a ratio unit. In this unit they are exploring scale and how it is used in the real world. Students are evaluating house plans and working with scale regarding areas and perimeters and cost of materials. With this product, students would be allowed to actually plan, design and create their own scale models using the math concepts and applying them to a real-world scenario.
Funded by DeWitt Bank and Trust Central Skills Trade Fund and the Warren W Waack Endowment
Recipients: Tera Hahn Anthony Green
• Solar Eclipse Viewing ($1,500) Provided glasses for all Central DeWitt students and staff to safely view the solar eclipse.
Funded by: Henry Pelham Endowment
Recipients: Trisha Brookins, Jeffry Ensign, Kayleen Griep
• Adding Music to STEM ($714): This grant will allow Level 2 & 3 special education students, along with Unified buddies, to form a drumline. By working together with general education students, students will bring music, teamwork, and leadership skills to life by engineering movement and rhythm. The drum line will provide students with an opportunity to learn and engage with music in a dynamic and hands-on way. They will be learning rhythm, timing, coordination, and musical expression. It will also encourage school spirit and pride. The performances that they hope to do will energize crowds and enhance the overall atmosphere at events, fostering a sense of community, belonging, and unity among students.
Funded by the Lyndsey Hanas Memorial Endowment, Henry Pelham Endowment and The Education Foundation of Central DeWitt Grant Fund
Recipient: Terri Smith
• PASCO Chemistry Lab Supplies ($1,406): The grant will purchase new wireless sensors for the chemistry classroom. The pH and conductivity sensors and accessories would be used in the lab by Advanced Chemistry students. The lab manual would be used for both Chemistry and Advanced Chemistry classes to provide more of a variety of hands-on experiences for the students.
Funded by the Henry Pelham Endowment
Recipient: Katie Moulton
• Promethean Activpanel 9 (Smart Board) ($2,075) This will be installed in the Level III Special Education classroom at CDHS and allow teachers to project anything students use on an iPad or computer onto the screen in the room and make it an interactive board that they would be able to utilize at the front of the classroom.
Funded by the Henry R Pelham Education Fund
Recipient: Tara Michel
• Drone Legends ($6,892): ELP Students will learn to fly drones. They will complete the Drone Legends STEM Fundamentals Curriculum. This is a series of lessons where students move from learning how to fly a drone to completing multiple tasks with the drone. The goal of this curriculum is to “use the magic of drones to engage students in entertaining yet challenging drone-themed STEM missions that require then to work in teams, fail forward, and explore solutions to real-world problems.”
Funded by the Helen Jeanne Helble Endowment
Recipient: Tera Hahn
• LC4-Yamaha Piano Lab System ($7,150) The new LC4-Yamaha System and Wifi Kit will be used in the piano lab and allows the teacher to move freely around the room via a wireless headset, and utilizes an iPad app for easy communication and virtual control of the system. The controller app also allows the teacher to create multiple class setups for easy attendance and rosters, and to create individual, small and large group instructional settings. The system has Mac inputs that work with our student laptops for easy recording and creating of music.
Funded by the Wayne & Nancy Stuedemann Charitable Giving Endowment Fund, Fred and Doris Gerdes Educational Fund and the Henry R Pelham Education Fund, The Education Foundation of Central DeWitt Grant Fund
Recipient: Kerri Olson
• Multimedia workstation ($3,595): To purchase a new Apple iMac desktop workstation with the necessary hardware and software to run current multimedia pro-tools. This workstation will help to run the sound, image, and video editing tools within the multimedia class.
Funded by the James D. Owen Jr Foundation FundHenry Pelham Endowment, Wilma Owen Fund for Education Endowment, William “Bill” Turnis Endowment, Anne Volkman Endowment, The Education Foundation of Central DeWitt Grant Fund
Recipient: Eddie Mercado
• Touch Screen Whiteboard ($2,075): Incorporate a touchscreen white board into the classroom allowing access for students to come to the front and use the white board via touchscreen. This will encourage more engagement and interaction for the students.
Funded by Helen Jeanne Helble Endowment and the Henry Pelham Endowment
Recipient: Jamie Waleszonia
• Purple Bean Refrigerator ($430): To provide an apartment-sized refrigerator so the student-run business can expand offerings.
Funded by the Warren W Waack Endowment
Recipient: Megan Jackson
If you are interested in donating to The Education Foundation of Central DeWitt or creating an endowment fund, please reach out to edfoundation@cd-csd.org or call/text Brett McKamey at (563) 650-5985.
