The Appleton Education Foundation has approved grants totaling more than $18,000 to support creative programs and projects that enhance the education of Appleton Area School District students.
Eighteen projects are receiving funding. All grants were awarded from the Appleton Education Foundation Fund – an unrestricted endowment – unless otherwise noted.
Districtwide
$3,000 combined from the Bob and Gerri Heffron Family Endowment Fund and Betsy Melzer Endowment Fund within the AEF for Early Childhood Activity Bags – the goal is to engage families in reading with their children and enhance home-school connections.
$2,000 combined from the AEF Fund, Mile of Music Fund and John Mielke and Sally Morey Mielke Education Fund to support Big Arts in the Little Apple, a collaborative music and visual arts project involving AASD, Building for Kids and the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra.
$1,142.40 to support an AASD staff book study on Evicted, the 2019 Fox Cities Reads book.
$683.98 for equipment to produce and promote a teen podcast by students enrolled in the Willems Student Marketing Team capstone course.
$300 to provide a professional development opportunity for elementary art teachers with guest artist Cristian Andersson.
Appleton Community 4K
$2,000 from the Gruner Family Community Mental Wellness Fund to support a two-day professional development opportunity for AASD 4K staff and community partners.
Columbus Elementary School
$1,986.02 combined from the Scheuerman Family Fund and Stan and Phyllis Thatcher Family Fund for STEM launch a maker club and create a makerspace where students can compose music, create videos and use technology among peers. Students from Columbus, Appleton Bilingual School, Highlands Elementary and Odyssey will all benefit.
East High School
$1,600 combined from the Heffron Fund and Gruner Fund to bring author Reyna Grande to Appleton for multiple presentations on her story of immigration. Grande wrote The Distance Between Us.
$750 from the Melzer Fund to provide incentives to help motivate students within the self-contained emotional behavioral disabilities program. Goals include increased student academic performance and credit standing, increased positive behaviors and independent work skills.
Edison Elementary School
$300 from the Scheuerman Fund to add leveled books to a first-grade classroom library.
Einstein Middle School
$500 from the Scheuerman Fund to add titles appropriate for beginning band students to the music library at Einstein. Students from Einstein and Classical school will benefit.
Kaleidoscope Academy
$829 to purchase spikeball equipment to expand physical education offerings.
$326.17 to support a literacy project where students will create book video trailers, instead of a traditional book report. Trailers will be showcased in the LMC to help build a positive literacy culture.
Magellan Middle School
$261.10 from the Thatcher Fund to support a biochemistry unit where students will develop and test their own root beer recipes.
North High School
$500 from the Heffron Fund to create a Mindfulness Space to benefit students in ID and autism programming.
$1,000 combined from the Heffron Fund and Melzer Fund to support Lightning Latte – a student run coffee shop that helps students with special needs learn and practice real-life skills.
Wilson Middle School
$500 from the Heffron Fund to support the Blessing Box, an accessible, judgment-free resource where students and community members can get needed food or toiletry items that are not always available to them.
$500 from the Ann Moe Art Appreciation Fund to support a combined Wilson and West musical production of Wizard of Oz in spring of 2019.
The Appleton Education Foundation, a supporting organization of the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, has awarded more than $4.5 million in grants since its founding in 1997. Grants provide accessible, flexible funding for creative and innovative programs not covered by the school budget. For more information, please call (920) 832-1517 or visit www.appletoneducationfoundation.org
