The Appleton Education Foundation board of directors recently approved 21 grants totaling more than $28,800 to creatively enhance education for students in the Appleton Area School District.
All funding is from the Appleton Education Foundation Fund, unless otherwise noted.
Appleton Area School District
- $2,990 to explore coding and humanoid robotics at the K -5 grade levels. (Funding provided by the Stan and Phyllis Thatcher Family Fund for STEM within AEF.)
- $2,796 to purchase Co-Drone Drones to give students a unique coding opportunity with drones and a chance to see how circuits work. (Funding provided by the Stan and Phyllis Thatcher Family Fund for STEM within AEF.)
- $490 to pilot 3Doodler to teach 3D printing to our youngest learners in a developmentally appropriate way. (Funding provided by the Stan and Phyllis Thatcher Family Fund for STEM within AEF.)
- The above pilots will inform AASD’s curriculum decisions for elementary STEM Labs beginning in the 2024-25 school year.
- $1,865 to provide all AASD High School Adapted Sports League athletes with a logoed duffel bag to carry their personal gear while taking pride in belonging to a team. (Funding provided by the Betsy Melzer Endowment Fund within AEF.)
- $657 for equipment to implement Virtual Field Trips making it possible to go places students haven’t gone before. (Funding provided by the Jeanne Klatt Stilp Memorial Endowment Fund within AEF.)
- $1,800 for an AASD instructional coach to participate in Cognitive Coaching Seminars, an eight-day training.
Appleton North High School
- $500 to update and provide graduation materials allowing all students, regardless of financial situation, an opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments.
Appleton East High School
- $2,600 to support a keynote speaker for East’s Words Matter event.
- $500 to purchase workbooks to implement leadership trainings on mental health, resilience, and belonging. (Funding provided by the Scheuerman Family Fund within AEF.)
- $500 to support London-based composer and conductor Paul Ayres one-day visit as a guest conductor, teacher, and clinician. (Funding provided by the Scheuerman Family Fund within AEF.)
- $288 to purchase a Slido account, an online tool to increase student engagement, capture student views, and make everyone feel connected.
- $250 to support East’s library digital badging system through the Canvas Learning Management System software. Badges are earned by students and allow them increased access to materials in the library and provide a learning artifact that can be used when applying for jobs, college, and other opportunities.
Appleton West High School
- $2,000 to pilot Terror Takeoff 2.0. Terror Takeoff 2.0 will expand on the Express Admissions events West ran in the Fall to bring college-accepted students to visit select campuses. Campus visits are often a barrier and result in accepted students not enrolling/attending post-secondary education.
Kaleidoscope Academy
- $1,000 to purchase mindfulness tools for students, as well as invite a yoga instructor to teach yoga practices in-house. (Funding provided by the Betsy Melzer Endowment Fund and Gruner Family Community Mental Wellness Fund both within AEF.)
- $500 to fund two upcoming projects for the practice of Arts Integration where art forms, such as the visual arts or media arts, are integrated into traditional curriculum to help enhance learning. The first project uses visual arts to help teach astronomy and celestial bodies, and the second project uses media arts and foley artistry to teach about sound waves and the properties of sound.
Janet Berry Elementary School
- $2,316 to purchase Graham Fletcher kits to help students develop math fact fluency through engaging tasks that draw on a progression of highly engaging strategies. These kits will be used in every classroom to help build fact fluency as well as support Tier 2 interventions.
- $279 to implement the state quarter collection project designed to be a sustainable, hands-on educational initiative to create a dynamic and interactive learning experience to enhance students’ understanding of American history and geography.
Ferber Elementary School
- $1,000 towards their build of an outdoor classroom.
Franklin Elementary School
- $3,000 to have STEM activities available for students during indoor recess, alternative recess, whole school reward days, and an option for teachers to incorporate into their lessons. Allowing STEM to be available to all students during indoor recess and alternative recess has shown significant decrease in negative behaviors among students.
Johnston Elementary School
- $500 to teach 5th- and 6th-grade students how to create a 3-D object using the computer program Tinkercad. Students will be able to print something they create. (Funding provided by the Stan and Phyllis Thatcher Family Fund for STEM within AEF.)
The Trout Museum of Art (TMA)
- $3,000 for “Project Purpose,” a collaborative mural experience led by TMA in partnership with AASD Special Education, Autism, and Intellectual Disability (ID) departments. This project aims to empower students to express themselves and emphasize their abilities and talents through art. Project Purpose will take place at Appleton West High School. (Funding provided by the Betsy Melzer Endowment Fund and Connie Pitt Memorial Endowment Fund both within AEF.)
